1. The Dual Form
Now that we can do some simple counting. Let’s examine
another irregularity of the number 2 called the dual form.
2. The Dual Form
We learned that nouns in Hebrew can be either masculine or
feminine way back in lesson 3 and that the masculine plural
ending for nouns is ים . The dual form gives us a way to
express a pair of something or to count two of something.
To form the dual form, simply add an extra yod onto the
ending of a noun .יים
In Hebrew, this form is really quite rare. Most of the time it is
only used to express a pair of body parts and clothing
related to them. For instance, one word we learned back in
Lesson 13 is מכנסיים meaning pants. Do you notice the dual
form on the end? We will see a good deal of them in this
lesson.
3. The Dual Form
The dual form only exists for a very limited number of nouns.
Adjectives do not follow the rules of this form. If an adjective
is describing a noun in the dual form, it will simply use the
masculine plural ending as discussed in Lesson 11.
Most body parts that come in twos in Hebrew are feminine:
hands, eyes, legs, etc. This is a common rule that you can
use to determine gender.