Hebrew has a second way of hanging a clause on a noun, alongside the ordinary ש־ relative: put ה־ on a present-tense participle and let it modify the noun directly. האיש שיושב שם and האיש היושב שם say the same thing, and the second one is what you meet constantly in signage, journalism and any writing that is trying to be economical.
The transformation, both ways
Take a ש־ relative whose verb is in the present tense, drop the ש, and put ה־ on the participle. Nothing else moves.
האיש שיושב ליד החלון מחכה כאן כבר שעה.
ha'ísh sheyoshév leyád hakhalón mekhaké kan kvar sha'á
The man who's sitting by the window has been waiting here for an hour.
האיש היושב ליד החלון מחכה כאן כבר שעה.
ha'ísh hayoshév leyád hakhalón mekhaké kan kvar sha'á
The man sitting by the window has been waiting here for an hour. (the same sentence, compressed)
The participle agrees with the head in gender and number exactly as an adjective does — and unlike the ש־ version, where the agreement sits on a verb, here you can see it on the modifier itself.
הנוסעים הממתינים לרכבת התבקשו לעבור לרציף שתיים.
hanos'ím hamamtiním larakévet hitbakshú la'avór laratsíf shtáyim
Passengers waiting for the train are asked to move to platform two. (station announcement — the register this construction lives in)
The head does not have to be definite
Every course teaches this construction with the rule "the noun and the participle both take ה", as though the ה־ on the participle were agreeing in definiteness with a definite head. That is not what is happening, and the moment you see an indefinite head with a ה־ participle the description collapses.
אנחנו מחפשים מועמדים הדוברים ערבית ברמת שפת אם.
anákhnu mekhapsím mu'amadím hadovrím aravít beramát sfat em
We're looking for candidates who speak Arabic at native level. (job ad — מועמדים is indefinite, and the participle still takes ה)
הבנקים המציעים ריבית גבוהה גובים בדרך כלל עמלות גבוהות יותר.
habankím hamatsi'ím ribít gvohá govím bedérekh klal amlót gvohót yotér
The banks that offer high interest usually charge higher fees too. (definite head — and the participle looks identical)
Edit Doron's account of the Modern Hebrew participle makes this the analysis rather than an exception: on a participial modifier the ה־ is a marker of subordination, not a definite article, "unlike in nouns and adjectives, where it typically functions as a definite article." She shows it with a matched pair of exactly the shape above, a definite and an indefinite head carrying the same ה־ participle, and concludes that in the participle, definiteness is simply not what the prefix marks.
Corpus behaviour backs this up rather than merely permitting it: on Hebrew Wikipedia the indefinite אנשים המחפשים and ילדים המשחקים are commoner than their definite twins האנשים המחפשים and הילדים המשחקים (20:2 and 21:5, insource: regex counts, one probe shape on both columns, August 2026). The indefinite head is not a tolerated edge case; it is ordinary.
Across the binyanim
Any binyan with a present-tense participle can do this, which is all of them.
| Binyan | Full clause | Participial clause |
|---|---|---|
| pa'al | הילד שיושב בפינה | הילד היושב בפינה |
| nif'al | הסעיפים שנמצאים בהסכם | הסעיפים הנמצאים בהסכם |
| pi'el | הסטודנטים שמחפשים עבודה | הסטודנטים המחפשים עבודה |
| pu'al | הקבצים שמסודרים לפי תאריך | הקבצים המסודרים לפי תאריך |
| hitpa'el | הדיירים שמתנגדים לשיפוץ | הדיירים המתנגדים לשיפוץ |
| hif'il | החברות שמציעות ריבית טובה | החברות המציעות ריבית טובה |
| pa'al passive | התנאים שכתובים בחוזה | התנאים הכתובים בחוזה |
The two passive rows are the ones to watch, because a passive participle is halfway to being an adjective already: התנאים הכתובים בחוזה can be read as a reduced clause or as a noun plus an ordinary attributive adjective, and nothing in the string decides. That boundary is worked out on participles used as adjectives.
Only a subject can be compressed
This is a working constraint rather than a quoted rule — no source states it in these words — but it falls out of the analysis and you can demonstrate it in two lines. The participle has to have the head noun as its own subject. So a subject relative compresses:
הסטודנטים המגישים את העבודה באיחור יאבדו חמש נקודות.
hastudéntim hamagishím et ha'avodá be'ikhúr ye'abdú khamésh nekudót
Students submitting the assignment late will lose five points. (the students are the ones doing the submitting)
An object relative cannot: העבודה שהסטודנטים מגישים has no participial counterpart, because the participle would then have to agree with העבודה while its actual subject is הסטודנטים. And since a subject relative never takes a resumptive pronoun anyway, this construction can never contain one — the whole resumptive system is simply out of reach here. If you find yourself wanting to reduce a clause with an איתו or a בה in it, you cannot; keep the ש.
The tense is read off the moment of speaking
Doron reports a consequence that catches out even fluent writers: a modifying participle is interpreted at speech time, not in step with the main verb. It does not slide into the past when the main clause does.
השחקנים המשתתפים בטורניר עזבו אתמול את המלון.
hasakhkaním hamishtatfím baturnír azvú etmól et hamalón
The players taking part in the tournament left the hotel yesterday. (on Doron's reading this says they are competing now — which sits oddly with having left)
השחקנים שהשתתפו בטורניר עזבו אתמול את המלון.
hasakhkaním shehishtatfú baturnír azvú etmól et hamalón
The players who took part in the tournament left the hotel yesterday. (the ש version with a past-tense verb — unambiguous)
The practical rule that follows is worth more than the theory: if the modification belongs to past time, do not compress it. A participial relative can only ever say what is true now.
