Hebrew grammar

Gender of nouns

מין השם

Every Hebrew noun is masculine or feminine, and that gender spreads to adjectives, present-tense verbs, and the numbers that sit with the noun. Meaning will not save you: שולחן (shulkhan, table) is masculine and דלת (delet, door) is feminine.

Plurals

רבים

Hebrew plurals are not a single ending. Masculine nouns usually add ים and feminine nouns usually add ות, and then a long list of everyday words break that pattern.

The definite article

ה הידיעה

Hebrew has no word for a or an. You mark the when you need it by prefixing ה to the noun, and that same ה then copies onto adjectives that describe the noun.

Adjective agreement

התאם התואר

A Hebrew adjective sits after its noun and copies three things: gender, number, and definiteness. Learn one adjective as a four-form set, not as a single English-style word.

This and that

זה וזאת

Hebrew points with זה for a masculine thing, זאת or זו for a feminine thing, and אלה for more than one. The same words also work as a copula: זה ספר means this is a book.

Personal pronouns

כינויי גוף

Hebrew personal pronouns mark person, gender, and number. You need them most in the present tense, where the verb does not tell you who the subject is.

Possession with shel

שייכות עם של

The everyday way to say my, your, or Dan’s in modern Hebrew is של plus a noun or a pronoun ending. הספר שלי is the phrase you want in class and on the street.

et, the object marker

את סימן המושא

Hebrew marks a definite direct object with את. You say ראיתי ספר but ראיתי את הספר, and you say ראיתי אותך when the object is a pronoun.

yesh and ein

יש ואין

יש says something is there or that someone has it; אין says the opposite. Hebrew has no verb have in the present, so יש לי זמן is how you say I have time.

Present tense

הווה

The Hebrew present is a four-form participle: one each for masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. It covers I am writing and I write, and it does not mark person.

Infinitives

שם הפועל

The dictionary-style to write form in Hebrew is לכתוב. That ל־ infinitive follows רוצה, יכול, צריך, אוהב, and a long list of other verbs, and it is also how signs give instructions.

Telling time

מָה הַשָּׁעָה

The everyday question is מָה הַשָּׁעָה, and the answer uses feminine numbers because שָׁעָה is feminine. Israeli speech mixes analog phrases such as שָׁלוֹשׁ וָחֵצִי with digital-style readings of the minutes.

Question words

מִלּוֹת שְׁאֵלָה

Israeli yes-no questions are often just a statement with rising pitch, but content questions open with a small closed set: מַה, מִי, אֵיפֹה, מָתַי, לָמָּה, אֵיךְ, כַּמָּה. Formal writing may add הַאִם in front of a yes-no question.

Negation

שְׁלִילָה

Israeli Hebrew splits negation by what you are denying: לֹא before verbs and adjectives, אֵין for “there isn’t” and “don’t have,” and אַל before an imperative. Extra words such as שׁוּם and אַף sit comfortably beside that first negator.

Conjunctions

מִלּוֹת חִבּוּר

The smallest glue words (וְ, אוֹ, אֲבָל, גַּם, אֶלָּא) do most of the joining work in Israeli sentences. They stay in front of the clause or phrase they add, and וְ is written attached to the next word.

Direction and location

כִּוּוּן וּמָקוֹם

Location sits mainly on three prefixes (be in/at, le to, mi from), plus a small set of free prepositions such as עַל, תַּחַת, לְיַד, בֵּין, and מוּל. A handful of frozen forms still carry a directional ־ָה: הַבַּיְתָה, יָמִינָה, שְׂמֹאלָה.

Verbs of motion

פְּעָלִים שֶׁל תְּנוּעָה

Israeli Hebrew splits “go” by how you move: הָלַךְ on foot, נָסַע in a vehicle, טָס by air, בָּא when the goal is the speaker’s here. Directional prefixes le, mi, and frozen הַבַּיְתָה ride on these verbs rather than replacing them.

Possessive suffixes

כינויי שייכות

Hebrew can glue the owner onto the noun: ביתי, ספרו, שמם. The pattern is older and tighter than של, and modern speech keeps it for some words while preferring של for the rest.

Prepositions with suffixes

מילות יחס עם כינויים

A Hebrew preposition cannot sit in front of אני or אתה. The pronoun melts into the preposition: לי, בך, ממנו, איתי, עליה, and each preposition has its own little table.

Past tense

עבר

The past tense is the first conjugation where the verb itself names the person, so כתבתי already means I wrote and you can drop אני. The dictionary form of many verbs is the third-person masculine singular past.

Future tense

עתיד

The future puts a prefix on the verb: a- for I, t- for you and she, y- for he and they, n- for we. אכתוב is I will write, and the same conjugation also builds many commands and a lot of polite requests.

Imperative

ציווי

Hebrew has a dedicated command form (שב, שבי, שבו), and then in real life people often command with the future or with an infinitive instead. You need all three to hear what Israelis are actually telling you to do.

