Free lessonLevel A18 min read12 practice words

Question Words

Who, what, where, when, why, how much and which one: the words that keep a conversation going, and how to answer them.

A Hebrew question is a normal sentence with a question word in front, or just a rising voice. No “do”, no swapped words.

Yes/no questions: same sentence, rising voiceno “do”

A statement with a question mark

To ask a yes/no question in Hebrew, take the statement and say it with your voice rising at the end. Nothing else changes: no helper like “do” or “does”, and the subject and verb stay where they were.

Formal Hebrew can open a yes/no question with הַאִם, a word that only marks “this is a question”. You will see it in forms, emails to an office, the news and exams. In conversation it sounds stiff, so Israelis simply use intonation.

In writing, the question mark does the job of the rising voice.

Statement → question: only the melody changes

Statement → question: only the melody changes
Statement	Question	Meaning
אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית.	אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית?	You speak Hebrew. → Do you speak Hebrew?
אַתְּ רוֹצָה קָפֶה.	אַתְּ רוֹצָה קָפֶה?	You (a woman) want coffee. → Do you want coffee?
הֵם בַּבַּיִת.	הֵם בַּבַּיִת?	They are at home. → Are they at home?
זֶה טָעִים.	זֶה טָעִים?	It’s tasty. → Is it tasty?

The words and their order are identical. Read each pair aloud and let your voice go up on the last word of the question.

Everyday or formal

Spoken: intonation only

הַחֲנוּת פְּתוּחָה בְּשַׁבָּת?

ha-khanut ptukha be-shabat?

Is the shop open on Shabbat? (asked out loud)

Formal writing: הַאִם in front

הַאִם הַחֲנוּת פְּתוּחָה בְּשַׁבָּת?

ha’im ha-khanut ptukha be-shabat?

The same question in an email or on a form

הַאִם is only for yes/no questions. Never put it in front of a question word: not הַאִם אֵיפֹה…, just אֵיפֹה…

Who, what, where, when, how, why

Question word first, the rest unchanged

To ask for information, put the question word at the very start and keep the rest of the sentence exactly as it would be in a statement. Again: no “do”, and no swapping of subject and verb.

These words never change for gender or number. מָה is the same whether you ask a man, a woman or a group; only the verb after it agrees, just as in the present tense.

Hebrew has no separate “whom”: מִי covers both “who” and “whom”. As a direct object it usually takes אֶת: אֶת מִי אַתָּה מְחַפֵּשׂ? (Who are you looking for?)

The core question words

The core question words
Question word	Pronunciation	Asks about
מִי	mi	who: a person
מָה	ma	what: a thing or an action
אֵיפֹה	eifo	where: a place
מָתַי	matai	when: a time
אֵיךְ	eikh	how: the way something is done
לָמָּה	lama	why: a reason (everyday)
מַדּוּעַ	madua	why: a reason (formal)

Both לָמָּה and מַדּוּעַ mean “why”. לָמָּה is the word of conversation; מַדּוּעַ is formal and lives in letters, the news and exams.

From statement to question

אַתָּה גָּר בְּחֵיפָהאֵיפֹה אַתָּה גָּר?You live in Haifa. → Where do you live?

הַשִּׁעוּר מָחָרמָתַי הַשִּׁעוּר?The lesson is tomorrow. → When is the lesson?

הִיא שׁוֹתָה תֵּהמָה הִיא שׁוֹתָה?She drinks tea. → What does she drink?

One freedom Hebrew does allow: when the subject is a noun, the verb may come right after the question word. With a pronoun, keep pronoun + verb.

מָתַי מַגִּיעַ הָאוֹטוֹבּוּס?

matai magi’a ha-otobus?

When does the bus come? With a noun subject, verb first sounds natural (מָתַי הָאוֹטוֹבּוּס מַגִּיעַ? is correct too).

מָתַי אַתָּה מַגִּיעַ?

matai ata magi’a?

When are you coming? With a pronoun: pronoun, then verb.

A first conversation

מִי זֶה?

mi ze?

