Irregular Plurals in Hebrew

In Brief

Hebrew often marks a plural with ־ים (-im) or ־ות (-ot), but the ending does not always match the noun's gender: masculine שולחן becomes שולחנות, while feminine מילה becomes מילים. Other nouns change their stem, as in עיר → ערים, or have a very different plural, as in איש → אנשים. Learn each common noun together with its plural and gender, because the plural ending does not determine agreement.

Overview

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Hebrew nouns have grammatical gender: each noun is treated as masculine or feminine, and related words may have to match that gender. This matching is called agreement—for example, an adjective describing a masculine plural noun normally takes its masculine plural form.

At A1, the useful beginner pattern is that many masculine nouns form the plural with ־ים (-im), such as ספר → ספרים (“book → books”), while many feminine nouns use ־ות (-ot), such as ילדה → ילדות (“girl → girls”). These are tendencies, not definitions of gender. Some very common nouns take the “unexpected” ending, change vowels or letters inside the word, or use a plural built from a different-looking stem.

This matters in everyday Hebrew because irregular plurals are not rare literary curiosities. Words such as שולחן (“table”), מילה (“word”), עיר (“city”), שנה (“year”), and איש (“man”) appear from the beginning. English also has forms that must be memorized, such as “man → men” and “person → people,” but Hebrew adds another challenge: you must remember the noun's gender even when the visible plural ending seems to suggest the opposite.

How It Works

The regular pattern—and its limit

The two main plural endings are easy to recognize:

Hebrew	English	Note
ספר → ספרים	book → books	A common masculine pattern: ־ים
ילד → ילדים	boy → boys	A common masculine pattern: ־ים
ילדה → ילדות	girl → girls	A common feminine pattern: ־ות
דלת → דלתות	door → doors	A common feminine pattern: ־ות

Use this pattern when learning how Hebrew plurals generally work, but do not infer gender from the plural ending alone. Dictionaries normally identify gender, and a reliable vocabulary note should do the same.

Masculine nouns with ־ות

Some masculine nouns take ־ות in the plural. They remain masculine, so a plural adjective describing them takes the masculine plural ending ־ים.

Singular → plural	Meaning	Agreement example
שולחן → שולחנות	table → tables	שולחנות גדולים — large tables
חלון → חלונות	window → windows	חלונות פתוחים — open windows
מקום → מקומות	place → places	מקומות יפים — beautiful places
שם → שמות	name → names	שמות חדשים — new names
רחוב → רחובות	street → streets	רחובות ארוכים — long streets
קיר → קירות	wall → walls	קירות לבנים — white walls

The ending ־ות tells you that the form is plural; here it does not tell you that the noun is feminine. For example, שולחנות גדולות is normally wrong because שולחן is masculine. The correct phrase is שולחנות גדולים.

Feminine nouns with ־ים

The reverse also occurs: some feminine nouns take ־ים, yet feminine agreement remains necessary.

Singular → plural	Meaning	Agreement example
מילה → מילים	word → words	מילים חדשות — new words
שנה → שנים	year → years	שנים ארוכות — long years
ביצה → ביצים	egg → eggs	ביצים טריות — fresh eggs
פעם → פעמים	time, occasion → times	פעמים רבות — many times

In מילים חדשות, the adjective חדשות is feminine plural. Copying the noun's ־ים ending onto the adjective would produce מילים חדשים, which does not have standard gender agreement.

Changes inside the word

Adding a plural ending can also change the noun's stem—the part that carries its basic identity. Modern Hebrew spelling sometimes makes this especially visible.

Singular → plural	Meaning	What changes
עיר → ערים	city → cities	The singular י is absent and the vowels change
בית → בתים	house → houses	The stem and pronunciation change before ־ים
ראש → ראשים	head → heads	The internal vowel changes in pronunciation

With vowel marks, עִיר → עָרִים makes the pronunciation change clear. Ordinary Hebrew is usually written without vowel marks, so it is best to learn these plurals by hearing and using them, not by trying to derive every vowel from the unpointed spelling.

Internal change and an unexpected ending can occur together. שולחן → שולחנות, for instance, uses ־ות despite being masculine and also has a pronunciation pattern that is best learned as a complete word pair.

Plurals with a very different stem

A few high-frequency plurals look much less predictable:

Singular → plural	Meaning	Gender
איש → אנשים	man/person → men/people	Masculine
אישה → נשים	woman → women	Feminine

These are sometimes called suppletive forms, meaning that the plural is built from a historically different or substantially different stem rather than by simply attaching a regular ending. A beginner does not need the historical explanation; treat איש–אנשים and אישה–נשים as vocabulary pairs. Notice that אנשים takes masculine plural agreement, while נשים takes feminine plural agreement.

A practical learning formula

Instead of storing only the singular, learn a three-part entry:

• שולחן — שולחנות — masculine
• מילה — מילים — feminine
• עיר — ערים — feminine
• איש — אנשים — masculine

Then attach an adjective to make the gender visible:

• שולחן גדול → שולחנות גדולים — a large table → large tables
• מילה חדשה → מילים חדשות — a new word → new words
• עיר גדולה → ערים גדולות — a large city → large cities
• איש טוב → אנשים טובים — a good man/person → good people

This method prevents the most important error: reassigning the noun's gender because of its plural ending.

