Is the Jewish day of rest masculine or feminine?

שַׁבָּת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-1.mp3″ /]

Modern Hebrew speakers use שַׁבָּת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-1.mp3″ /] – the Hebrew word for Sabbath – as a feminine noun.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-2.mp3″ /]הָיְתָה לְךָ שַׁבָּת טוֹבָה?

Did you (a male) have a good Shabbat?

But is שבת necessarily a feminine noun? Looking at Biblical Hebrew, it’s not so clear: Sometimes שבת is feminine, but other times it’s masculine.

Some of you might be thinking, how could this be? It’s the Sabbath Queen (שַׁבָּת הַמַּלְכָּה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-3.mp3″ /]), not the Sabbath King! Besides, the word ends in the letter ת (t) – doesn’t that make the noun feminine?

Digging a bit deeper, we observe that the root of שבת is שׁ.ב.ת, (sh.b.t), so that the ת in שבת is part of the root, not a feminine ending. This root is the same as that of the word שְׁבִיתָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-4.mp3″ /] – a strike: שבת is the day of rest, the day that workers go on strike.

Another word that throws Hebrew speakers – both new and native – for a loop is the word for week – שָׁבוּעַ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-5.mp3″ /]. It sounds feminine, but its ending is masculine. To make things more confusing, the word itself is masculine, even though when used in the plural, it’s got a feminine ending.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-6.mp3″ /]יֶשְׁנָם שִׁבְעָה שָׁבֻעוֹת שְׁלֵמִים בֵּין פֶּסַח לְחַג הַשָּׁבֻעוֹת.

There are seven complete weeks between Passover and the Feast of Weeks.

Note that the pronunciation of שבועות is שָבועות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-7.mp3″ /], not שְבועות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שבת-8.mp3″ /] – which means vows, not weeks.

To eliminate confusion with masculine- and feminine-gendered nouns in Hebrew, just find out whether the word in the singular is masculine or feminine.