Hebrew conversation runs on phrases such as מה שקרה “what happened” and מי שרוצה “whoever wants.” They are free relatives: relative clauses with no separate head noun such as the thing or the person. The construction sounds elementary because every word is familiar, but its structure is powerful — a question word plus ש־ becomes a complete noun phrase that can be a subject, object or prepositional complement.
The two forms that carry ordinary conversation
The central pair is מי ש־ for people and מה ש־ for things, facts and situations. ש־ is attached to the first word of the clause, exactly as in an ordinary relative clause.
מה שאמרת נכון, אבל הדרך שאמרת את זה פגעה בה.
ma she'amárta nakhón, avál hadérekh she'amárta et ze pag'á ba
What you said is right, but the way you said it hurt her. (to a man)
מי שרוצה יכול לבוא, אבל שיכתוב לי קודם.
mi sherotsé yakhól lavó, avál sheyikhtóv li kódem
Whoever wants to can come, but they should write to me first.
זה מה שקרה בדיוק, לא הסתרתי ממך שום דבר.
ze ma shekará bediyúk, lo histárti mimkhá shum davár
That's exactly what happened; I didn't hide anything from you. (to a man)
The English translations vary — the person who, whoever, what, the thing that. Hebrew does not need a silent noun underneath them. מי ש־ and מה ש־ themselves fill the noun slot.
| Pattern | What it ranges over | Typical meaning |
|---|---|---|
| מי ש־ | one or more people | the person who, whoever |
| מה ש־ | a thing, event or proposition | what, the thing that |
| כל מי ש־ | the full set of people | everyone who, anyone who |
| כל מה ש־ | the full set of things | everything that, whatever |
| מי שלא / מה שלא | the complementary set | whoever did not / whatever did not |
כל מי שנרשם יקבל קישור בבוקר.
kol mi shenirshám yekabél kishúr babóker
Everyone who registered will receive a link in the morning.
כל מה שצריך נמצא בארון ליד הדלת.
kol ma shetsaríkh nimtsá ba'arón leyád hadélet
Everything we need is in the cupboard by the door.
מי שלא בא לפגישה הפסיד את ההסבר החשוב.
mi sheló ba lapgishá hifsíd et hahesbér hekhashúv
Anyone who didn't come to the meeting missed the important explanation.
Why the ש־ is structural
מה by itself asks a question. מה ש־ does something different: ש־ closes the open question and turns the whole following clause into a referent. Compare the complete question מה אמרת? “What did you say?” with the subject phrase מה שאמרת “what you said.”
מה אמרת? לא שמעתי בגלל הרעש.
ma amárta? lo shamáti biglál hará'ash
What did you say? I couldn't hear because of the noise. (a question, to a man)
מה שאמרת שינה את דעתי.
ma she'amárta shiná et da'tí
What you said changed my mind. (a noun phrase, to a man)
Without ש־, the listener does not get a free relative. At best the words form a different question; at worst two clauses have simply been pushed together. This is the same reason Hebrew does not allow a zero relative after an overt noun, but here the missing link is easier to overlook because English what seems to do both jobs alone.
The pattern extends beyond מי and מה
The same architecture works with place, time, manner, quantity and a preposition plus a person-word. These are not all interchangeable: the opening word says what kind of value the clause supplies.
ניפגש איפה שנוח לך; אני גמיש.
nipagésh éifo shenóakh lekhá; aní gamísh
We'll meet wherever is convenient for you; I'm flexible. (to a man, m. speaker)
תתקשרי מתי שנוח לך, גם אם כבר מאוחר.
titkashrí matái shenóakh lakh, gam im kvar me'ukhár
Call whenever it's convenient for you, even if it's already late. (to a woman)
סידרתי את הקבצים איך שביקשת.
sidárti et hakvatsím eikh shebikáshta
I arranged the files the way you asked. (to a man)
קח כמה שאתה צריך; יש עוד במחסן.
kakh káma she'atá tsaríkh; yesh od bamakhsán
Take as much as you need; there's more in storage. (to a man)
שלחתי עותק למי שביקש ממני אתמול.
shalákhti ótek lemí shebikésh miméni etmól
I sent a copy to whoever asked me yesterday.
No sourced ranking establishes that one of איפה ש, מתי ש, איך ש, כמה ש is intrinsically more colloquial than another. Treat them as current constructions and judge the surrounding vocabulary, not the free-relative frame, for register.
Comparisons: ממה ש and מכפי ש
A comparative needs a complete phrase after “than.” When the comparison target is a clause, ממה ש־ supplies it in neutral modern Hebrew. מכפי ש־ is a more compressed (formal/written) alternative built on כפי ש־.
הדירה קטנה יותר ממה שחשבנו, אבל המרפסת נהדרת.
hadirá ktaná yotér mimá shekhashávnu, avál hamirpéset nehedéret
The flat is smaller than we thought, but the balcony is wonderful.
