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.
Pick the present form by gender and number of the subject, then put אני / אתה / הוא (or a name) in front because the verb itself does not say who.
For כתב in pa'al the present is כותב, כותבת, כותבים, כותבות. אני, אתה, and הוא all take כותב. אני, את, and היא all take כותבת. Person lives on the pronoun; gender and number live on the verb. That is the opposite of the past tense you will learn next.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| כּוֹתֵב | kotev | ms subject |
| כּוֹתֶבֶת | kotevet | fs subject |
| כּוֹתְבִים | kotvim | mp / mixed subject |
| כּוֹתְבוֹת | kotvot | fp subject |
אני כותב עכשיו is I am writing now. אני גר בתל אביב is I live in Tel Aviv, a state, not a one-time act. Hebrew does not split those the way English does. Time adverbs do the work: עכשיו, כל יום, תמיד. The verb form stays the present participle.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| אני כותב עכשיו | ani kotev akhshav | I am writing now. | |
| היא גרה בתל אביב | hi gara be-tel aviv | She lives in Tel Aviv. | |
| אנחנו עובדים כל יום | anakhnu ovdim kol yom | We work every day. |
Pa'al presents often look like כוֹתֵב. Pi'el presents start with mem: מדבר, מבשל. Hif'il presents also start with mem: מדליק, מבין. You can read the binyan off that mem in many verbs. Irregular but high-frequency presents include רוצה, יכול, ישן, בא, הולך.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| אני מדבר עברית | ani medaber ivrit | I speak Hebrew. | |
| היא מבינה | hi mevina | She understands. | |
| אנחנו רוצים לאכול | anakhnu rotzim le'ekhol | We want to eat. |
אני עייף is I am tired; עייף is an adjective with the same four-form pattern as a present verb. הוא כותב can be he writes or he is a writer-in-the-moment. Do not insert am, is, or are in the present unless you are using הוא / היא as a copula between two nouns.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| אני עייף | ani ayef | I am tired (male speaker). | |
| היא עייפה | hi ayefa | She is tired. |
Exceptions
רוצה looks the same in unvowelled masculine and feminine
Masculine רוֹצֶה and feminine רוֹצָה are both רוצה on the page. Speech still distinguishes rotze and rotza. Plural רוצים / רוצות is visible. The same hiding happens with יפה as an adjective.
| אני רוצה מים | ani rotze mayim | I want water (male speaker). |
| אני רוצה מים | ani rotza mayim | I want water (female speaker). |
הולך as a future helper in speech
אני הולך לישון can mean I am going to sleep (motion) or I am going to go to sleep (plan). It is not a full English going-to tense, but you will hear הולך plus an infinitive as a near future. The grammar of the present form itself does not change.
Common mistakes
אני כותבת (male speaker) → אני כותב
The present form follows the speaker’s gender, not the English I.
כותב (with no subject) → הוא כותב
Present tense needs a pronoun or a noun subject to mark person.
הן כותבים → הן כותבות
A feminine plural subject takes כותבות in standard Hebrew.
Go on to
Past tense
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.
A2 · 14 minInfinitives
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.
A1 · 10 minPa'al (qal)
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.
B1 · 15 min