In short

Modern Hebrew builds almost every plural with one of two suffixes: ־ים (-im), the default masculine ending, and ־ות (-ot), the default feminine ending. You strip whatever the singular ends in and glue the suffix on: סוס (sus) ‘horse’ → סוסים (susim), מיטה (mita) ‘bed’ → מיטות (mitot). Learn those two suffixes and you can already pluralize most A1 nouns.

The one thing that trips learners is that the suffix is not a gender label. A batch of common nouns takes the “wrong-looking” ending — masculine שולחן (shulchan) ‘table’ pluralizes to שולחנות (shulchanot) with feminine ־ות, feminine מילה (mila) ‘word’ pluralizes to מילים (milim) with masculine ־ים. The gender you learned in lesson 3 never changes; only the sound of the ending does. A short set of irregular plurals (women, men, cities) simply has to be memorized.

The rule

Two productive suffixes. The masculine plural ending is ־ים (-im) and the feminine plural ending is ־ות (-ot). Most nouns follow their gender: masculine nouns take ־ים, feminine nouns take ־ות. Start every plural from that expectation and adjust only for the memorized exceptions below.

Strip the singular ending before you add the suffix. You never just tack the suffix onto the whole dictionary word — you first remove the singular marker:

• Masculine on a consonant: add ־ים directly. סוס (sus) → סוסים (susim) ‘horses’, כלב (kelev) → כלבים (klavim) ‘dogs’.
• Masculine ending in ־ה: drop the ־ה, then add ־ים. מורה (moré) ‘teacher’ → מורים (morim), not מורהים.
• Feminine ending in ־ה: drop the ־ה, then add ־ות. מיטה (mita) → מיטות (mitot) ‘beds’, שאלה (she’ela) → שאלות (she’elot) ‘questions’.
• Feminine ending in ־ית: the ending becomes ־יות (-iyot). מכונית (mechonit) ‘car’ → מכוניות (mechoniyot), מונית (monit) ‘taxi’ → מוניות (moniyot).

The suffix can “lie” about gender. A closed set of very common nouns takes the ending that belongs to the other gender. They are still perfectly regular in sound — you just have to know which ending each one takes:

• Masculine nouns that take feminine ־ות: שולחן (shulchan) → שולחנות (shulchanot) ‘tables’, לילה (layla) → לילות (leilot) ‘nights’, מקום (makom) → מקומות (mekomot) ‘places’.
• Feminine nouns that take masculine ־ים: מילה (mila) → מילים (milim) ‘words’, שנה (shana) → שנים (shanim) ‘years’, ביצה (beitza) → ביצים (beitzim) ‘eggs’.

The suffix does NOT change the gender — this is the chief point. שולחנות (shulchanot) is still masculine; מילים (milim) is still feminine. Everything that agrees with the noun — adjectives, the present-tense verb, demonstratives, numbers — tracks the fixed lexical gender you learned in lesson 3, never the ־ים / ־ות ending you see on the surface. So “big tables” is שולחנות גדולים (shulchanot gdolim) with a masculine plural adjective, and “beautiful words” is מילים יפות (milim yafot) with a feminine plural adjective. Agreement is covered in lessons 6–12; here just fix the principle: read the ending for the sound of the plural, never for the gender.

A handful of plurals are suppletive — memorize them whole. These do not come from the singular by any suffix rule; they are separate stems you learn by heart: אישה (isha) → נשים (nashim) ‘women’, איש (ish) → אנשים (anashim) ‘men, people’, עיר (ir) → ערים (arim) ‘cities’, בית (bayit) → בתים (batim) ‘houses’, בן (ben) → בנים (banim) ‘sons’.

Segholate nouns shift their vowels — learn the plural as a word. Two-syllable nouns like ספר (sefer) ‘book’ and ילד (yeled) ‘boy’ change their inner vowels in the plural: ספרים (sfarim), ילדים (yeladim), כלבים (klavim). At A1 do not try to compute this — just memorize each plural as a whole word. The vowel machinery behind it — the noun patterns, or משקלים (mishkalim) — is a later topic.

Forms & patterns

The productive patterns — strip the singular ending, then add the suffix:

The “lying suffix” nouns — the ending points to the wrong gender, but the gender never moves:

Suppletive / irregular plurals to memorize whole:

Examples

Common mistakes

• מורהים -> מורים (morim) - drop the singular ־ה before adding ־ים; you never keep both.
• מיטים -> מיטות (mitot) - a feminine ־ה noun takes ־ות, not ־ים.
• שולחנים -> שולחנות (shulchanot) - שולחן is one of the masculine nouns that takes the ־ות ending; memorize it.
• מילות -> מילים (milim) - מילה is feminine but takes the ־ים ending; the suffix does not follow the gender here.
• שולחנות גדולות -> שולחנות גדולים (shulchanot gdolim) - שולחן stays masculine, so the adjective is masculine plural even though the noun ends in ־ות.
• מילים יפים -> מילים יפות (milim yafot) - מילה stays feminine, so the adjective is feminine plural even though the noun ends in ־ים.
• אישות / אישים (for women) -> נשים (nashim) - “women” is a suppletive plural, unrelated to the suffix rules.
• עירים -> ערים (arim) - עיר has an irregular plural stem; learn it as a whole word.

Tips

• Learn every new noun with its plural, not just its gender — say “sefer, sfarim” the way you say “sefer, masculine”.
• Default first, then adjust: expect masculine → ־ים and feminine → ־ות, and only override for the memorized exception words.
• Always strip the singular ending before adding the suffix; ־ה and ־ית disappear before the plural goes on.
• The ending is a sound, not a gender tag. To choose an adjective or verb, recall the noun’s lexical gender from lesson 3, not the ־ים / ־ות you see.
• Keep a short flashcard list of the “lying suffix” nouns — שולחן, לילה, מקום on one side; מילה, שנה, ביצה on the other.
• Remember ־ית becomes ־יות (an extra yod): מכונית → מכוניות, not מכוניתים.
• The suppletives are few — נשים, אנשים, ערים, בתים, בנים — so drilling them once pays off for good.
• Do not try to derive segholate plurals (sefer → sfarim) at A1; the vowel shift belongs to the noun-pattern lesson. Just memorize the plural.