BBH Chapter 7 — Hebrew Adjectives

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Basics of Biblical Hebrew, Pratico & Van Pelt, Chapter 7

1. Introduction

Hebrew adjectives agree with their noun in gender, number, and definiteness. This three-way agreement is the defining feature of Hebrew adjective syntax and distinguishes attributive adjectives from predicate adjectives.

Adjectives have two primary syntactic uses:

• Attributive: The adjective modifies a noun directly — it follows the noun and agrees in gender, number, and definiteness.
• Predicate: The adjective makes a statement about the noun — it stands in the predicate position (before or after the noun), agrees in gender and number, but does not take the definite article.

A third use, the substantival, occurs when the adjective stands alone as a noun without an explicit head noun.

Why this matters: The presence or absence of the definite article on the adjective is the single most reliable signal for distinguishing attributive from predicate use. If both noun and adjective have the article → attributive. If only the noun has the article → predicate.

2. Adjective Inflection

Hebrew adjectives inflect for gender (masculine / feminine) and number (singular / plural). There are four standard forms. Adjectives do not have separate construct forms in the standard paradigm — they use the absolute form in all positions.

Paradigm 1: טוֹב (good)

Paradigm 2: גָּדוֹל (great)

Vowel reduction note: When the feminine or plural ending is added to a segolate-style or two-syllable adjective, the first syllable often reduces to vocal shewa. This is the same Sievers' Law principle seen in noun inflection. Compare: גָּדוֹל → גְּדוֹלָה (qamets → shewa under ג).

Construct forms: Unlike nouns, adjectives do not have construct forms in the standard paradigm. An adjective modifying a construct chain must agree with the head noun but takes the absolute form.

3. Attributive Use

The attributive adjective directly modifies a noun. It follows three fixed rules:

1. It follows the noun it modifies (post-positive position)
2. It agrees with the noun in gender and number
3. It agrees with the noun in definiteness — both take the article, or neither does

Indefinite Attributive

→ No article on either noun or adjective.

Definite Attributive

→ The article appears on both noun and adjective. This is the key diagnostic.

Key rule: "Double article = attributive definite." If you see הַ on both the noun and the adjective, the adjective is attributive. The article on the adjective does not independently mark definiteness — it mirrors the noun.

4. Predicate Use

The predicate adjective makes a statement about the noun (equivalent to English "The king is great"). It follows these rules:

1. It agrees in gender and number with its subject
2. It does not take the definite article (even when the noun is definite)
3. There is no copula (no verb "to be") in the present-tense predicate
4. Word order is flexible — the adjective may precede or follow the noun

Predicate adjective examples

The critical contrast:

Construction	Hebrew	Signal
Attributive definite	הַמֶּלֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל	Article on BOTH → "the great king"
Predicate	הַמֶּלֶךְ גָּדוֹל	Article on noun only → "the king IS great"

The article on the adjective is the on/off switch: article = attributive; no article = predicate.

5. Substantival Use

An adjective used without a head noun functions as a noun. This is the substantival use. The adjective may stand alone with or without the article.

Identification tip: When an adjective appears with the article but no explicit noun to modify, it is almost certainly substantival. Context determines whether it is a person, thing, abstract quality, or collective.

6. Adjective Agreement with Irregular Nouns

Hebrew adjective agreement is grammatical (not notional). Several noun classes require careful attention:

Practical note: When encountering an adjective that does not seem to match its noun in gender or number, first check: (1) Is the noun irregular in gender? (2) Is this a collective noun? (3) Is there a conventional exception at play?

7. Most Common Hebrew Adjectives (OT Frequency)

Note on כֹּל: This word is technically a noun meaning "all, totality" but is used virtually always in attributive position before or after a noun. In the construct: כָּל־הָעָם ("all the people"); before the noun with article: כָּל הַמֶּלֶךְ is non-standard; כֹּל is nearly always in construct. Understanding its behavior is important for attributive adjective recognition.

8. Comparison of Adjectives

Biblical Hebrew expresses comparison analytically — there are no suffix forms equivalent to English "-er" or "-est." Comparison is built using separate constructions.

Comparative ("more than," "-er")

The preposition מִן (from, than) follows the adjective:

OT examples:

• Jdg 14:18 — מַה־מָּתוֹק מִדְּבַשׁ — "What is sweeter than honey?"
• 1Sa 9:2 — לֹא־הָיָה אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹב מִמֶּנּוּ — "There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he."
• Gen 25:23 — וְרַב יַעֲבֹד צָעִיר — "The older shall serve the younger" (רַב and צָעִיר used substantivally in comparison context).

Superlative ("most," "-est")

Hebrew uses one of two constructions for the superlative:

1. Definite article + adjective (standing alone)

2. Adjective + בְּ + כֹּל (among all)

OT examples:

• Gen 3:1 — וְהַנָּחָשׁ הָיָה עָרוּם מִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה — "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field."
• 1Sa 17:14 — וְדָוִד הוּא הַקָּטֹן — "And David was the youngest."
• Song 1:8 — הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים — "the most beautiful among women."

Summary of comparison patterns:

Type	Construction	Key marker
Comparative	Adj + מִן + comparison item	מִן following adjective
Superlative (type 1)	Article + Adj (alone)	Definite adjective without noun
Superlative (type 2)	Adj + בְּ + כֹּל	בְּכֹל or מִכֹּל

9. Key Terms

10. Practice