Adjective Agreement in Hebrew

In Brief

A Hebrew adjective normally comes after the noun it describes and matches that noun in gender and number: ספר טוב “a good book,” ילדה טובה “a good girl,” and ספרים טובים “good books.” In a definite phrase, both words are definite: הבית הגדול “the big house.”

Overview

An adjective is a word that describes a person or thing: good, large, new, or interesting. In Hebrew, a descriptive adjective usually changes its ending to match the noun. This relationship is called agreement: the noun and adjective show the same grammatical gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).

This is a core A1 pattern because it appears in introductions, descriptions, shopping, directions, and everyday opinions. English usually leaves an adjective unchanged—a good book, good books—and puts it before the noun. Hebrew does the opposite in an ordinary noun phrase: the adjective follows the noun and changes form.

There is one more feature to watch: definiteness, the difference between a general phrase such as “a good book” and a specific phrase such as “the good book.” The definite article is ה־, usually pronounced ha- in basic learner forms. When an adjective directly modifies a definite noun, the adjective also takes ה־.

How It Works

The four basic forms

Most adjectives have four useful forms. Dictionaries generally list the masculine singular form, so it is helpful to learn the other three as a set.

Agreement	Typical ending	טוב (“good”)	גדול (“big”)
Masculine singular	no fixed ending	טוב	גדול
Feminine singular	־ה, sometimes ־ת	טובה	גדולה
Masculine plural	־ים	טובים	גדולים
Feminine plural	־ות	טובות	גדולות

The endings above are strong patterns, not a complete prediction system. Some adjectives form the feminine singular with ־ת, and spelling or vowel changes may occur. For example, חדש “new” becomes חדשה, while מעניין “interesting” becomes מעניינת. Learn unfamiliar adjectives with their main forms rather than guessing every form from the last letter alone.

Match the noun, not the person speaking

The adjective agrees with the noun it describes, not with the speaker, owner, or listener.

Noun phrase	Gender and number	Meaning
ילד טוב	masculine singular	a good boy
ילדה טובה	feminine singular	a good girl
ילדים טובים	masculine plural	good boys / children
ילדות טובות	feminine plural	good girls

Grammatical gender belongs to the noun. The form of the noun often gives a clue, but not always. For instance, עיר “city” is feminine even though it does not have the common feminine ending ־ה. Its adjective must therefore be feminine: עיר גדולה “a big city.” This is why Noun Gender is the natural prerequisite for this topic.

Put the adjective after the noun

In a normal descriptive phrase, the order is:

noun + adjective

• ספר מעניין — an interesting book
• מכונית חדשה — a new car
• רחובות ארוכים — long streets

Putting the adjective first because English does so is usually unnatural or incorrect in a basic Hebrew noun phrase. Hebrew can place an adjective elsewhere for special sentence structures or stylistic emphasis, but noun + adjective is the dependable beginner pattern.

Mark definiteness on both words

For an indefinite phrase, neither the noun nor its adjective takes the definite article:

• בית גדול — a big house
• מסעדה טובה — a good restaurant

For a definite phrase, attach ה־ to both:

• הבית הגדול — the big house
• המסעדה הטובה — the good restaurant

The pattern is therefore:

ה־ + noun + ה־ + adjective

English marks “the” only once. Hebrew repeats the definiteness marking because the adjective must agree with the noun in definiteness as well as gender and number. In unpointed everyday Hebrew, ה־ is written directly onto the following word. Its exact vowel and pronunciation can vary in fully pointed Hebrew, but ha- is a practical starting point.

A noun may also be definite because it is a name or has a possessive ending, even when the noun itself does not visibly begin with ה־. In such cases, an attributive adjective—the adjective inside the noun phrase—still carries ה־:

• ירושלים היפה — beautiful Jerusalem
• הספר שלי החדש — my new book

The second pattern is best learned after you are comfortable with basic possession, but it shows an important principle: agreement follows meaning, not merely the presence of ה־ on the noun.

