Learn the three words — מִי, מָה, אֵיזֶה — and you have the vocabulary of this page in a minute. The part worth ten minutes is what happens to the rest of the sentence when you use them, which in Hebrew is: nothing at all.
Fronting is the whole operation
English builds a question by taking a statement apart. He is coming tomorrow becomes when is he coming? — the auxiliary jumps in front of the subject. He wants this becomes what does he want? — an auxiliary that was not in the statement has to be invented and inserted. Hebrew does neither. The question word goes in the first slot, and the statement behind it is left exactly as it was.
| Statement | Question | What moved |
|---|---|---|
| הוא בא מחר | מתי הוא בא? | nothing — מתי was added at the front |
| אתה רוצה קפה | מה אתה רוצה? | nothing else — מה replaced the object and fronted |
| דנה הביאה את העוגה | מי הביא את העוגה? | nothing — מי stands where the subject stood |
Look at the verb in the last row. The statement had הביאה, feminine, because Dana brought it; the question has הביא, masculine singular, because מי has no gender of its own and takes the default. That holds however the question turns out — you ask מי הביא even in a room full of women.
הוא בא מחר בבוקר.
hu ba makhár babóker
He's coming tomorrow morning.
מתי הוא בא? אני צריך לתאם איתו.
matáy hu ba? aní tsaríkh leta'ém itó
When's he coming? I need to arrange things with him. (m. speaker — word for word, 'when he comes')
One thing does move, and it is the exception that proves the point. A preposition cannot be left behind at the end: who are you talking to is עם מי אתה מדבר, with the עם travelling to the front alongside מי. That is not inversion — it is the question word taking its preposition with it — and it has its own page, prepositions in front of a question word.
מי — people
מי asks about a person and about nothing else. It has one form: no gender, no plural, and no case.
מי הביא את העוגה? היא נגמרה בשתי דקות.
mi heví et ha'ugá? hi nigmerá bishtéi dakót
Who brought the cake? It was gone in two minutes.
מי זאת שדיברת איתה בכניסה?
mi zot shedibárta itá baknisá?
Who was that you were talking to at the entrance? (to a man — זאת, because the person is a woman)
Notice מי זאת. When you ask who is that? about someone you can see, Hebrew pairs מי with a demonstrative, and the demonstrative agrees with the person: מי זה about a man, מי זאת about a woman, מי אלה about a group. מי itself never changes. The answer frame mirrors the question — זה or זאת plus the identification, not a personal pronoun:
זאת השכנה מהקומה השנייה.
zot hashkhená mehakomá hashniyá
That's the neighbour from the second floor.
מה — things
מה asks about a thing, an event or an idea. It too has one form.
מה זה הרעש הזה מהמטבח?
ma ze hará'ash hazé mehamitbákh?
What's that noise from the kitchen?
מה אתם עושים בשבת? אולי נצא לים.
ma atém osím beshabát? ulái netsé layám
What are you doing on Saturday? Maybe we'll head to the beach. (to a group)
Why מה keeps changing its vowel in pointed texts
Unpointed, מה is one spelling. Pointed, it has three shapes, and the conditioning is classical. Gesenius §37 sets it out:
| Pointing | Where | Example |
|---|---|---|
| מַה־, with a dagesh in the next consonant | the default, joined on with maqaf | מַה־זֹּאת |
| מָה | almost always before a guttural, which cannot take that dagesh — chiefly before א and ע — and in pause, without exception | מָה־אֱנוֹשׁ |
| מֶה | before a guttural pointed with qamats — עָ and חָ especially, and generally הָ | מֶה עָשִׂיתָ |
The logic is the definite article's, exactly. הַ־ doubles the consonant after it; when that consonant is a guttural and refuses to double, the vowel lengthens instead to compensate. מַה־ behaves the same way — and not by coincidence, since its dagesh comes from a consonant that was once part of the word itself.
None of this reaches your mouth: all three read ma in Israeli Hebrew, and unpointed writing spells them all מה. It matters only when you are reading a pointed text and the word appears to keep shifting shape. You will also see it claimed online that the Academy of the Hebrew Language recommends מָה across the board; that claim could not be corroborated for this guide, so it is not repeated here as an Academy position.
מהו, מהי, מיהו — the fused forms
מה and מי can fuse with a following third-person pronoun: מהו (máhu, from מה הוא), מהי (máhi, from מה היא), מיהו (míhu) and מיהי (míhi). They are formal and written — a report, a headline, an exam question, a definition. Everyday speech uses מה זה and מי זה instead, or simply מה and מי.
מהי הסיבה האמיתית להחלטה?
máhi hasibá ha'amitít lahakhlatá?
What is the real reason for the decision? (formal — in conversation, מה הסיבה האמיתית?)
מיהו האיש שעומד מאחורי היוזמה הזאת?
míhu ha'ísh she'oméd me'akhoréi hayozmá hazót?
Who is the man behind this initiative? (formal — journalism, a profile piece)
איזה, איזו, אילו — picking one out of a set
Unlike מי and מה, this one agrees, because it modifies a noun.
| Form | Reads | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| m. sg | איזה | éize | איזה אוטובוס? |
| f. sg | איזו | éizo | איזו מנה? |
| pl | אילו | éilu | אילו מסמכים? |
Check the noun's gender before you choose, and check it in a dictionary rather than by the ending — this is precisely the position where a guess goes wrong, because there is no second agreeing word to catch it.
