[a] 1. The feminine ending ־ָה, when appended to the masculine forms treated in § 93, effects in almost all cases the same changes as are produced in the masculine forms by the addition of a light suffix, since in both cases the tone is moved one place farther forward (see § 92 b). The following scheme is based on the same division into four classes, with their subdivisions, as in § 93; a few special forms will be treated in § 95 in connexion with the paradigms of feminine nouns.
[b] Paradigm I: segholate forms, with the feminine ending always added to the ground-form, (a) מַלְכָּה queen, כַּבְשָׂ֫ה, and with attenuation of ă to ĭ כִּבְשָׂ֫ה lamb, רִצְפָּה hot stone, Is 66 (from another root רִֽצְפָה; see Baer on Ez 4017), חֶזְקָה strength (unless belonging to Paradigm b); (b) סִתְרָה covering (masc. סֵ֫תֶר); עֶדְנָה pleasure (עֵ֫דֶן), not to be confounded with the unchangeable forms with a prefixed מ, derived from ל״ה stems, as מִצְוָה command, plur. מִצְוֹת; (c) חֻלְדָּה, proper name (חֹ֫לֶד mole), אָכְלָה food (אֹ֫כֶל); (d) נַֽעֲרָה girl (נַ֫עַר); (f) בָּאְשָׁה weed, טָֽהֳרָה purity (טֹ֫הַר); (g) עַוְלָה wrong (also עוֹלָה, Paradigm i); (i) צֵידָה victuals (masc. צַ֫יִד, cf. Paradigm h); from qiṭl and quṭl-forms, בִּינָה understanding, סוּפָה tempest; (k) אַלְיָה fat tail (as if from אֲלִי), שִׁבְיָה (ă attenuated to ĭ) captivity (שְׁבִי), לִוְיָה wreath (probably an original qiṭl-form); (l) חַיָּה life, מִדָּה measure (attenuated from מַדָּה). Adjectives derived from ע״ע stems also belong in flexion to this class, as רַבָּה multa, with middle guttural רָעָה mala; (m) זִמָּה plan; (n) חֻקָּה statute (חֹק).
[c] Paradigm II: ground-form qăṭălăt, &c., (a) נְקָמָה vengeance (נָקָם); (b) אֲדָמָה earth; (c) נְבֵלָה corpse; (d) עֲיֵפָה languida; (f) יָפָה beautiful, קָצָה end (from יָפֶה, קָצֶה). From stems ע״וּ arise such forms as עֵדָה (masc. עֵד, properly part. Qal from עוּד) female witness. From the ground-form qătŭl, עֲמֻקָּה profunda (masc. עָמֹק), עֲבֻדָּה servitude, &c.
[d] Paradigm III: unchangeable vowel in the first, changeable in the second syllable, (a) יֽׄלֵדָה a woman with child (cf. the examples in § 84a s, and the retention of the ē in the part. Piʿēl, Ex 2217, 2326; in the Hithpaʿēl 1 K 145 f.), but also with the change of the ē (originally ĭ) into Šewâ, יֽשְׁבָה dwelling, Na 38. However, in these participial forms the feminine is mostly indicated by ־ֶת (see below, h); (c) גּוֹלָה those of the captivity (masc. גּוֹלֶה), but also with a return of the final Yôdh, הֹֽמִיָּה clamorous, Pr 711, and the examples in § 75 v. On the â of the participles of verbs ע״וּ, which also belong to this class, such as זָרָה peregrina, cf. § 72 g.
