Hebrew demonstratives can stand alone as pronouns: מה זה? “What is this?”, מי זאת? “Who is this?”, אלה החברים שלי “These are my friends.” In this use, the demonstrative itself fills a noun-phrase position. It is not attached after a noun as in הספר הזה; that attributive pattern belongs on demonstrative determiners.
The basic system distinguishes masculine singular, feminine singular, and plural. Unlike English this, the singular Hebrew form can agree with the person or thing being identified. Unlike English these/those, the Hebrew plural does not distinguish gender.
The basic standalone forms
| Form | Pointing | Agreement | Typical standalone sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| זה | זֶה | masculine singular | this / this one / this is |
| זאת | זֹאת | feminine singular | this / this one / this is |
| זו | זוֹ | feminine singular | same core meaning as זאת |
| אלה | אֵלֶּה | plural, either gender | these / these are |
| אלו | אֵלּוּ | plural, either gender | same core meaning as אלה |
מה זה? זה ספר.
ma ze? ze séfer.
What is this? It's a book.
מי זאת? זאת אחותי.
mi zot? zot akhotí.
Who is this? This is my sister.
אלה החברים שלי.
éle hakhaverím shelí.
These are my friends. (male or mixed group)
In an equational sentence there is no present-tense “to be.” זה ספר is literally built from “this” plus “book”; adding an English-style copula would not improve it.
Agreement with the noun that identifies the referent
When a standalone demonstrative points to something and a following noun phrase classifies or identifies it, careful Hebrew selects the demonstrative by the gender and number of that noun.
זה רעיון טוב.
ze ra'yón tov.
This is a good idea. (רעיון is masculine)
זאת בעיה רצינית.
zot be'ayá retsinít.
This is a serious problem. (careful/edited Hebrew; בעיה is feminine)
זו המנהלת החדשה.
zo hamenahélet hakhadashá.
This is the new manager. (a woman; זו is standalone)
This can feel backwards to an English speaker. English this has no grammatical gender and seems to be the independent subject. Hebrew lets the following identifying noun reveal the relevant agreement class: masculine רעיון attracts זה, feminine בעיה attracts זאת or זו, and a plural noun phrase attracts אלה or אלו.
זאת and זו; אלה and אלו
The Academy treats זאת and זו as synonyms, and likewise אלה and אלו. The pairs come from different historical layers: זאת / אלה are Biblical, while זו / אלו are Mishnaic. That history does not create a modern semantic distinction such as “nearer,” “more formal,” or “more feminine.”
מי אחראית על הצוות? זאת המנהלת החדשה.
mi akhra'ít al hatsévet? zot hamenahélet hakhadashá.
Who is responsible for the team? This is the new manager.
מי אחראית על הצוות? זו המנהלת החדשה.
mi akhra'ít al hatsévet? zo hamenahélet hakhadashá.
Who is responsible for the team? This is the new manager. (same core meaning)
There is a historical tendency involving the definite article when these forms modify nouns, but that belongs to attributive syntax: האישה הזאת versus אישה זו. It does not justify inventing a meaning difference on this standalone-pronoun page.
אלו is not a feminine plural
Modern Hebrew has no masculine/feminine contrast between אלה and אלו. Both can refer to masculine, feminine, or mixed plural groups.
אלו הילדים שלי.
élu hayeladím shelí.
These are my children. (masculine grammatical plural)
אלו הבנות שלי.
élu habanót shelí.
These are my daughters. (feminine grammatical plural)
A proposal to reserve אלו for feminine plural never became the Hebrew system. Treating it as a live agreement rule makes a learner reject ordinary correct sentences.
The very common spoken default זה
In everyday Israeli speech, זה often appears before a feminine or plural identifying phrase: זה בעיה, זה המפתחות. This is not a learner invention. In such uses, זה is developing toward an invariant presentational element rather than behaving as a fully agreeing demonstrative.
זאת בעיה שאפשר לפתור.
zot be'ayá she'efshár liftór.
This is a problem that can be solved. (normative/edited agreement)
זה בעיה שאפשר לפתור.
ze be'ayá she'efshár liftór.
This is a problem that can be solved. (very common colloquial Hebrew)
Both examples are genuine. A teacher or editor may correct the second to זאת בעיה in careful prose, but a grammar guide should not mark a pervasive native colloquial pattern as impossible. The broader grammaticalization of invariant זה belongs on dummy זה.
Hebrew has no strong everyday distal requirement
Forms ההוא, ההיא, and ההם / ההן can stand for “that one / those ones,” especially when contrasting referents. Yet speakers do not have to choose a special distal form every time English chooses that. זה plus gesture, location, or a following relative clause often does the job.
