The איזה family does more than translate English which. In careful Hebrew, איזה, איזו and אילו select a masculine singular, feminine singular, or plural noun; in everyday speech, איזה often spreads beyond its careful masculine slot. The same words can also turn a noun phrase into an exclamation or make a reference deliberately vague.
איזה יום היום?
eizé yom hayóm?
What day is it today? (literally, 'which day')
Quantity with כמה is developed on כמה and related question words. This page is about selecting or characterizing a noun.
The careful three-form paradigm
The Academy describes אֵיזֶה as the question word used to identify “what or who out of several,” with feminine אֵיזוֹ and one plural אֵילוּ for both genders. In careful Hebrew, therefore, the form agrees with the noun's number and, in the singular, its gender.
| Noun | Careful form | Example phrase |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | איזה eizé | איזה רחוב “which street” |
| feminine singular | איזו eizó | איזו מסעדה “which restaurant” |
| plural, either gender | אילו eilú | אילו ספרים / אילו מסעדות |
איזו מסעדה פתוחה עכשיו?
eizó mis'adá ptukhá akhsháv?
Which restaurant is open now? (careful feminine singular)
אילו ספרים קראת בחופשה?
eilú sfarím karáta bakhufshá?
Which books did you read on vacation? (to a man; careful plural)
אילו מסעדות פתוחות גם בשבת?
eilú mis'adót ptukhót gam beshabát?
Which restaurants are also open on Shabbat? (careful plural with a feminine noun)
The selected noun is normally indefinite and therefore has no article: איזה יום, איזו מסעדה, אילו ספרים. The phrase asks the listener to identify the member or members, so the which restaurant is not the Hebrew pattern. Adjectives still agree with the noun normally.
Careful descriptions give these three forms final stress: eizé, eizó, eilú. The Academy also records that אילו is commonly pronounced with initial stress in practice. Everyday speech commonly retracts the stress in איזה and איזו too, especially in the leveled, exclamative, and vague uses below. That real pronunciation variation does not create another spelling.
Everyday איזה beyond masculine singular
In (informal) Israeli conversation, איזה commonly serves as a general form before feminine and plural nouns too. The careful three-way distinction remains useful in edited prose, formal presentations, and speech whose style is deliberately monitored, but the everyday leveling is established usage rather than nonsense to be crossed out.
איזו חולצה את מעדיפה?
eizó khultsá at ma'adifá?
Which shirt do you prefer? (to a woman; careful agreement)
איזה חולצה את מעדיפה?
éize khultsá at ma'adifá?
Which shirt do you prefer? (to a woman; common informal leveling)
איזה סרטים ראית לאחרונה?
éize sratím ra'íta la'akhroná?
Which films have you seen lately? (to a man; common informal leveling before a plural)
This is a register choice, not a change in what the question means. A learner should recognize leveled איזה immediately and can use it naturally in casual conversation; careful writing still rewards control of איזה–איזו–אילו.
מה asks for a value; איזה selects
English often renders both מה and איזה with what, which hides a useful Hebrew contrast. מה asks for the missing value itself. איזה + noun presents the answer as a selection from a relevant set, whether or not the set has been listed aloud.
מה השם שלך?
ma hashém shelkhá?
What's your name? (to a man; asking for the value)
איזה שם בחרתם לתינוקת?
eizé shem bekhartém latinóket?
Which name did you choose for the baby girl? (to a group; selecting a name)
מה אתה רוצה לשתות?
ma atá rotsé lishtót?
What do you want to drink? (to a man; open request for a value)
איזה יין אתה רוצה, הלבן או האדום?
eizé yáyin atá rotsé, halaván o ha'adóm?
Which wine do you want, the white or the red? (to a man; explicit alternatives)
The set need not be visible. Asking איזה רופא המליץ לך? still presupposes a relevant class of doctors, while מי המליץ לך? simply asks who did it. Bare מה and מי are covered on מה and מי.
Exclamative איזה
Before a noun, the same family can express evaluation rather than request information: איזה יופי!, איזה כיף!, איזה חום! These are exclamations. They take no question mark, and their melody falls instead of having a question rise; the contour belongs on intonation.
איזה יופי! סוף סוף רואים את הים.
éize yófi! sof sof ro'ím et hayám
How wonderful! At last we can see the sea.
איזה כיף שנפגשנו סוף סוף!
éize keif shenifgáshnu sof sof!
How great that we finally met!
איזה חום היום!
éize khom hayóm!
It's so hot today!
