By B2 you have met a few hundred adjectives and they have started to rhyme with one another. That is not coincidence. Every Hebrew adjective sits in a משקל — a fixed skeleton of vowels that a root is poured into — and the skeleton carries meaning in its own right, the same way the binyanim do for verbs. A learner who treats adjectives as unanalysable vocabulary pays full price for every new word. A learner who knows the moulds meets נָגִישׁ for the first time and can tell, from its shape alone, that it means can be reached.
Because the vowels are the pattern, everything below is pointed. The unpointed forms in the examples are what you will actually read.
קָטָל and קָטֵל: plain qualities and states
The two shortest moulds hold the most basic adjectives in the language, and they differ by a single vowel in the second slot.
| משקל | Members | What it tends to mean |
|---|---|---|
| קָטָל | קָטָן katán small · לָבָן laván white · חָכָם khakhám clever · חָדָשׁ khadásh new · יָשָׁר yashár straight, honest | a plain, permanent property of the thing |
| קָטֵל | זָקֵן zakén old · שָׁמֵן shamén fat · כָּבֵד kavéd heavy · מָלֵא malé full · עָיֵיף ayéf tired · שָׂמֵחַ saméakh happy | a state something is in — often one it got into |
The קָטֵל group is the more interesting of the two, because most of its members have a pa'al verb standing right behind them: זָקֵן against זָקַן grew old, יָשֵׁן asleep against יָשַׁן slept, שָׂמֵחַ against שָׂמַח rejoiced. These are the stative adjectives, and the tsere is their signature. They are also the trap noted on participle adjectives: עייף looks like a participle and is not one — it is a קָטֵל.
הכלב שלנו כבר זקן, הוא ישן כל היום.
hakélev shelánu kvar zakén, hu yashén kol hayóm
Our dog's old now — he sleeps all day. (two קָטֵל adjectives in one sentence)
קָטוֹל: measurable extent
Dictionaries print this mould as קָטֹל, with a bare cholam; ktiv male writes that cholam as a plain vav, so on the page it is קָטוֹל — גדול, ארוך, עגול. One pattern, two spellings, and the vav is not a root letter.
| Pointed | As written | Reads | Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| גָּדוֹל | גדול | gadól | big |
| אָרוֹךְ | ארוך | arókh | long |
| עָגוֹל | עגול | agól | round |
| עָמוֹק | עמוק | amók | deep |
| קָרוֹב | קרוב | karóv | near |
| רָחוֹק | רחוק | rakhók | far |
Read the meanings down the column: size, length, shape, depth, distance. This is the mould for a property you could put a number on — which is why it is also where the comparative lives most comfortably. Its other tenant is the colour set, אָדֹם, יָרֹק, כָּחֹל and the rest, treated on patterns for illnesses and colours.
הדרך ארוכה אבל הנוף שווה את זה.
hadérekh aruká avál hanóf shavé et ze
It's a long drive, but the view makes up for it.
השולחן עגול, ככה אף אחד לא יושב בראש.
hashulkhán agól, kákha af ekhád lo yoshév barósh
The table's round, so nobody ends up sitting at the head of it.
קָטִיל: the pattern that means "can be"
This is the mould worth the most to a B2 reader, because it is where modern Hebrew puts English -able and -ible, and it does so systematically enough to be predictive.
| Older members | The -able set |
|---|---|
| נָקִי nakí clean | נָגִישׁ nagísh accessible |
| נָעִים na'ím pleasant | זָמִין zamín available |
| נָדִיר nadír rare | קָרִיא karí legible |
| בָּהִיר bahír bright, light | שָׁמִישׁ shamísh usable |
| יָצִיב yatsív stable | אָכִיל akhíl edible · שָׁבִיר shavír breakable |
Be precise about what is old here and what is new. The pattern itself is ancient — נָקִי, נָעִים and נָדִיר are all classical, and none of them means "can be". What is modern is the systematic use of the mould to translate -able, which gives the right-hand column a family resemblance the left-hand one does not have. So קָטִיל is not a revival-era invention; it is an old shape put to a new and highly regular job.