Who is it? (someone at the door)

מָה אַתָּה עוֹשֶׂה?

ma ata ose?

What are you doing? Also: what do you do for a living?

אֵיפֹה אַתְּ גָּרָה?

eifo at gara?

Where do you live? (to a woman)

מָתַי הַשִּׁעוּר?

matai ha-shi’ur?

When is the lesson?

אֵיךְ אוֹמְרִים אֶת זֶה בְּעִבְרִית?

eikh omrim et ze be-ivrit?

How do you say this in Hebrew?

לָמָּה אַתְּ צוֹחֶקֶת?

lama at tsokheket?

Why are you laughing? (to a woman)

Greetings ask “what”, not “how”

The two greetings you will hear every day start with מָה, even though English says “how”:

מָה נִשְׁמָע?

ma nishma?

How’s it going? (lit. what is heard?)

מָה שְׁלוֹמְךָ?

ma shlomkha?

How are you? (to a man)

מָה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ?

ma shlomekh?

How are you? (to a woman)

Quick check

1 of 4

You can’t find the restrooms. Which word starts the question?

___ הַשֵּׁרוּתִים?

How many and which oneagreement

כַּמָּה: how much and how many

English needs two questions; Hebrew has one, כַּמָּה. If you can count the thing, the noun after it is plural. If you can’t count it (money, time, water), the noun stays singular. The plural endings ־ִים and ־וֹת are the ones you met in the present tense; the nouns lesson covers them in full.

Two fixed phrases you need from day one: the price, כַּמָּה זֶה עוֹלֶה?, and age, which Hebrew asks as “son / daughter of how many”: בֶּן כַּמָּה אַתָּה? to a man, בַּת כַּמָּה אַתְּ? to a woman.

Outside questions, כַּמָּה means “a few” (כַּמָּה דַּקּוֹת, a few minutes) or “how…!” in an exclamation (כַּמָּה יָפֶה!, how beautiful!).

What comes after כַּמָּה

שָׁעָהכַּמָּה שָׁעוֹת?hour → how many hours?countable: plural

יֶלֶדכַּמָּה יְלָדִים?child → how many children?countable: plural

כֶּסֶףכַּמָּה כֶּסֶף?money → how much money?uncountable: singular

זְמַןכַּמָּה זְמַן?time → how long?uncountable: singular

At the shop, at a party

כַּמָּה זֶה עוֹלֶה?

kama ze ole?

How much does it cost?

בֶּן כַּמָּה אַתָּה?

ben kama ata?

How old are you? (to a man)

בַּת כַּמָּה הִיא?

bat kama hi?

How old is she?

כַּמָּה זְמַן אַתָּה בָּאָרֶץ?

kama zman ata ba-arets?

How long have you been in Israel? Hebrew uses the present here, and בָּאָרֶץ (“in the country”) is how Israelis say “in Israel”.

אֵיזֶה, אֵיזוֹ, אֵילוּ: which one

מָה asks openly; אֵיזֶה asks you to pick from options. It is the one question word that agrees with the noun right after it: אֵיזֶה before a masculine noun, אֵיזוֹ before a feminine one, אֵילוּ before a plural. How to tell a noun’s gender is the topic of the nouns lesson.

In everyday speech you will hear אֵיזֶה with almost every noun, even feminine and plural ones, and אֵילוּ sounds formal. Use the standard forms when you write, and don’t be surprised by the casual ones.

אֵיזֶה also makes exclamations: אֵיזֶה יוֹפִי! (how nice!), אֵיזֶה כֵּיף! (what fun!).

“Which” agrees with the noun

“Which” agrees with the noun
Form	Noun after it	Example	Meaning
אֵיזֶה	masc. sing.	אֵיזֶה קָפֶה אַתָּה רוֹצֶה?	Which coffee do you want?
אֵיזוֹ	fem. sing.	אֵיזוֹ עוּגָה אַתְּ רוֹצָה?	Which cake do you want? (to a woman)
אֵילוּ	plural	אֵילוּ שָׂפוֹת אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר?	Which languages do you speak?