התגובה הייתה חריפה מכפי שציפינו.
hatguvá haytá kharifá mikfí shetsipínu
The response was harsher than we expected. (formal/written)
Notice that קטנה and חריפה agree with the feminine subjects דירה and תגובה. The free relative supplies the comparison standard; it does not suspend agreement in the main clause. The wider choice among comparative clause markers belongs on comparative clauses.
Four expressions to learn whole
Several high-frequency discourse expressions are built from this syntax but behave like vocabulary. Analysing them is useful once; producing them is easier if you store the whole chunk.
זה מה שנקרא פתרון זמני שהפך לקבוע.
ze ma shenikrá pitrón zmaní shehafákh lekavúa
That's what you call a temporary solution that became permanent.
האוכל היה מאכזב; מה שכן, השירות היה מצוין.
ha'ókhel hayá me'akhzév; ma shekén, hashérut hayá metsuyán
The food was disappointing; that said, the service was excellent.
מה שבטוח, אני לא חוזר לשם בלי הזמנה.
ma shebatúakh, aní lo khozér leshám bli hazmaná
One thing is certain: I'm not going back there without a reservation. (m. speaker)
ממה שאני מבין, עוד לא התקבלה החלטה.
mimá she'aní mevín, od lo hitkablá hakhlatá
From what I understand, no decision has been made yet. (m. speaker)
Common Mistakes
1. Letting מה do the work of מה ש־. The version without ש־ is a question, not a free-relative subject.
❌ מה אמרת נכון?
What you said is correct.
Incorrect as that statement — this asks roughly ‘What did you say correctly?’ The statement needs מה שאמרת נכון.
✅ מה שאמרת נכון, ואני חוזר בי.
ma she'amárta nakhón, va'aní khozér bi
What you said is right, and I take back what I said. (to a man, m. speaker)
2. Omitting ש־ after מי. English whoever wants encourages a bare question word before the verb.
❌ מי רוצה יכול להצטרף
Incorrect — מי רוצה is a question fragment. A headless relative needs מי ש־: מי שרוצה יכול להצטרף.
✅ מי שרוצה יכול להצטרף אלינו אחרי העבודה.
mi sherotsé yakhól lehitstaréf eléinu akharéi ha'avodá
Anyone who wants can join us after work.
3. Dropping ש־ after a preposition plus מי. The preposition belongs before the entire free relative; it does not replace its linker.
❌ נתתי את המפתח למי ביקש
Incorrect — למי needs ש־ before the clause: נתתי את המפתח למי שביקש.
✅ נתתי את המפתח למי שביקש ראשון.
natáti et hamaftéakh lemí shebikésh rishón
I gave the key to whoever asked first.
4. Putting a finite verb directly after comparative מ־. A clause needs ממה ש־, מכפי ש־ or another full clause marker.
❌ החדר קטן יותר מחשבנו
The room is smaller than we thought.
Incorrect as that comparison — מחשבנו reads as ‘our computer’ in formal morphology. Write החדר קטן יותר ממה שחשבנו.
✅ החדר קטן יותר ממה שחשבנו, אז נצטרך שולחן אחר.
hakhéder katán yotér mimá shekhashávnu, az nitstarékh shulkhán akhér
The room is smaller than we thought, so we'll need a different table.
Key Takeaways
- Question word + ש־ creates a noun-like free relative: מי שרוצה, מה שקרה, איפה שנוח, מתי שאפשר.
- ש־ is essential: מה אמרת? is a question, while מה שאמרת is “what you said.”
- כל מי ש־ / כל מה ש־ expand the set; מי שלא / מה שלא select its negative counterpart.
- A preposition goes before the whole construction: למי שביקש, never למי ביקש.
- Comparative clauses use neutral ממה ש־ or (formal/written) מכפי ש־; main-clause agreement remains ordinary.
- Learn מה שנקרא, מה שכן, מה שבטוח, ממה שאני מבין as fixed conversational tools.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- ש־: The All-Purpose RelativeA2 — The attached prefix ש־ covers English who, whom, which, that, where and when. It never agrees, never stands apart from the following word and never disappears, although the role of the missing noun determines whether Hebrew must leave a resumptive pronoun inside the clause.
- Comparative and Proportional Clauses: ככל ש… כך…C1 — ככל ש… כך… is Hebrew's the more … the more, and an English speaker cannot build it from first principles — but כך is canonical rather than compulsory and יותר is optional, as the dictionary's own examples show. The page also repairs the split learners are usually taught about מאשר, which takes a clause, a prepositional phrase and an infinitive alike.
- Indirect Questions: שאלתי אם, לא יודע מהB1 — Hebrew embeds yes/no questions with אם and keeps wh-words such as מה, איפה and למי without adding another question marker.
- עם מי, על מה, למי: Prepositions in FrontA2 — A Hebrew preposition travels to the front together with its question word: עם מי דיברת, על מה חשבת, במה השתמשת. One-letter prepositions fuse in writing, longer ones stay separate, and English-style stranding at the end is impossible.