Note the two homographs the pattern hands you: קְרִיאָה, the feminine of קָרִיא legible, is spelled exactly like קְרִיאָה a call, a reading; and נְגִישָׁה sits next to the unrelated נְגִיסָה a bite. Nothing but the sentence separates them.
הכתב שלו לא קריא, אני לא מצליחה לקרוא את ההערות.
haktáv sheló lo karí, aní lo matslikhá likró et hahe'arót
His handwriting isn't legible — I can't make out the notes. (f. speaker)
הכניסה לא נגישה, אין רמפה בכלל.
haknisá lo negishá, ein rámpa bikhlál
The entrance isn't accessible — there's no ramp at all.
קַטְלָן and קַטְלָנִי: the person and the quality
Two moulds that belong together, because the second is built on the first. קַטְלָן makes a noun naming a person defined by a habit; add the ־ִי suffix and you get קַטְלָנִי, the adjective naming the habit itself.
| קַטְלָן — the person | קַטְלָנִי — the quality |
|---|---|
| פַּחְדָן pakhdán a coward | פַּחְדָנִי pakhdaní cowardly |
| בַּיְישָׁן bayshán a shy person | — |
| עַקְשָׁן akshán a stubborn person | — |
| קַמְצָן kamtsán a miser | קַמְצָנִי kamtsaní stingy |
| רַגְזָן ragzán a short-tempered person | — |
| בַּזְבְּזָן bazbezán a spendthrift | בַּזְבְּזָנִי bazbezaní wasteful |
| — | רַשְׁלָנִי rashlaní negligent · קַטְלָנִי katlaní deadly · עַצְבָּנִיatsbaní irritable |
The bottom row matters. עַצְבָּנִי is a ־ָנִי adjective, not a ־ָן noun — there is no personality noun *עצבן standing behind it the way פחדן stands behind פחדני, so filing it with בישן and קמצן will make you decline it wrongly. And the gaps in the right-hand column are real: ביישני and עקשני exist but are rare, because Hebrew is content to use the noun itself predicatively — הוא עקשן, "he's a stubborn one".
הוא היה ילד ביישן, עכשיו הוא עומד מול אלף אנשים.
hu hayá yéled bayshán, akhsháv hu oméd mul élef anashím
He was a shy kid; now he stands in front of a thousand people.
הוא קיבל קנס על נהיגה רשלנית.
hu kibél knas al nehigá rashlanít
He was fined for careless driving. (formal — the language of a traffic court)
One root, four adjectives
The clearest way to feel that patterns do the work is to hold the consonants still and change only the mould.
| Root | קָטוּל (done to it) | קָטִיל (can be) | קַטְלָן (a person) | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ש־ב־ר | שָׁבוּר shavúr broken | שָׁבִיר shavír breakable | — | שֶׁבֶר shéver a fracture |
| א־כ־ל | אָכוּל akhúl eaten away | אָכִיל akhíl edible | אַכְלָן akhlán a big eater | מַאֲכָל ma'akhál a food |
Three consonants, five words each, and not one of them has to be learned separately once the moulds are in place. שָׁבוּר and שָׁבִיר are one vowel apart and describe opposite situations — a broken glass is already in pieces, a breakable one is intact and worth worrying about.
תיזהר, הזכוכית הזאת שבירה מאוד.
tizahér, hazkhukhít hazót shvirá me'ód
Careful — that glass is very fragile. (informal, to a man)
הקירות בסלון ירקרקים, לא בדיוק מה שביקשנו.
hakirót basalón yerakrakím, lo bediyúk ma shebikáshnu
The living-room walls are greenish — not exactly what we asked for.
Common Mistakes
1. Using a קַטְלָן noun as though it were an adjective. It looks like one, it translates like one, and it does not agree like one.
❌ אחותי מאוד פחדן
Incorrect — פחדן is a masculine noun, so it cannot describe a woman: אחותי מאוד פחדנית. Same for ביישנית, עקשנית, קמצנית.
✅ אחותי מאוד פחדנית, היא אפילו לא נוסעת ברכבת הרים.
akhotí me'ód pakhdanít, hi afílu lo nosá'at berakévet harím
My sister is a real coward — she won't even go on a rollercoaster.
