Adjectives, demonstratives, numbers

Adjectives follow their noun

In Genesis 12:2 God promises Abram:

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2

"Into a great nation" is לְגוֹי (legoy) גָּדוֹל (gadol). The prefix לְ means "into", גּוֹי is "nation" (more than 550 times), and גָּדוֹל is "great", an adjective found about 500 times. Notice the order: the adjective comes after the noun, "nation great".

A Hebrew adjective agrees with its noun in gender and number: masculine with masculine, feminine with feminine, plural with plural. In Exodus 3:8, "a good and spacious land", the noun אֶרֶץ ("land") is feminine, so its adjective טוֹבָה (tovah) is the feminine form of "good". Genesis 1:16 shows plural and singular side by side.

הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים (hame'orot hagedolim) is "the great lights", plural with plural, and הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל (hama'or hagadol) is "the great light", singular with singular. You have spotted a third match. When the noun has the article הַ, the adjective that describes it takes the article too; when the noun has none, neither does the adjective (לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל). The two words then travel together as one phrase.

A sentence with no verb

When an adjective does not describe a noun but instead says something about it, the pattern changes. The adjective has no article, it often comes before its subject, and there is no verb for "is". Read Genesis 1:31.

And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31

טוֹב (tov) means "good", and טוֹב is a common adjective, listed about 380 times in this entry. There is no verb here, yet the sentence says "it was good". Hebrew very often leaves out "is" and lets the adjective carry the statement. English translations supply "is" or "was" from the context. The next word, מְאֹד (me'od), "very", is labelled adjective and numerical by the database; here read it simply as "very".

So the rule of thumb is this. An adjective that follows its noun and matches its article (both with הַ, or both without) describes: "the good land", "a great nation". An adjective without the article, when its subject is definite or when the adjective comes first, usually states: "the land is good". In Genesis 50:20 עַם רָב ('am rav), "a numerous people", has no article on either word, so it describes. The adjective רַב means "many" and occurs about 420 times. An adjective can also stand alone as a noun: in Psalm 23:6 טוֹב is "goodness".

"This" and "these"

Hebrew has three common demonstratives: זֶה (zeh), masculine singular "this"; זֹאת (zot), feminine singular "this"; and the plural אֵלֶּה ('elleh), "these". They occur about 1,170, 600 and 750 times. The panel labels them "particle, demonstrative".

And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”

Genesis 2:23

In Genesis 2:23 the man cries זֹאת, "this one", pointing to the woman. In Exodus 3:15 זֶה־שְּׁמִי means "this is my name".

When a demonstrative describes a noun it behaves like an adjective: it follows the noun and copies its article. In Deuteronomy 6:6 הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה (hadevarim ha'eleh) is literally "the words the these", that is, "these words".

Numbers

Numbers also behave like adjectives. אֶחָד ('echad) is "one", in "day one" (יוֹם אֶחָד, Genesis 1:5), and the panel labels it adjective, numerical. Here the panel also says "feminine", but the word is the masculine form agreeing with masculine יוֹם, so take that label as the database's slip. "Two" is שְׁנַיִם (shenayim), found about 770 times. In Genesis 1:16, "the two great lights", the word שְׁנֵי (shenei) is in the construct and is called dual. A dual is a special number ending for things that come in pairs.

The numbers "first, second, sixth" are labelled adjective, numerical position (an ordinal). הַשִּׁשִּׁי (hashishi) at the end of Genesis 1:31 is "the sixth", following "day". Notice, though, that יוֹם itself has no article here, and the panel labels it construct. This "day the-sixth" pattern is an irregularity sometimes found with ordinals; simply read "the sixth day". In Genesis 1:8 שֵׁנִי (sheni), "second", follows יוֹם with no article on either word.

Summary

An adjective follows its noun and copies its gender, number and article. An adjective that says something about its subject has no article and supplies the meaning "is". The demonstratives זֶה, זֹאת and אֵלֶּה follow their noun with the article. Counting numbers (אֶחָד) and ordinals (הַשִּׁשִּׁי) are both labelled adjective.

Words in this lesson

• גָּדוֹלgadolgreat: large497 times in the OT
• טוֹבtovpleasant384 times in the OT
• רַבravmany423 times in the OT
• גּוֹיgoynation554 times in the OT
• זֶהzehthis1,176 times in the OT
• זֹאתzotthis603 times in the OT
• אֵ֫לֶּהellehthese746 times in the OT
• שְׁנַ֫יִםshenayimtwo767 times in the OT

Practice