Description or complete statement?

Hebrew often has no present-tense word corresponding to English is or are. This creates an important contrast:

Hebrew	Structure	Meaning
הבית הגדול	definite noun + definite adjective	the big house
הבית גדול	definite noun + non-definite adjective	the house is big
הילדה החכמה	definite noun + definite adjective	the clever girl
הילדה חכמה	definite noun + non-definite adjective	the girl is clever

An adjective inside a noun phrase is called attributive: it identifies “which house” or “what kind of house.” A predicative adjective makes a complete statement about the noun: “the house is big.” Predicative adjectives still agree in gender and number, but they do not copy the noun’s definite article.

More than one adjective

When several adjectives describe one noun, each normally follows it and agrees with it:

• ספר חדש ומעניין — a new and interesting book
• דירה קטנה ושקטה — a small, quiet apartment
• הרחובות הארוכים והעמוסים — the long, busy streets

In a definite phrase, each attributive adjective is definite. The conjunction ו־ “and” attaches to the next word, so והעמוסים means “and the busy.”

Examples in Context

Hebrew	English	Note
קניתי ספר טוב.	I bought a good book.	Masculine singular
זאת ילדה יפה.	This is a pretty girl.	Feminine singular
אנחנו גרים בבית קטן.	We live in a small house.	Masculine singular after a preposition
היא לובשת שמלה חדשה.	She is wearing a new dress.	Feminine singular
יש כאן חברים טובים.	There are good friends here.	Masculine plural
ראינו תמונות יפות.	We saw beautiful pictures.	Feminine plural
הבית הגדול נמצא ליד הפארק.	The big house is near the park.	Both noun and adjective are definite
אני אוהב את המסעדה החדשה.	I like the new restaurant.	Definite direct object; adjective is also definite
החדר נקי.	The room is clean.	Complete statement; no ה־ on the adjective
החדר הנקי מוכן.	The clean room is ready.	הנקי belongs inside the noun phrase
זאת עיר גדולה ומעניינת.	This is a big and interesting city.	Two feminine singular adjectives
אלה ספרים חדשים ומעניינים.	These are new and interesting books.	Two masculine plural adjectives
ירושלים היפה מושכת מבקרים רבים.	Beautiful Jerusalem attracts many visitors.	A proper name is definite
הספר שלי החדש על השולחן.	My new book is on the table.	The possessed noun phrase is definite

These examples also show that agreement remains the same when a noun phrase follows a preposition or functions as an object. Sentence role does not change the adjective form; the noun’s gender, number, and definiteness do.

Common Mistakes

Putting the adjective before the noun

• Wrong: טוב ספר
• Right: ספר טוב
• Why: Ordinary descriptive adjectives follow the noun in Hebrew. English word order is not a safe guide here.

Leaving the adjective in masculine singular

• Wrong: ילדה טוב
• Right: ילדה טובה
• Why: ילדה is feminine singular, so טוב must take its feminine singular form טובה.

Matching only gender and forgetting number

• Wrong: חברים טוב
• Right: חברים טובים
• Why: Both words are masculine plural. An adjective must match number as well as gender.

Marking only the noun as definite

• Wrong: הבית גדול when you mean “the big house”
• Right: הבית הגדול
• Why: An attributive adjective repeats the definite article. Without ה־ on גדול, the words normally form the sentence “the house is big.”

Adding ה־ to a predicative adjective

• Wrong: הילדה היפה when you mean “the girl is pretty”
• Right: הילדה יפה
• Why: היפה makes the adjective part of the noun phrase: “the pretty girl.” A present-tense statement normally leaves the predicative adjective without ה־.

Guessing gender only from a noun ending

• Wrong: עיר גדול
• Right: עיר גדולה
• Why: עיר is grammatically feminine despite lacking a typical feminine ending. Learn a noun together with its gender.

