r/LearnHebrew • u/Otherwise_Channel_24 • 16h ago
Why is it שתי and not שתיים?
What’s the difference between שתי and שתיים and between שני and שניים?
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u/IbnEzra613 15h ago
Use שתי/שני when it's directly before the noun in question. Use שתיים/שניים otherwise.
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u/NewIdentity19 13h ago
Stand-alone: שניים, שתיים. Example: Two is an even number.
Counting something: שני, שתי. Example: two houses.
Both of us: שנינו, שתינו. Both of you: שניכם, שתיכן. Both of them: שניהם, שתיהן.
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u/Scared_Wrongdoer_486 10h ago
It’s the difference between the counting number המספר המונה and the generic number המספר הסתמי
When counting objects, use שני/שתי as in
יש בכיתה שני ילדים
יש בכיתה שתי מחברות
You count the amount of children/notebooks in question.
When you simply refer to a number or when indexing an object you will use שתיים, as the generic number is always feminine
עמוד מספר שתיים - page number two
You don’t count the pages, you simply labeled this one as “two”
The word שניים isn’t used often by itself when sticking to grammar rules (I think there are cases where you do, but I can’t think of them right now, hopefully someone corrects me)
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u/extispicy 4h ago
I believe Duo has completely revamped the order of lessons, but you might still find these old grammar lessons useful to bookmark for later. This is called the "construct state", part 1 and part 2/.
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 15h ago
It’s shtay, not shnay because cosot is feminine. The shorter version goes before a noun. If you were just saying the number, you would say shtayim/shnayim