איזה אוטובוס נוסע לתחנה המרכזית?
éize otóbus noséa latakhaná hamerkazít?
Which bus goes to the central station?
איזו מנה אתם ממליצים?
éizo maná atém mamlitsím?
Which dish would you recommend? (מנה is feminine, so איזו)
אילו מסמכים צריך להביא לפגישה?
éilu mismakhím tsaríkh lehaví lapgishá?
Which documents do we need to bring to the meeting? (formal — אילו belongs to careful speech and writing)
Two things about that table are true in the books and only half true in the street. אילו is markedly careful; in relaxed conversation Israelis put איזה in front of a plural noun without a second thought:
איזה נעליים לקחת בסוף?
éize na'aláyim lakákht basóf?
Which shoes did you end up taking? (colloquial Israeli, where writing would have אילו נעליים)
And the exclamative איזה is invariable in every register — it never agrees with anything, whatever the gender or number of what follows:
איזה בלגן פה, מה קרה?
éize balagán po, ma kará?
What a mess in here — what happened?
Answering
A question word is only half a pattern. These are the frames that answer them:
| Question | Typical answer | Negative answer |
|---|---|---|
| מי זה? | זה דני · זאת אחותי | אף אחד |
| מה זה? | זה מפתח · אין לי מושג | כלום |
| איזה? | הזה · זה שמימין | אף אחד מהם |
מי עוד בא? רק אנחנו, כולם ביטלו ברגע האחרון.
mi od ba? rak anákhnu, kulám bitlú baréga ha'akharón
Who else is coming? Just us — everyone cancelled at the last minute.
Common Mistakes
1. Using מי for whose. English who covers both, Hebrew's does not: possession is של, and the question word attaches behind it.
❌ מי הספר הזה?
Incorrect as 'whose book is this?' — as it stands it asks 'who is this book?'. Possession needs של: של מי הספר הזה?
✅ של מי המעיל הזה? הוא כאן כבר שבוע.
shel mi hame'íl hazé? hu kan kvar shavúa
Whose coat is this? It's been here a week.
2. Putting מה in front of a noun. English what book, what time, what colour all use what as a determiner. מה cannot do that job at all.
❌ מה ספר אתה קורא?
Incorrect — מה stands alone and never modifies a noun. Selecting one item from a set is איזה: איזה ספר אתה קורא?
✅ איזה ספר את קוראת עכשיו? אני מחפשת המלצה.
éize séfer at korét akhsháv? aní mekhapéset hamlatsá
What book are you reading at the moment? I'm after a recommendation. (f. speaker, to a woman)
3. Using מי as a relative pronoun. English who introduces relative clauses as well as questions. Hebrew's מי only ever asks.
❌ האיש מי בא אתמול הוא השכן שלי
Incorrect — מי asks questions and nothing else. A relative clause is introduced by ש־: האיש שבא אתמול הוא השכן שלי.
✅ האיש שבא אתמול הוא השכן החדש מלמעלה.
ha'ísh shebá etmól hu hashakhén hekhadásh milmála
The man who came yesterday is the new neighbour from upstairs.
4. Building a free relative without ש. Same transfer, one step further: English what I need has no extra word in it, and Hebrew's version does.
❌ זה בדיוק מה אני צריך
Incorrect — a headless relative takes ש־ on the question word: זה בדיוק מה שאני צריך. Without the ש the clause is still a question, and the sentence does not hold together.
✅ זה בדיוק מה שאני צריך, תודה שחשבת עליי.
ze bediyúk ma she'aní tsaríkh, todá shekhashávta alái
That's exactly what I need — thanks for thinking of me. (m. speaker, to a man)
Key Takeaways
- A Hebrew question is a statement with a question word in front of it. No inversion, no auxiliary, nothing invented: מתי הוא בא is word for word when he comes.
- מי asks about people and מה about things. Neither inflects for gender, number or anything else.
- מי זה / מי זאת / מי אלה — the demonstrative beside מי agrees with the person, and the answer uses the same demonstrative: זאת השכנה.
- איזה / איזו / אילו does agree, because it modifies a noun. Check the noun's real gender, not its ending.
- אילו is careful register; speech uses איזה before plurals too. The exclamative איזה (איזה בלגן!) is frozen and never agrees at all.
- מהו, מהי, מיהו are fused and formal. Conversation says מה זה and מי זה.
- מה's three pointings — מַה־, מָה, מֶה — are a classical rule about gutturals and the dagesh. All three read ma, and unpointed Hebrew writes one spelling.
- מי and מה only ask questions. A relative clause needs ש־: האיש שבא, מה שאני צריך.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- מה and מיA1 — מה asks about things and מי about people, and neither one ever changes shape. What is worth knowing beyond that is the spelling — when they fuse with הוא and היא the alef drops (מהו, מיהי) — how they behave under a preposition (במה, ממה, and the למה that is really two words), and the handful of frozen questions built on מה that you will use every day.