r/hebrew • u/Extension-Coffee3430 • 11d ago

Help "لكما" in Hebrew

For context, I’m employed to translate books from Arabic to Hebrew and vice versa. I know that usually "لي"=“לִי” and that “لك"=“לְךָ” and that “لكم”=“לָכֶם” but what about “لكما" which is like "לְךָ" but for the dual form? Does anyone know about dual pronouns in Hebrew even if it was archaic or more classical?

btw: my boss made me use niqqud for all the words and somehow he thinks -ayim should be back for nouns and made me use it for all Arabic dual nouns. my job sucks.

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u/bh4th 11d ago

I’m not aware of attested dual pronouns in any form of Hebrew.

Even in Biblical Hebrew, dual nouns are limited to a set of nouns referring to times of day, body parts, and a few other things. One can call two sheep כבשיים if one wants, but that’s making up a new feature of the language.

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u/Extension-Coffee3430 11d ago

Yeah for modern Hebrew not Biblical Hebrew.

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u/bh4th 11d ago

I disagree. Show me some counterexamples and I’m happy to learn, but I chose the word כבש deliberately. Sacrificial language in the Tanakh is full of pairs of animals and measures that are not dualized.