1. Know that nouns whose third radical is quiescent he usually occur with an added mem or tav at the beginning. They are vowelled with a ḥiriq, followed by a quiescent sheva, as in mitsvah, minḥah, tiqvah, and tikhlah. When a guttural letter follows, the vowel is a pataḥ, as in maḥatsah, maḥtah, and taʾavah.

2. Know that all of these final he letters mark the feminine form. The proof is that they are accented on the final syllable, and furthermore that the he changes to a soft tav in the construct state and with pronominal suffixes, as is the rule for a feminine he, for example: mitsvot Hashem (“the commandments of the Lord”), minḥat Yehudah (“the offering of Judah”), mitsvato (“his commandment”), taʾavato (“his desire”). A few cases are found in which the he is merely an added letter, such as from ʿalah (“to go up”), maʿalah (“ascent”), and similar forms. These are accented on the penultimate syllable, as I explained in the Third Treatise, Principle Eight, Section Two.

3. Indeed, many nouns are found with a root he at the end, but a segol always precedes it, such as miqneh (“livestock”), miqreh (“occurrence”), and mishneh (“second, copy”). If the first radical is a guttural, examples include maḥaneh (“camp”) and maʿaseh (“deed”). In this way they are distinguished from the feminine or added he, whose vowel is qamats. They also do not change in the construct state or with pronominal suffixes, except that the segol becomes tsere, as in maḥaneh Dan (“the camp of Dan,” Num. 2:25) and mirʿeh ʿadarim (“a pasture of flocks,” Isa. 32:14). However, with the addition of tav at the beginning a root he is never found. In forms with pronominal suffixes the he drops, as in miqnehu, mishnehu, maʿasehu. The same occurs when the he is followed by vav in the masculine suffix, as in yadehu (“his hand”) and raglehu (“his foot”). Likewise miqni, miqnekha, miqnem, and so forth; in all of these the he disappears.