מי זה שם ליד הדלת?
mi ze sham leyád hadélet?
Who's that over there by the door? (ordinary spoken זה with a distal location)
זה שעומד ליד הדלת הוא דני.
ze she'oméd leyád hadélet hu Dáni.
The one standing by the door is Dani.
מי מהם הזמין אותך? ההוא בחולצה הכחולה.
mi mehém hizmín otkhá? hahú bakhultsá hakhulá.
Which one of them invited you? That one in the blue shirt. (contrastive/distal)
The last answer uses standalone ההוא naturally because several visible candidates are being contrasted. The first two show why mechanically translating English that as ההוא overstates a distinction Hebrew often leaves to context.
זה מה ש־ and זה ש־
Standalone זה frequently introduces material that identifies its content. זה מה ש־ means “this/that is what…,” while זה ש־ can mean “the one that…” or introduce a fact-like clause, depending on what follows.
זה מה שרציתי לומר.
ze ma sheratsíti lomár.
That's what I wanted to say.
זה שביקשת נמצא על השולחן.
ze shebikáshta nimtsá al hashulkhán.
The one you asked for is on the table. (to a man)
These frames are too frequent to postpone, but their internal relative structure deserves a separate treatment on free relatives.
Common Mistakes
1. Condemning colloquial זה before every feminine noun
זאת תקלה זמנית.
zot takalá zmanít.
This is a temporary malfunction. (normative/edited agreement)
זה תקלה זמנית.
ze takalá zmanít.
This is a temporary malfunction. (common colloquial presentation)
The first is the model for careful writing; the second is real speech, not an impossible sentence.
2. Treating אלו as feminine-only
אלו הכיסאות שלנו.
élu hakis'ót shelánu.
These are our chairs. (כיסאות is grammatically masculine)
אלו התמונות שלנו.
élu hatmunót shelánu.
These are our pictures. (תמונות is grammatically feminine)
Both are standard. The ending of אלו does not mark feminine plural agreement.
3. Mismatching a feminine demonstrative with a masculine singular identification
❌ זאת הספר שהזמנתי.
Incorrect in careful Hebrew — הספר is masculine singular, so the standalone agreeing demonstrative is זה.
✅ זה הספר שהזמנתי.
ze haséfer shehizmánti.
This is the book I ordered. (careful agreement)
4. Translating every English distal “that” with ההוא
מה זה שם על המדף?
ma ze sham al hamadáf?
What's that there on the shelf? (ordinary speech; location supplies distance)
איזה בקבוק אתה רוצה? ההוא על המדף העליון.
éize bakbúk atá rotsé? hahú al hamadáf ha'elyón.
Which bottle do you want? That one on the top shelf. (contrast among candidates)
Both strategies are natural. Use ההוא when selecting or contrasting a distal referent, not as an obligatory one-to-one translation of English that.
Key Takeaways
- Standalone זה, זאת / זו, and אלה / אלו fill a noun-phrase position rather than modifying a preceding noun.
- Careful Hebrew matches masculine singular, feminine singular, or plural; plural אלה / אלו has no gender split.
- זאת / זו and אלה / אלו differ in historical source, not core modern meaning.
- Colloquial invariant זה before feminine or plural descriptions is widespread; edited Hebrew normally restores agreement.
- Hebrew often uses זה plus context where English uses distal that, and frequent זה מה ש־ / זה ש־ frames lead into relative structures.
Related Topics
- זה, זאת, אלה: This and TheseA1 — The near demonstratives agree in gender and number — זה, זאת (or זו), אלה (or אלו) — and on their own they build a complete sentence with no verb: זה ספר, 'this is a book'. Add two articles and the same words make a noun phrase instead: הספר הזה, 'this book'.
- ההוא, ההיא, ההם: That and ThoseB1 — The far set — and the fourth member the title leaves out, ההן. Each of these words has the article baked into it, so the noun it modifies must be definite too. The harder lesson is that Hebrew has no working this/that pair: זה covers both, and ההוא is reserved for real remoteness in space or in time.
- The Dummy זה: זה כיף, זה נכון ש…B1 — זה can fill the subject slot of an evaluation without referring to any object: זה כיף, זה מוזר שהיא לא באה. It stays masculine, introduces infinitives and ש־ clauses, and must not be confused with English weather and time ‘it,’ for which Hebrew uses no subject at all.
- Spoken Hebrew Doubling and DislocationC1 — Conversational Hebrew can place a referent before or after a complete clause and retain a resumptive pronoun in the grammatical slot inside that clause.