"הציפורים אוכלות לחם."

Translation: The birds eat bread.

[parchee]

Why is the female plural conjugation אוכלות used here for הציפורים?

[AlmogL]

Because it's a grammatical female, it's one of the exceptions where "ים" is the plural marking of a female noun. There are a few such exceptions and also a few where "ות" is the female marking of a male noun, just to annoy. :-)

[iggyl]

Is there a good list somewhere to be used as a reference of feminine nouns that take ים in plural form, as well as masculine nouns which take ות? Thanks!

[AlmogL]

I found this, it's a lot of historical and technical details in Hebrew but there's also a comprehensive list:

Masculines ending with ות: https://www.safa-ivrit.org/irregulars/pluralfm.php

Feminins ending with ים: https://www.safa-ivrit.org/irregulars/pluralml.php

[iggyl]

Well, hopefully these pages will become useful for me some day, but today I still can't read much Hebrew, so they are of not help yet. Thank you anyway!

[AdrianAviel]

That's helpful. Thank you

[Baloupupu]

I would appreciate it if duolingo would contribute to the education of the population by telling the truth: birds should not eat bread. Stop the encouragement. Give them whole grains instead, wheat, millet, for example, and during the winter something fatty, like sunflower seeds. Much better than bread, thank you

[HaroldLawson]

Is the singular for a bird ציפור if so how can the plural ציפורות ?????

[Hamutaltul]

that's a great quastion, the ציפורים is one of the exceptions. there are about 35 feminine words that have plural suffix of masculine, and about 150 masculine words that have plural suffix of feminine. these words are different under the influence of Aramaic, which was widely used at the time of Chazal

[Hannah649004]

What does "ציפורים" mean? I think it's the feminine form of birds, meaning all the birds are ladies. But what then is the masculine plural and the plural for a mixed group of birds?

[Hamutaltul]

the words ציפור (bird) and ציפורים (birds) are feminine words in hebrew, but it doesn't mean that it describe only feminine-birds (though for most animals we have defferent name for the feminine and the masculine)

[Hannah649004]

Thank you. So just to clarify "ציפורים" means any group of birds whether male, female or mixed and because the word is feminine any following verb has to have a female ending. Is that correct?

[Hamutaltul]

Indeed (:

[Hannah649004]

Thanks for your help, it's very much appreciated.

[BernardNIC4]

I wrote the correct solution : הציפורים אוכלות לחם which is not accepted !!!

[Marina463832]

No such option like"bread"

[JeromeBerg4]

Why is there no direct object marker את

[danny912421]

It has to be "definite direct object" to use את. If it were "the bread", then you'd say את הלחם. Here, it's just "bread" לחם.

[JeromeBerg4]

Thank you. You are right