Learn Hebrew: Basic Adjectives

This lesson introduces thirty fundamental Hebrew adjectives that will help you describe the world around you with precision. Adjectives are the building blocks of descriptive speech, allowing you to move beyond simple naming to expressing qualities, characteristics, and opinions. You will learn essential pairs of opposites, such as gadol (big) and katan (small), as well as emotional states like same’ach (happy) and atzuv (sad). Mastering these words is a vital step toward fluency, as they provide the necessary tools to discuss everything from the temperature, like cham (hot) or kar (cold), to the price of an object, such as yakar (expensive) or zol (cheap).

When using these adjectives, it is important to remember two key rules of Hebrew grammar. First, unlike in English, adjectives in Hebrew follow the noun they describe. For example, to describe something as "good," you would place the word tov (good) after the noun it modifies. Second, the words provided in this list are in their masculine singular form, which serves as the standard dictionary base. In Hebrew, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. This means that if you are describing a feminine noun or a plural group, the ending of the adjective will change.

Beyond physical descriptions like gavoha (tall) or namukh (short), this list includes evaluative terms such as nakhon (correct) and chakham (smart). These are indispensable for daily interactions and forming basic sentences. Whether you are identifying a location as karov (near) or rachok (far), or describing an object as chadash (new) or yashan (old), these basic descriptors will significantly expand your ability to communicate effectively in Hebrew.