Examples in Context

Hebrew	English	Note
קנינו שולחן חדש.	We bought a new table.	Masculine singular
במסעדה יש שולחנות גדולים.	The restaurant has large tables.	Masculine agreement despite ־ות
פתחתי את כל החלונות.	I opened all the windows.	חלון → חלונות
אלה מקומות שקטים.	These are quiet places.	שקטים is masculine plural
למדתי היום מילה חדשה.	I learned a new word today.	Feminine singular
כתבתי את המילים החדשות במחברת.	I wrote the new words in a notebook.	Feminine agreement despite ־ים
הביצים טריות.	The eggs are fresh.	טריות is feminine plural
הייתי שם פעמים רבות.	I was there many times.	Fixed, very common combination
זאת עיר קטנה.	This is a small city.	Feminine singular
ביקרנו בערים גדולות.	We visited large cities.	עיר → ערים, with feminine agreement
יש ברחוב בתים ישנים.	There are old houses on the street.	בית → בתים
האנשים האלה נחמדים.	These people are nice.	Masculine plural agreement
הנשים האלה עובדות כאן.	These women work here.	Feminine plural agreement
לרחובות האלה יש שמות ארוכים.	These streets have long names.	Both רחובות and שמות are masculine

The demonstratives in האנשים האלה and הנשים האלה (“these people/women”) have the same plural form האלה, but adjectives and present-tense verbs reveal the gender: נחמדים is masculine plural, while עובדות is feminine plural.

Common Mistakes

Treating ־ות as proof that a noun is feminine

• Wrong: שולחנות גדולות
• Right: שולחנות גדולים
• Why: שולחן is masculine. Its irregular plural ending does not change its gender, so “large” must be masculine plural.

Treating ־ים as proof that a noun is masculine

• Wrong: מילים חדשים
• Right: מילים חדשות
• Why: מילה is feminine even though its plural is מילים. The adjective therefore uses feminine plural חדשות.

Building a plausible but nonexistent regular plural

• Wrong: שולחנים, מילות as the ordinary independent plural of מילה
• Right: שולחנות, מילים
• Why: A regular-looking form is not automatically the accepted form. Also note that מילות does exist in the construct form מילות השיר (“the words of the song”), but it is not the usual standalone plural.

Preserving every singular letter mechanically

• Wrong: עירים for “cities”
• Right: ערים
• Why: The established plural of עיר is ערים. Hebrew plurals can alter the written stem as well as the pronunciation.

Using the singular stem plus an ending for suppletive plurals

• Wrong: אישים when you simply mean “men” or “people” in an everyday sentence
• Right: אנשים
• Why: The normal plural of איש is אנשים. אישים is a real but marked word used for notable persons or public figures, not a general replacement for אנשים.

Usage Notes

Irregular plurals occur in both spoken and written Hebrew; they are not more formal than regular plurals. Frequency is your best guide to what to learn first. אנשים, נשים, שנים, מילים, בתים, מקומות, and שולחנות are useful in ordinary conversation and deserve to be memorized early.

In unpointed writing, spelling is not always a complete pronunciation guide. Pair reading with audio where possible. Saying a short combination such as ערים גדולות or בתים ישנים helps you remember both the altered stem and the agreement pattern.

English speakers often expect irregularity to stay inside the noun: “men” is irregular, but English adjectives do not change. Hebrew requires one more step. After recalling the irregular noun, you must still choose gender and number forms on adjectives and, where relevant, present-tense verbs and other agreeing words.

Context can affect the English translation of איש and אנשים. איש may mean “man,” “person,” or “someone,” while אנשים can mean “men” or “people.” This difference in translation does not make the Hebrew plural regular; it remains the standard plural relationship learners need to know.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

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

Construct-state plurals

The construct state is the special form used when one noun is directly linked to another, often expressing “of.” An irregular noun may have a construct plural that differs from its ordinary, independent plural:

Hebrew phrase	English	Pattern
מילים חדשות	new words	Ordinary plural: מילים
מילות השיר	the words of the song	Construct plural: מילות
שנים טובות	good years	Ordinary plural: שנים
שנות הלימודים	the school years / years of study	Construct plural: שנות
נשים חזקות	strong women	Ordinary plural: נשים
נשות העיר	the women of the city	Construct plural: נשות

This is why a form that is wrong as a free-standing plural may be correct before another noun. Learn the construct forms when you study noun combinations rather than treating them as alternative everyday plurals.

More than one plural can carry a meaning distinction

Occasionally Hebrew preserves two plural forms with different meanings or registers. The contrast אנשים versus אישים is especially useful: אנשים is the ordinary word for people or men, while אישים refers to personalities, dignitaries, or notable figures in formal contexts. Such pairs should be learned separately; do not assume that every unexpected alternative is interchangeable.

Numbers still follow grammatical gender

Hebrew number agreement has its own rules and can look counterintuitive to English speakers. The important connection here is that an irregular ending does not change the noun's lexical gender—the gender recorded for the noun itself. When you later learn numbers, use that underlying gender rather than guessing from ־ים or ־ות. For now, phrases with adjectives are the clearest way to reinforce the principle.

Historical patterns are useful, but not a beginner shortcut

Many so-called irregular forms reflect older Hebrew sound patterns and noun classes. Advanced learners may recognize recurring stem changes, and dictionaries with vowel marks make those patterns easier to see. However, predicting a modern plural solely from the singular remains unreliable. Historical analysis can explain why a form exists; repeated exposure is still the fastest way to produce it correctly.

Practice Tips

1. Make three-column cards. Put the singular, plural, and gender together: מילה | מילים | feminine. On the reverse, add a short phrase such as מילים חדשות so that agreement becomes part of the memory.
2. Sort by behavior, not only by ending. Keep small groups for masculine nouns in ־ות, feminine nouns in ־ים, stem-changing nouns, and highly irregular pairs. Practice five common words from one group at a time.
3. Transform complete phrases aloud. Change עיר גדולה to ערים גדולות, or שולחן קטן to שולחנות קטנים. This trains the noun and its agreement together instead of testing the plural in isolation.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Plural Formation — introduces the usual ־ים and ־ות patterns that these common nouns depart from.