how to say “bones” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /]עֲצָמוֹת

The Hebrew word for bone is עצם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /], while more than one bone is עצמות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /]כמה עצמות יש בגוף האדם?

How many bones are there in the human body?

and

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /]העצמות האלה יבשים.

These bones are dry.

Now, why does a masculine word like עצם have a feminine ות-[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /] ending? That’s just the way Hebrew works: it has rules of thumb, but these rules get broken all the time by בני אדם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/עצמות-#.m4a” /] – human beings – who have adapted the language to their speech needs over thousands of years.