אֵילוּ serves masculine and feminine plurals alike.

Where to, where from, with whomprepositions first

Where it is, where it’s going, where it’s from

אֵיפֹה asks where something or someone is. As soon as there is movement, Hebrew switches words: לְאָן (where to) asks about the destination, מֵאֵיפֹה (where from) about the starting point.

Both are built from the attached prepositions לְ־ (to) and מִ־ / מֵ־ (from), which you will meet properly in the prepositions lesson. Literally they say “to where” and “from where”.

מֵאַיִן is the formal twin of מֵאֵיפֹה. You will read it in the news and in literature; in conversation, say מֵאֵיפֹה.

Three different “where”s

Where? (location)

אֵיפֹה אַתָּה?

eifo ata?

Where are you? (on the phone)

Where to? (destination)

לְאָן אַתְּ הוֹלֶכֶת?

le’an at holekhet?

Where are you going? (to a woman)

Where from? (origin)

מֵאֵיפֹה אַתֶּם?

me’eifo atem?

Where are you from? (to a group)

The preposition comes first

English can leave a preposition waiting at the end: “Who are you going with?”. Hebrew never does. The preposition moves to the front together with the question word: עִם מִי אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ?

The pattern never changes: preposition + question word, then the rest of the sentence in statement order.

Preposition + question word

Preposition + question word
Preposition	Question	Meaning
עִם	עִם מִי?	with whom?
שֶׁל	שֶׁל מִי?	whose?
בִּשְׁבִיל	בִּשְׁבִיל מָה?	what for?
עַל	עַל מָה?	about what? on what?
לְ־	לְמִי?	to whom? for whom?
בְּ־	בְּאֵיזוֹ שָׁעָה?	at what time?

עִם מִי אַתָּה גָּר?

im mi ata gar?

Who do you live with?

שֶׁל מִי זֶה?

shel mi ze?

Whose is this?

בִּשְׁבִיל מָה זֶה?

bishvil ma ze?

What is this for?

בְּאֵיזוֹ שָׁעָה הַסֶּרֶט?

be-eizo sha’a ha-seret?

What time is the movie?

לָמָּה or לְמָה?

Without vowels both are written למה. לָמָּה (lama) means “why”; לְמָה (le-ma) means “to what”, and you will hear it constantly in one phrase:

לְמָה אַתָּה מִתְכַּוֵּן?

le-ma ata mitkaven?

What do you mean? (lit. to what do you intend?)

Quick check

1 of 5

Pick the standard form. עוּגָה (cake) is feminine.

___ עוּגָה אַתְּ רוֹצָה?

Answering: yes, no and because

Answer the way Israelis do

Yes is כֵּן and no is לֹא. Hebrew has no “Yes, I do”: answer with the bare word, or repeat the verb. In a negative answer לֹא often appears twice: the first one means “no”, the second “not”.

To a question with a question word, give just the missing piece: אֵיפֹה? ← בְּחֵיפָה. To לָמָּה, answer with כִּי (because) followed by a full sentence.

כִּי needs a whole sentence after it. Before a single noun, “because of” is בִּגְלַל: בִּגְלַל הָעֲבוֹדָה (because of work).

Short answer or full answer

Short answer or full answer
Question	Short answer	Full answer
אַתָּה רוֹצֶה קָפֶה?	כֵּן, בְּבַקָּשָׁה.	כֵּן, אֲנִי רוֹצֶה קָפֶה.
אַתְּ מְדַבֶּרֶת עִבְרִית?	קְצָת.	כֵּן, אֲנִי מְדַבֶּרֶת קְצָת עִבְרִית.
אֵיפֹה אַתָּה גָּר?	בְּחֵיפָה.	אֲנִי גָּר בְּחֵיפָה.
לָמָּה אַתְּ לוֹמֶדֶת עִבְרִית?	כִּי אֲנִי גָּרָה פֹּה.	אֲנִי לוֹמֶדֶת עִבְרִית כִּי אֲנִי גָּרָה פֹּה.

