Numbers change by gender
Numbers from one to ten come in pairs of forms, for masculine and feminine things. "One coffee" is kafe echad, "one apartment" is dira achat. Learn them in pairs: echad/achat, shnayim/shtaim, shlosha/shalosh, arbaa/arba, chamisha/chamesh. For example: “אחת, שתיים, שלוש!” — One, two, three! A rule from the Hebrew course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Numbers from one to ten come in pairs of forms, for masculine and feminine things. "One coffee" is kafe echad, "one apartment" is dira achat. Learn them in pairs: echad/achat, shnayim/shtaim, shlosha/shalosh, arbaa/arba, chamisha/chamesh.
Counting aloud takes the feminine form: achat, shtaim, shalosh — one, two, three. Before a noun, two shrinks to shnei (m) or shtei (f): shnei yeladim — two children, shtei birot — two beers.
The trap starts at three. One and two look like the thing they count. From three on, the form ending in -a goes with masculine nouns: shlosha yeladim, three children. Listen to how speakers say it and repeat after them.
By example
- אחת, שתיים, שלוש!ахат, штаим, шалош!One, two, three!
- שלושה ילדים.шлоша йеладим.Three children.
- שתי בירות, בבקשה.штей бирот, бевакаша.Two beers, please.
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Hebrew numbers masculine and feminine?
Numbers from one to ten come in pairs of forms, for masculine and feminine things. "One coffee" is kafe echad, "one apartment" is dira achat. Learn them in pairs: echad/achat, shnayim/shtaim, shlosha/shalosh, arbaa/arba, chamisha/chamesh.
How to say one and one feminine in Hebrew?
The trap starts at three. One and two look like the thing they count. From three on, the form ending in -a goes with masculine nouns: shlosha yeladim, three children. Listen to how speakers say it and repeat after them.
Why shnayim and shtaim are both two?
Numbers from one to ten come in pairs of forms, for masculine and feminine things. "One coffee" is kafe echad, "one apartment" is dira achat. Learn them in pairs: echad/achat, shnayim/shtaim, shlosha/shalosh, arbaa/arba, chamisha/chamesh.
What does it look like in a Hebrew example sentence?
“אחת, שתיים, שלוש!” (ахат, штаим, шалош!) — One, two, three! A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.