Register, honestly
No source consulted labels this construction written-only, and it would be wrong to. It belongs to writing and careful speech — announcements, notices, reports, anything drafted — while in ordinary conversation the ש־ version is what people reach for. Neither ranks above the other; they are the same content at two levels of compression. And the construction is not a fossil: a recent study in Natural Language & Linguistic Theory (Siloni) documents live variation in exactly this area of written contemporary Hebrew, arguing that some speakers are reanalysing the participle in these relatives as a tensed form — which would make the ה־ a new relative complementizer outright.
One neighbour to keep apart from it: מפעלים המזהמים את הנחל is a participial relative, while מפעלים מזהמי סביבה is a construct chain with an agent noun, no ה־ and no accusative את. Those live on agent nouns.
The unpointed trap
Because the participle and a large family of nouns share a template, ה + participle and an ordinary definite noun can be spelled identically. המשחקים is hamesakhakím, "the ones playing", and also hamiskhakím, "the games"; המספרים is hamesaprím, "the ones telling", and also hamisparím, "the numbers". Only the syntax around them decides.
המשחקים שנדחו יתקיימו בשבוע הבא.
hamiskhakím shenidkhú yitkaymú bashavúa habá
The postponed matches will be held next week. (here the word is the noun, hamiskhakím)
The general skill of choosing between readings like these is on reading unpointed Hebrew.
Common Mistakes
1. Agreement on the participle. The participle is a modifier now, so it copies the head's gender and number — and learners leave it in the dictionary form.
❌ התלמידות הלומד בכיתה הזאת נבחנות מחר
Incorrect — the participle agrees with התלמידות, feminine plural: התלמידות הלומדות בכיתה הזאת.
✅ התלמידות הלומדות בכיתה הזאת נבחנות מחר.
hatalmidót halomdót bakitá hazót nivkhanót makhár
The girls studying in this class have an exam tomorrow.
2. Compressing an object relative. The rule "swap ש for ה" is only safe when the head is the participle's own subject.
❌ הסרט הראיתי אתמול היה משעמם
Incorrect — the head is the object here, so the clause keeps its ש: הסרט שראיתי אתמול. As written, הראיתי is the hif'il verb 'I showed'.
✅ הסרט שראיתי אתמול היה משעמם עד דמעות.
haséret shera'íti etmól hayá mesha'amém ad dma'ót
The film I saw yesterday was boring to the point of tears.
3. Using both markers at once. Having learned that the participial version needs ה, learners add it to the ש־ version they already had.
❌ הילדים שהמשחקים בחצר לא שמעו את הפעמון
Incorrect — ש and ה are two alternative ways of subordinating the clause, never both: הילדים המשחקים בחצר, or הילדים שמשחקים בחצר.
✅ הילדים המשחקים בחצר לא שמעו את הפעמון.
hayeladím hamesakhakím bekhatsér lo sham'ú et hapa'amón
The children playing in the yard didn't hear the bell.
4. Refusing to use it after an indefinite noun. Both of these are correct; the difference is compression and register, not grammar.
✅ יש כאן משפחות המחכות לתשובה כבר שנתיים.
yesh kan mishpakhót hamekhakót litshuvá kvar shnatáyim
There are families here who have been waiting for an answer for two years. (indefinite head, ה־ participle — correct, and the written norm)
✅ יש כאן משפחות שמחכות לתשובה כבר שנתיים.
yesh kan mishpakhót shemekhakót litshuvá kvar shnatáyim
There are families here who have been waiting for an answer for two years. (the same thing in speech)
Key Takeaways
- Drop the ש, put ה־ on the present-tense participle, change nothing else: האיש שיושב ליד החלון becomes האיש היושב ליד החלון.
- The head does not have to be definite. מועמדים הדוברים ערבית is correct, and on Doron's account the ה־ here is a marker of subordination, not the definite article — which is exactly why it can attach where no article belongs.
- The participle agrees in gender and number with the head: הנוסעים הממתינים, התלמידות הלומדות, החברות המציעות.
- Only a relativised subject can be compressed, so the construction never contains a resumptive pronoun. העבודה שהסטודנטים מגישים has no participial version.
- The participle is read at speech time, not in step with the main verb — so use ש plus a past-tense verb for anything in the past: השחקנים שהשתתפו בטורניר.
- It belongs to writing and careful speech; the ש־ version is the spoken default, and neither outranks the other.
- Watch the spelling: המשחקים is both hamesakhakím "the ones playing" and hamiskhakím "the games".
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- Active Participles Doing Adjective and Noun WorkB1 — The same בינוני that supplies Hebrew's present tense can modify a noun, compress a relative clause, or become an adjective — and definiteness agreement tells those jobs apart.
- Participles Used as Adjectives: מעניין, עייף, סגורA2 — A large share of everyday Hebrew adjectives are not adjectives at all — they are verb participles that settled down. Once you can see which binyan a word came out of, you stop memorising pairs like מעניין and מעוניין and start deriving them.
- Relative Clauses with ש־A2 — English needs who, which, that — and sometimes nothing at all — to hang a clause on a noun; Hebrew has one invariant prefix for all of it, ש־: השכן שגר מעלינו, הספר שקניתי. This page builds subject and object relatives step by step, shows why ש can never be dropped the way English drops that, and names the roles that need a pronoun left behind instead.
- Participles That Became Job Titles: מורה, מנהל, שוטרB1 — Many Hebrew role nouns look exactly like present participles, but articles, construct chains and complements reveal when מנהל means ‘manager’ rather than ‘manages.’