I've been wondering for some time about how to determine if an adjective is attributive or predicate in Hebrew. Page 33 in Weingreen's grammar gives a discussion of this very thing. I will be watching to see how well this holds up. Here is what he has to say:
When the noun is definite the adjective which qualifies it has the article.
(iii)
'the man is good' is expressed in Hebrew as 'good (is) the man' טוֹב הָאִישׁ
and sometimes simply 'the man (is) good' הָאִישׁ טוֹב
'the woman is good' is expressed in Hebrew as 'good (is) the woman'
טוֹבָה האִשָּׁה and sometimes simply 'the woman (is) good' הָאִשָּׁה טוֹבָה
Note: The present tense of the verb 'to be' ('am', 'art', 'is', 'are') is not expressed in Hebrew, but is implied in the context, as above. The above examples show that when the adjective is used predicatively it usually precedes (though sometimes it follows) the noun.
Summary:
...The adjective follows the noun it qualifies, and agrees with it in gender and number. If the noun is definite, then the adjective has the article. When used predicatively, the adjective usually precedes (though sometimes it follows) the noun.
There is a footnote about the "sometimes following" - "This alternative order is used when the noun is to be emphasized: ti would mean 'the man (or woman) is good'.