Usage Notes

Modern Hebrew is commonly written without vowel points, so the visible consonant endings do much of the work for learners. Reading adjective pairs aloud—טוב/טובה and טובים/טובות—helps connect the written pattern with its sound. In natural speech, vowels may be reduced, but the agreement endings remain meaningful.

Masculine plural traditionally serves as the mixed-gender or unspecified plural form. A group containing men and women may therefore be described with a masculine plural adjective. Contemporary speakers and institutions also use various gender-inclusive formulations, especially in public-facing writing. These choices concern style and inclusion; the basic grammatical system remains essential for understanding ordinary Hebrew.

Many nationality, religious, and category words can behave like adjectives and follow the same agreement pattern: ישראלי, ישראלית, ישראלים, ישראליות. Capital letters do not distinguish nationalities in Hebrew, because Hebrew script has no uppercase/lowercase contrast.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will encounter later.

Noun endings and grammatical agreement can diverge

Some nouns have an ending associated with one gender while belonging to the other, and some plurals are irregular. The adjective follows the noun’s grammatical gender, not the visual shape of its plural ending. For example:

• שולחנות גדולים — big tables

שולחנות ends in ־ות, but שולחן is masculine, so the adjective is masculine plural: גדולים. Conversely:

• ערים גדולות — big cities

ערים ends in ־ים, but עיר is feminine, so the adjective is feminine plural: גדולות. Treat the noun and its gender as a vocabulary unit.

Dual-looking nouns generally take plural adjectives

Some nouns use the dual ending ־יים, especially paired body parts and time expressions. Their adjectives generally use plural agreement:

• עיניים כחולות — blue eyes
• יומיים ארוכים — two long days

The noun has a special dual form, but there is no separate dual adjective paradigm in ordinary Modern Hebrew.

Adjectives with construct chains

A construct chain is a Hebrew possession-like structure joining nouns, roughly comparable to English “school building” or “the teacher’s book.” An adjective usually comes after the whole chain and agrees with the noun it actually describes:

• בית ספר גדול — a big school
• בית הספר הגדול — the big school

In בית הספר הגדול, definiteness comes from the second noun, הספר, and the adjective הגדול marks the whole phrase as definite. Longer chains can be ambiguous, so context and adjective agreement help show which noun is being described.

Participles can behave like adjectives

A participle is a verb form that can also describe a person or thing. Many Hebrew present-tense verb forms resemble adjectives and agree in gender and number:

• הילד כותב — the boy is writing
• הילדה כותבת — the girl is writing
• הילדים כותבים — the children are writing

This overlap becomes important when you study present-tense verbs. Agreement is familiar, but the word’s job in the sentence may be verbal rather than purely descriptive.

Fixed expressions and lexical irregularities

Not every adjective forms all four shapes by simply adding a visible ending. Sound changes, spelling conventions, and borrowed words can complicate the pattern. At an advanced level, rely on a good dictionary and real examples. The productive default—masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, feminine plural—still provides the framework into which irregular forms fit.

Practice Tips

1. Learn nouns and adjective sets together. For each new noun, record its gender and make four short combinations: ילד טוב, ילדה טובה, ילדים טובים, ילדות טובות. Substitute new vocabulary while keeping the pattern.
2. Contrast phrase and sentence pairs. Say הבית הגדול “the big house,” then הבית גדול “the house is big.” Repeat with feminine and plural nouns until the extra ה־ changes your interpretation automatically.
3. Describe what you can see. Choose five objects or people and make one indefinite and one definite phrase for each: ספר חדש, הספר החדש. Then turn the definite phrase into a statement: הספר חדש.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Noun Gender — learn which nouns are masculine or feminine before matching adjectives to them.
• Next step: Comparison — use adjective forms in comparisons such as “bigger” and “the biggest.”
• Later extension: Quantifiers and Intensifiers — add meanings such as “very,” “many,” “few,” and “enough.”
• Advanced extension: Complex Agreement Patterns — handle mixed groups, collective nouns, numbers, and other difficult agreement choices.