2. Confusing קָטוּל with קָטִיל. Both are correct Hebrew and they are opposite claims about the object in front of you, which is why this one survives for years.
✅ הכוס שבורה, אני זורקת אותה.
hakós shvurá, aní zoréket otá
The glass is broken — I'm throwing it out. (קָטוּל: it has already happened)
✅ הכוס שבירה, תשים אותה בפנים.
hakós shvirá, tasím otá bifním
The glass is fragile — put it inside. (קָטִיל: it could happen, so be careful)
3. Leaving a קָטִיל adjective unagreed. Because the mould feels technical — accessible, available, usable — learners treat these as labels rather than adjectives.
❌ הפטרייה הזאת לא אכיל
Incorrect — פטרייה is feminine, so the adjective must be too: הפטרייה הזאת לא אכילה. The -able moulds inflect like any other adjective.
✅ הפטריות האלה לא אכילות, אל תיגע בהן.
hapitriyót ha'éle lo akhilót, al tigá bahén
Those mushrooms aren't edible — don't touch them. (informal, to a man)
4. Choosing the person when you want the quality. The ־ָן noun and the ־ָנִי adjective are both real, and they say different things about the sentence.
✅ הוא קמצן, הוא לא ישאיר טיפ.
hu kamtsán, hu lo yash'ír tip
He's a miser — he won't leave a tip. (the noun: a label for the man)
✅ זאת הצעה קמצנית, הם יכולים לשלם הרבה יותר.
zot hatsa'á kamtsanít, hem yekholím leshalém harbé yotér
That's a stingy offer — they can pay a lot more. (the adjective: a quality of the offer)
Key Takeaways
- An adjective is a root poured into a משקל, and the mould carries meaning: learn the moulds and most new adjectives decode themselves.
- קָטָל holds plain properties (קטן, לבן, חכם); קָטֵל holds states, usually with a pa'al verb behind them (זקן, מלא, שמח, עייף).
- קָטוֹל — printed קָטֹל, written with a vav — is for measurable extent: גדול, ארוך, עגול, עמוק, קרוב, רחוק. It also holds the colours.
- קָטִיל is an old pattern (נקי, נעים, נדיר) put to a modern, regular job: English -able. נגיש, זמין, קריא, שמיש, אכיל, שביר.
- קַטְלָן names a person, קַטְלָנִי names the quality: פחדן / פחדני, קמצן / קמצני. עצבני is a ־ָנִי adjective, with no ־ָן noun behind it.
- Hold a root still and swap moulds: ש־ב־ר gives שבור broken and שביר breakable — one vowel apart, opposite situations.
- קְטַלְטַל softens rather than intensifies: אדמדם is reddish, not very red.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- Noun Patterns (משקלים): An OverviewB1 — A map of the noun patterns worth learning — which shape makes a profession, a place, a tool, an act or a quality — plus what a mishkal predicts beyond meaning, and the large part of the vocabulary it does not govern at all.
- Patterns: משקל for Nouns, בניין for VerbsA2 — A Hebrew word is a root poured into a template. Hebrew has two words for that template — בניין for the seven verb patterns, משקל for the noun and adjective patterns — and it is the pattern, never the root, that decides what kind of word comes out.
- Patterns for Illnesses and Colours (קַדַּחַת, אָדֹם)C1 — Two small mishkalim that prove the pattern system is real infrastructure: קַטֶּלֶת is where disease names go and קָטֹל holds nearly every colour. Both are held together by vowels alone — and ktiv male erases exactly the vowels that tell אֲדֻמָּה and שְׁחֹרָה apart.
- Participles Used as Adjectives: מעניין, עייף, סגורA2 — A large share of everyday Hebrew adjectives are not adjectives at all — they are verb participles that settled down. Once you can see which binyan a word came out of, you stop memorising pairs like מעניין and מעוניין and start deriving them.
- Colours and Their Feminine and Plural FormsA2 — Hebrew colour words are adjectives, so they agree — and they do not agree by taking an ending. The stem is rebuilt underneath: אדום becomes אדומה, לבן becomes לבנה, and שחור stubbornly stays שחורה. Three different behaviours in one small set of eleven words.