Both are correct. In conversation, the short answer is what you will hear most.

Questions and answers

אַתָּה מִתֵּל אָבִיב? — לֹא, אֲנִי מֵחֵיפָה.

ata mi-Tel Aviv? — lo, ani me-Kheifa

Are you from Tel Aviv? — No, I’m from Haifa.

אַתָּה עָיֵף? — לֹא, אֲנִי לֹא עָיֵף.

ata ayef? — lo, ani lo ayef

Are you tired? — No, I’m not tired. (לֹא twice: “no” and “not”)

לָמָּה אַתָּה שָׂמֵחַ? — כִּי הַיּוֹם יוֹם שִׁשִּׁי!

lama ata same’akh? — ki ha-yom yom shishi!

Why are you happy? — Because today is Friday!

הַשִּׁעוּר מָחָר, נָכוֹן? — כֵּן, בַּבֹּקֶר.

ha-shi’ur makhar, nakhon? — ken, ba-boker

The lesson is tomorrow, right? — Yes, in the morning.

Small answers that sound natural

Add נָכוֹן? (right?) at the end of a sentence to check something you think is true, and keep these ready:

בֶּטַח

betakh

sure, of course

אוּלַי

ulai

maybe

לֹא יוֹדֵעַ / לֹא יוֹדַעַת

lo yode’a / lo yoda’at

I don’t know (man / woman)

לָמָּה לֹא?

lama lo?

why not?

Common mistakes and summary

The mistakes learners make most

מָה רוֹצֶה אַתָּה?מָה אַתָּה רוֹצֶה?
After the question word, keep the statement order: pronoun, then verb. No inversion, no “do”.
אֵיפֹה אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ?לְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ?
With movement towards a place, ask לְאָן. אֵיפֹה is for where something is.
מִי אַתָּה גָּר עִם?עִם מִי אַתָּה גָּר?
The preposition moves to the front with the question word; it never stays at the end.
כַּמָּה תַּלְמִיד?כַּמָּה תַּלְמִידִים?
A noun you can count is plural after כַּמָּה.
הַאִם אֵיפֹה אַתָּה גָּר?אֵיפֹה אַתָּה גָּר?
הַאִם opens yes/no questions only; it never goes with a question word.
בִּגְלַל אֲנִי עָיֵף.כִּי אֲנִי עָיֵף.
Before a full sentence, “because” is כִּי (or בִּגְלַל שֶׁ…). בִּגְלַל on its own goes before a noun.

What to remember

A question keeps the statement’s word order: put a question word in front, or just raise your voice.
הַאִם marks a yes/no question in formal Hebrew only.
Question words don’t change, except אֵיזֶה / אֵיזוֹ / אֵילוּ, which agree with the noun. כַּמָּה takes a plural noun when you can count.
Movement: לְאָן (where to), מֵאֵיפֹה (where from). Prepositions go first: עִם מִי, בִּשְׁבִיל מָה.
Answer with כֵּן / לֹא or just the missing piece, and answer לָמָּה with כִּי + a sentence.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you ask a question in Hebrew?: Take a normal sentence and either raise your voice at the end (a yes/no question) or put a question word in front: מָה, אֵיפֹה, מָתַי and so on. The word order stays as in the statement and there is no helper like “do”: אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית? means “Do you speak Hebrew?”.
What is the difference between לָמָּה and מַדּוּעַ?: Both mean “why”. לָמָּה is what everyone says in conversation; מַדּוּעַ is formal and appears in writing, the news and official letters. Either one is answered with כִּי (because) and a full sentence.
How do you say “Where are you from?” in Hebrew?: Ask מֵאֵיפֹה אַתָּה? to a man, מֵאֵיפֹה אַתְּ? to a woman and מֵאֵיפֹה אַתֶּם? to a group. מֵאַיִן is the formal version. Don’t confuse it with לְאָן (where to) or אֵיפֹה (where something is).
How do you ask “How much is it?” and “How old are you?” in Hebrew?: For the price: כַּמָּה זֶה עוֹלֶה? Age is asked as “son / daughter of how many”: בֶּן כַּמָּה אַתָּה? to a man, בַּת כַּמָּה אַתְּ? to a woman. The same כַּמָּה covers both “how much” and “how many”.

