Present Tense
One tense for what happens now and for habits. The verb changes only with who is acting: four forms and you are done.
There is no “am / is / are” in Hebrew: a pronoun plus a present-tense verb is already a full sentence — אֲנִי לוֹמֵד, I am studying.
One tense, two meanings
Now and usually
English has “I am speaking” and “I speak”. Hebrew has one present tense for both: the same form describes what is happening right now and what happens regularly.
The listener knows which one you mean from the context, so a time word does the work: now, today, every day, usually.
Time words: עַכְשָׁיו (now), הַיּוֹם (today), כָּל יוֹם (every day), בְּדֶרֶךְ כְּלָל (usually).
The same verb, two situations
אֲנִי מְדַבֵּר עַכְשָׁיו.
ani medaber akhshav
I am speaking now.
אֲנִי מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית כָּל יוֹם.
ani medaber ivrit kol yom
I speak Hebrew every day.
Four forms: who is actinggender · number
The verb agrees with the subject
In the present tense the verb does not change by person (I, you, he) but by gender and number. A man and a woman say “I write” differently; so do a group of men and a group of women.
That gives exactly four forms for every verb: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, feminine plural.
The four forms of “to speak”
medaber
speaks
medaberet
speaks
medabrim
speak
medabrot
speak
Who uses which form
| Who | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| אֲנִי / אַתָּה / הוּא | כּוֹתֵב | I write / you write / he writes (a man) |
| אֲנִי / אַתְּ / הִיא | כּוֹתֶבֶת | I write / you write / she writes (a woman) |
| אֲנַחְנוּ / אַתֶּם / הֵם | כּוֹתְבִים | we / you / they write (men or mixed) |
| אֲנַחְנוּ / אַתֶּן / הֵן | כּוֹתְבוֹת | we / you / they write (women) |
A mixed group of men and women uses the masculine plural.
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Frequently asked questions
- Does Hebrew have a continuous tense like “I am writing”?
- No. The single present tense covers both “I write” and “I am writing”. Add עַכְשָׁיו (now) if you want to stress that it is happening at this moment.
- Why does “I” have two forms?
- Because the present-tense verb agrees with the speaker's gender, not with the person. A man says אֲנִי כּוֹתֵב and a woman says אֲנִי כּוֹתֶבֶת.
- Which form do I use for a mixed group?
- The masculine plural (־ִים). The feminine plural (־וֹת) is used only when everyone in the group is female.
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