Here איזה does not offer several kinds of beauty or heat for selection. It makes the degree or quality emotionally salient. That construction explains why punctuation and delivery are part of grammar: identical letters can launch a question in one clause and an exclamation in another.
Vague and approximating איזה
איזה also lets the speaker avoid precise identification. Before an ordinary noun it can mean “some ... or other”; before a number it can mean “about.” The Academy lists this sense separately and labels it nonstandard. Under this guide's register policy, that is information about careful usage—not grounds for pretending that ordinary Israeli speech does not contain it.
הוא משתמש באיזה מכשיר משונה שמצא במחסן.
hu mishtamésh be'éize makhshír meshuné shematsá bamákhsan
He's using some strange device he found in the storeroom. (informal vague use; Academy: nonstandard)
באיזה שהוא שלב נצטרך להחליט.
be'éize shehú shaláv nitstarékh lehakhlít
At some point we'll have to decide. (informal vague use)
היו שם איזה אלפיים איש.
hayú sham éize alpáyim ish
There were about two thousand people there. (informal approximation; Academy: nonstandard)
This approximate איזה does not agree with the following number phrase: it behaves as an invariant approximation marker. In careful edited prose, בערך “approximately” is a straightforward alternative.
Three words, two ktiv-male spellings
Unpointed modern Hebrew creates a memorable trap:
| Pointed word | Ktiv male | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| אֵילוּ eilú | אילו | which (plural) |
| אִלּוּ ilú | אילו | if, in a counterfactual condition |
| אֵלּוּ élu | אלו | these |
אילו מסמכים חסרים בבקשה?
eilú mismakhím khaserím babakashá?
Which documents are missing from the application?
אילו ידעתי על העיכוב, הייתי יוצאת מוקדם יותר.
ilú yadáti al ha'ikúv, hayíti yotsét mukdám yotér
If I had known about the delay, I would have left earlier. (f. speaker; counterfactual אילו)
אלו המסמכים שחסרו בבקשה.
élu hamismakhím shekhasrú babakashá
These are the documents that were missing from the application.
Common Mistakes
1. Expecting an article after interrogative איזה. The identifying question uses a bare noun.
✅ איזו רכבת מגיעה ראשונה?
eizó rakévet magi'á rishoná?
Which train arrives first? (careful feminine agreement; no article on רכבת)
2. Treating plural gender as two separate paradigms. Careful Hebrew uses אילו for both.
✅ אילו קורסים מתחילים בספטמבר?
eilú kursím matkhilím beseptémber?
Which courses begin in September? (masculine plural)
✅ אילו סדנאות מתאימות למתחילים?
eilú sadna'ót mat'imót lematkhilím?
Which workshops suit beginners? (feminine plural; the same אילו)
3. Calling everyday leveled איזה meaningless. It is common (informal) Hebrew; the three-way paradigm is the careful alternative.
✅ איזה נעליים הכי נוחות לך?
éize na'aláyim hakhi nokhót lakh?
Which shoes are most comfortable for you? (to a woman; common informal leveling)
4. Confusing אלו “these” with אילו “which.” With an unpointed spelling, the yod distinguishes the demonstrative from the question word.
✅ אילו ספרים קראת?
eilú sfarím karáta?
Which books did you read? (to a man; correct spelling of interrogative אילו)
Key Takeaways
- Careful Hebrew distinguishes איזה masculine singular, איזו feminine singular, and אילו plural for both genders.
- Everyday speech often levels the paradigm to איזה; that is an informal register contrast, not an invented grammatical failure.
- מה asks for a value, while איזה + noun selects from a relevant set.
- Exclamative איזה takes no question mark; vague and approximating איזה is ordinary speech that the Academy labels nonstandard.
- Ktiv male writes both “which (plural)” and counterfactual “if” as אילו, but writes “these” as אלו.
Now practice Hebrew
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- כמה and איזה as DeterminersB1 — כמה asks 'how many' in a question and means 'a few' in a statement, with nothing but the clause type to tell them apart — which is why learners hear כמה שאלות and reach for a question mark. איזה has three jobs of its own, a three-form paradigm that everyday speech levels to one, and a plural spelled exactly like the word for 'if'.
- Adjectives Agree in Gender, Number and DefinitenessA1 — A Hebrew adjective copies three facts from its noun at once — gender, number and definiteness — and there is no neutral form to fall back on. The third one is the dangerous one: get the definiteness wrong and you have not made a clumsy phrase, you have made a different sentence.
- Exclamative Patterns: איזה יופי!B1 — Build Hebrew exclamations with איזה plus a noun, כמה plus a quality, formal מה, and the colloquial intensifier כזה.