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Statement

Question

Meaning

אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית.

אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית?

You speak Hebrew. → Do you speak Hebrew?

אַתְּ רוֹצָה קָפֶה.

אַתְּ רוֹצָה קָפֶה?

You (a woman) want coffee. → Do you want coffee?

הֵם בַּבַּיִת.

הֵם בַּבַּיִת?

They are at home. → Are they at home?

זֶה טָעִים.

זֶה טָעִים?

It’s tasty. → Is it tasty?

Question word

Pronunciation

Asks about

מִי

who: a person

מָה

what: a thing or an action

אֵיפֹה

eifo

where: a place

מָתַי

matai

when: a time

אֵיךְ

eikh

how: the way something is done

לָמָּה

lama

why: a reason (everyday)

מַדּוּעַ

madua

why: a reason (formal)

Form

Noun after it

Example

Meaning

אֵיזֶה

masc. sing.

אֵיזֶה קָפֶה אַתָּה רוֹצֶה?

Which coffee do you want?

אֵיזוֹ

fem. sing.

אֵיזוֹ עוּגָה אַתְּ רוֹצָה?

Which cake do you want? (to a woman)

אֵילוּ

plural

אֵילוּ שָׂפוֹת אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר?

Which languages do you speak?

Preposition

Question

Meaning

עִם

עִם מִי?

with whom?

שֶׁל

שֶׁל מִי?

whose?

בִּשְׁבִיל

בִּשְׁבִיל מָה?

what for?

עַל

עַל מָה?

about what? on what?

לְ־

לְמִי?

to whom? for whom?

בְּ־

בְּאֵיזוֹ שָׁעָה?

at what time?

Question

Short answer

Full answer

אַתָּה רוֹצֶה קָפֶה?

כֵּן, בְּבַקָּשָׁה.

כֵּן, אֲנִי רוֹצֶה קָפֶה.

אַתְּ מְדַבֶּרֶת עִבְרִית?

קְצָת.

כֵּן, אֲנִי מְדַבֶּרֶת קְצָת עִבְרִית.

אֵיפֹה אַתָּה גָּר?

בְּחֵיפָה.

אֲנִי גָּר בְּחֵיפָה.

לָמָּה אַתְּ לוֹמֶדֶת עִבְרִית?

כִּי אֲנִי גָּרָה פֹּה.

אֲנִי לוֹמֶדֶת עִבְרִית כִּי אֲנִי גָּרָה פֹּה.

Frequently asked questions

How do you ask a question in Hebrew?

Take a normal sentence and either raise your voice at the end (a yes/no question) or put a question word in front: מָה, אֵיפֹה, מָתַי and so on. The word order stays as in the statement and there is no helper like “do”: אַתָּה מְדַבֵּר עִבְרִית? means “Do you speak Hebrew?”.

What is the difference between לָמָּה and מַדּוּעַ?

Both mean “why”. לָמָּה is what everyone says in conversation; מַדּוּעַ is formal and appears in writing, the news and official letters. Either one is answered with כִּי (because) and a full sentence.

How do you say “Where are you from?” in Hebrew?

Ask מֵאֵיפֹה אַתָּה? to a man, מֵאֵיפֹה אַתְּ? to a woman and מֵאֵיפֹה אַתֶּם? to a group. מֵאַיִן is the formal version. Don’t confuse it with לְאָן (where to) or אֵיפֹה (where something is).

How do you ask “How much is it?” and “How old are you?” in Hebrew?

For the price: כַּמָּה זֶה עוֹלֶה? Age is asked as “son / daughter of how many”: בֶּן כַּמָּה אַתָּה? to a man, בַּת כַּמָּה אַתְּ? to a woman. The same כַּמָּה covers both “how much” and “how many”.