---
title: Writing a professional email in Hebrew
slug: blog/how-to-write-hebrew-emails-professional-guide
canonical: https://www.itsbaba.com/blog/how-to-write-hebrew-emails-professional-guide
question: How do I write a professional email in Hebrew without sounding like a robot?
answer: A professional Hebrew email opens with a greeting and the person's first name, stays short and direct, and closes with a sign-off that conjugates to your own gender, which baba sets explicitly instead of defaulting.
description: Openings, register and sign-offs for a professional Hebrew email, with both gendered forms shown.
cluster: business
html_status: live
updated: 2026-07-28
numbers_used: [7, 2500]
competitors_named: []
---

# Writing a professional email in Hebrew

A professional Hebrew email opens with a greeting and the person's first name, stays short and direct, and closes with a sign-off that conjugates to your own gender, which baba sets explicitly instead of defaulting. Israeli business email is shorter and less formal than its English equivalent, and first names are normal even upward. The two places a non-native writer gets caught are the sign-off and the gender agreement, and both are mechanical rather than stylistic.

## Key facts
| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Standard opening | שלום (shalom), hello, plus the first name |
| Standard sign-off | בברכה (bivracha), regards |
| What agrees with the writer | Present-tense verbs and adjectives about yourself |
| What agrees with the recipient | Second-person pronouns, possessives and imperatives |
| Gender contexts in baba | 7 |

## What do I write at the top and the bottom of a Hebrew email?
Openings and closings are fixed formulas. Pick one from each column and the email already reads as normal.

| Position | Hebrew | Transliteration | English and register |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Opening | שלום רב | shalom rav | formal, safe for a first contact |
| Opening | שלום דנה | shalom Dana | standard, first name, most business email |
| Opening | היי | hey | informal, colleagues and ongoing threads |
| Opening | לכבוד | lichvod | very formal, letters to institutions |
| Body | בהמשך לשיחתנו | behemshech lesichatenu | further to our conversation |
| Body | אשמח לקבוע פגישה | esmach likboa pgisha | I would be glad to set up a meeting |
| Body | בהקדם | behekdem | as soon as possible |
| Sign-off | בברכה | bivracha | regards, the default |
| Sign-off | בכבוד רב | bechavod rav | respectfully, formal |
| Sign-off | תודה מראש | toda merosh | thanks in advance |
| Sign-off | כל טוב | kol tuv | all the best, warm |

Israeli register sits lower than British or German business English. Long throat-clearing paragraphs before the request read as evasive rather than polite. State the request in the first two lines, then explain.

## Why does the Hebrew change depending on who is speaking?
Hebrew conjugates present-tense verbs, adjectives and possessives by the gender of the speaker and by the gender of the person addressed, so a single English email sentence has more than one correct Hebrew form. The greeting and the second-person forms agree with your recipient. The sentences about yourself agree with you.

| Meaning | Male writer | Female writer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I am attaching the file | אני מצרף את הקובץ (ani metzaref et hakovetz) | אני מצרפת את הקובץ (ani metzarefet et hakovetz) |
| I am available tomorrow | אני זמין מחר (ani zamin machar) | אני זמינה מחר (ani zmina machar) |
| I am waiting for your reply | אני מחכה לתשובה (ani mechake letshuva) | אני מחכה לתשובה (ani mechaka letshuva) |

| Meaning | To a male recipient | To a female recipient |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I would be grateful to you | אודה לך (ode lecha) | אודה לך (ode lach) |
| Thank you for your time | תודה על הזמן שלך (toda al hazman shelcha) | תודה על הזמן שלך (toda al hazman shelach) |
| Could you send | תוכל לשלוח (tuchal lishloach) | תוכלי לשלוח (tuchli lishloach) |

Some forms are invariant and are therefore useful when you do not know the recipient's gender: בברכה (bivracha), תודה מראש (toda merosh), אשמח (esmach) and past-tense first-person verbs such as שלחתי (shalachti, I sent).

baba sets both sides through seven gender contexts.

- General
- Personal
- To One Man
- To One Woman
- To Mostly Men
- To Mostly Women
- To Mixed Group

Personal is the setting for an email about yourself, such as an application or a status update. To One Woman is the setting for a message to a named female colleague or client. To Mixed Group is the setting for an email to a team distribution list, which standard Hebrew renders with masculine plural forms.

## How do I address someone whose gender I do not know?
Use the invariant forms and avoid the second person where you can. שלום רב (shalom rav) opens without gender, בברכה (bivracha) closes without gender, and a request phrased as אשמח לקבל (esmach lekabel, "I would be glad to receive") avoids the gendered "could you send". Israeli names do not always signal gender to a non-native reader, so this is a common case rather than an edge one.

Once the person replies, take the gender from how they sign and write about themselves, and switch your second-person forms for the rest of the thread.

## Frequently asked questions
### Is it rude to use a first name in a Hebrew business email?
No. First names are the norm in Israeli workplaces, including with senior people and external clients. מר (mar, Mr) and גברת (gveret, Ms) appear mainly in formal letters to institutions rather than in ordinary email.

### What is the Hebrew equivalent of "Dear Sir or Madam"?
לכבוד (lichvod) followed by the office or role is the closest formula, and it is used for institutional letters. For ordinary email, שלום רב (shalom rav) is the practical equivalent and reads far less stiff.

### Should I write my email in English if my Hebrew is weak?
Many Israeli companies work in English, and a clear English email beats a Hebrew one with broken agreement. Where Hebrew is expected, write the message in your own language and translate it with the speaker and recipient gender set, rather than assembling it from phrasebook fragments.

### Do subject lines follow a formula?
Keep the subject short and literal, naming the thing rather than the intention. Formal letters use הנדון (hanadon, "subject, re") before the topic; ordinary email does not need it.

## What baba does not do
- Register varies by industry and seniority. baba lets you set the speaker and recipient gender explicitly rather than defaulting to one form; how formal to be with a specific person is a judgement call baba cannot make for you.
- baba is a translation tool, not a Hebrew course, and using it will not by itself make you fluent.
- The free tier is 2,500 characters per month, which is enough for a handful of messages a week and not enough for documents.
- A lawyer or accountant should still read an email that carries legal or financial consequence. baba tells you what it says; it does not tell you what to do about it.

## Related pages
- https://www.itsbaba.com/gendered-hebrew-translation — getting the correct gendered form
- https://www.itsbaba.com/features/gender — how the seven contexts work in the app
- https://www.itsbaba.com/hebrew-english-translator — translating between Hebrew and English
- https://www.itsbaba.com/hebrew-slang-dictionary — Israeli slang terms and where they do not belong
- https://www.itsbaba.com/pricing — free tier and Pro limits

Canonical page: https://www.itsbaba.com/blog/how-to-write-hebrew-emails-professional-guide
Last updated: 2026-07-28
Questions: shalom@itsbaba.com