Roots and patterns

שׁוֹרָשִׁים וּמִשְׁקָלִים

Almost every Hebrew verb and many nouns are built from a three-letter root poured into a pattern. Once you can see the root, families such as סֵפֶר, סִפּוּר, and מְסַפֵּר stop looking like separate words.

Smichut, the construct state

סְמִיכוּת

Hebrew often chains two nouns so the first is “of” the second: בֵּית סֵפֶר, עוֹרֵךְ דִּין, כּוֹס קָפֶה. That chain is smichut, and the first noun frequently changes shape.

Numbers and gender

מִסְפָּרִים וּמִגְדָּר

Israeli Hebrew still distinguishes masculine and feminine numerals, and for 3–10 the long form goes with masculine nouns. That polarity is the main trap in shop and classroom counting.

Ordinal numbers

מִסְפָּרִים סִדּוּרִיִּים

Ordinals tell you which one in a line: the first bus, the third lesson, the second street. They behave like adjectives, so they agree in gender and take הַ when the noun is definite.

Because and so

כִּי, בִּגְלַל, לָכֵן

Cause and result are split by what follows the linker: כִּי and מִפְּנֵי שֶׁ take a clause, בִּגְלַל takes a noun, and לָכֵן or spoken אָז introduce the result. Purpose uses כְּדֵי plus an infinitive, which is not a cause.

Comparatives

הַשְׁוָואָה

Hebrew does not inflect adjectives into “-er” forms. You build a comparative with יוֹתֵר and mi, a superlative with הַכִּי in speech or בְּיוֹתֵר in writing, and equality with כְּמוֹ.

Adverbs

תֹּאֲרֵי פֹּעַל

Many Israeli adverbs of manner are simply adjectives in the masculine singular: הִיא מְדַבֶּרֶת יָפֶה, הוּא רָץ מַהֵר. Others are frozen words (לְאַט, כְּבָר, עוֹד) or a בְּ plus an abstract noun (בִּזְהִירוּת).

Modal verbs

יָכוֹל, צָרִיךְ, אֶפְשָׁר

Ability, need, want, and permission in Israeli Hebrew are a small set: יָכוֹל, צָרִיךְ, רוֹצֶה, חַיָּב, plus the impersonals אֶפְשָׁר, אָסוּר, מֻתָּר, כְּדַאי. Personal modals conjugate and then take an infinitive.

The seven binyanim

שבעת הבניינים

Hebrew verbs live in patterns called binyanim. The same three-letter root can pass through several patterns and pick up a new shade: גדל he grew, גידל he raised, הגדיל he enlarged.

Pa'al (qal)

בניין קל

Pa'al, also called qal, is the basic active pattern. Dictionary citations such as כתב, שמר, and הלך are pa'al past tense, and a large share of the first verbs you learn sit in this binyan.

Pi'el

בניין פיעל

Pi'el is the pattern of דיבר, בישל, שילם, and לימד, and in the present it wears a mem: מדבר, מבשל. Many pi'el verbs are simply the ordinary verb for that meaning, not a louder version of a pa'al cousin.

Hif'il

בניין הפעיל

Hif'il is the pattern of הכניס, הדליק, התחיל, and הבין, with a past that often starts with ה־ and a present that starts with mem: מכניס, מדליק, מתחיל, מבין. Causative is the usual school label, and then many common hif'il verbs simply mean what they mean.

Hitpael

הִתְפַּעֵל

Hitpael is the binyan Israeli speakers use when someone acts on themselves, or when two people act on each other. It is also the frame for everyday routines such as getting dressed, showering, and corresponding by message.

Nifal

נִפְעַל

Nifal is the binyan that often supplies the passive or intransitive counterpart of a paal verb. In Israeli speech it is also simply how a large set of verbs such as נִכְנַס, נִשְׁאַר, and נִרְאָה are stored.

Conditionals

מִשְׁפְּטֵי תְּנַאי

Real conditions in Israeli Hebrew open with אִם and usually put a present or future in both clauses. Unreal “if only I had known” conditions use לוּ or אִלּוּ plus a past, and speech often substitutes אִם הָיִיתִי instead.

Passive voice

סָבִיל

Israeli Hebrew can mark a passive in נִפְעַל, פֻּעַל, and הֻפְעַל, but everyday speech often keeps an active verb with an unnamed “they.” News and instructions still use nifal freely; pual and hufal are denser in writing.

Formal vs casual register

לָשׁוֹן פּוֹרְמָלִית וּמְדֻבֶּרֶת

The same Israeli Hebrew grammar can sound like a text message or like a letter to a clerk. Casual speech drops הַאִם, prefers יֵשׁ לִי and אַתָּה רוֹצֶה, and uses short replies; formal style restores הַאִם, נָא, and fuller verbs of request.

Ktiv male spelling

כְּתִיב מָלֵא

Unvowelled Israeli Hebrew inserts extra ו and י to show u/o and i vowels: דִּבּוּר is written דיבור, סִפּוּר is סיפור, כֻּלָּם is כולם. That full spelling is כתיב מלא; the spare biblical-looking spelling is כתיב חסר.

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