# Seemingly Plural Hebrew Nouns



## Flaminius

Shalom le-kulam.

I want to know how much those seemingly-plural nouns are treated as plural nouns in colloquial Hebrew.

How do you say, "I am interested in his life" in Hebrew? [usual verbs]

1a. Chajim shelo me`anjen oti.
1b. Chajim shelo me`anjenim oti.

How about "My life is chaos"? [pronouns acting as copula]

2a. Chajim sheli ze balagan.
2b. Chajim sheli ele balagan.

Does attaching personal endings directly to the noun change things?  Which of the two sounds more natural? [personal endings and copula]

3a. Chajai ze balagan.
3b. Chajai ele balagan.

And finally, what number do adjectives assume when they modify chajim, shamajim, panjim and so forth?  Are they invaribly plural or are there colloquial slips of singular?


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## מנחם

Hi there,

Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I think you should keep in mind:

In Hebrew, adjectives always have to agree with the gender and number of the noun.  For some reason, unbeknownst to me, life has a plural form in Hebrew.  Consequent to that, and the inherent maleness of the word, the adjective has to follow suit:

חיים שלו מענינים אותי
 חיים שלי אלה בלגן 

I await the responses of others 

נשאר בעברית

- מנחם


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## elroy

I would agree with that - but I'm not a native either so wait for more reliable answers.


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## morgoth2604

To answer your questions:

1. Plural nouns are treated as such:
 החיים שלו מעניינים אותי. 

2. 
 החיים שלי בבלגן 

Life is usually given hey hayedia. As for "personal endings", they don't change the fact that life is plural. There are however colloquial slips that sometimes occur, but most of the time it's from plural to singular. One classic example is pants.
מכנסיים

People often say  מכנס   instead (this actually means one "leg" of the pants) . I've also recently heard someone say:  נושר לו השערות?  - which sounds HORRIBLE to me.


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## amikama

Flaminius said:
			
		

> And finally, what number do adjectives assume when they modify chajim, shamajim, panjim and so forth? Are they invaribly plural or are there colloquial slips of singular?


חיים, שמיים, פנים - they all are plural (always), and thus the adjectives modifying them must be plural as well.

חיים טובים (good life)
שמיים בהירים (clear sky)
פנים יפות (beautiful face)

Treating these words as singular nouns is DEFINITELY wrong.


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## utopia

> Does attaching personal endings directly to the noun change things? Which of the two sounds more natural? [personal endings and copula]
> 
> 3a. Chajai ze balagan.
> 3b. Chajai ele balagan.


 
חיי זה בלגן (hayay ze balagan) is rarely found, though in everyday speech no one would say anything (sounds a little awkward), 

and since the copulas are: ze, hu, hi, hem, hen!!! the other sentence is interpretted as: my life 'this' is a mess!

Panim - face - is both masculine and feminine in plural thus: פנים יפים and פנים יפות  are right.


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## chaya

chayim hem tovim=life is good
 (statement)

hehayim sheli tovim/hehayim sheli hem tovim = my life is good

problem is that the word <balagan> is not Hebrew therefore cannot be made plural to fit the noun it describes. Otherwise we would have to say <balaganim>


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## morgoth2604

You can say Balaganim, but it's slang. You also can't really say Chayim hem tovim. You have to say "HAchayim (hem) tovim".


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## elroy

_The discussion about the pronunciation of the definite article ("ha" vs. "he") has been split off and can be accessed here._


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## admor82

שלום לך  !

By the way, you can say "*My life is chaos*" in more literally form, like:

  " *חיי הם תוֹהוּ וָבוֹהוּ* "

*/* tohu vavohu - *תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ /*

But it sounds so dramatically ^)*
**"...וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ"*

_(Genesis Chapter 1:2)_​


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## ForeignNative

I how do you make those words plural?

i.e. faces, lives?


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## dekdek

ForeignNative said:
			
		

> I how do you make those words plural?
> 
> i.e. faces, lives?


 
it's exactly like in english, you wouldn't say waters just as you wouldn't say "panim-im"
there is no plural for these words becasue they're like ancountable i guess.
so you just say - iesh lo panim yafot and for the plural - iesh lahem panim yafot (they have pretty faces)
the same with live.
oh, i also read that panim can be both - masculine and feminine. panim yafot/yafot
iesh leze shtei panim.


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## amikama

dekdek said:
			
		

> there is no plural for these words


No, there is no *singular* form for these words -- they are already plural nouns (and therefor there is no sense in "making them plural"). They simply lack singular forms.


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## JLanguage

amikama said:
			
		

> No, there is no *singular* form for these words -- they are already plural nouns (and therefor there is no sense in "making them plural"). They simply lack singular forms.


 
I just want to point out that although there aren't any singular forms in Israeli Hebrew (or most other forms of Hebrew for that matter), one of the deviations of the paytanim (writers of liturgical poetry) was forming new singular nouns for words always plural elsewhere. Ex. פנים -פן.


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