עשה means both “do” and “make.” It is pa'al, root ע־שׂ־ה, with a שׂ sin, so the citation form is asá, never ashá. It belongs to the ל״ה class and has a guttural first radical; because it is so frequent, it is the most useful model for how final ה disappears and an older י reappears before endings.
Complete paradigm
| Person | עָבָר past | עָתִיד future |
|---|---|---|
| I | עָשִׂיתִי asíti | אֶעֱשֶׂה e'esé |
| you, m.sg. | עָשִׂיתָ asíta | תַּעֲשֶׂה ta'asé |
| you, f.sg. | עָשִׂית asít | תַּעֲשִׂי ta'así |
| he | עָשָׂה asá | יַעֲשֶׂה ya'asé |
| she | עָשְׂתָה astá | תַּעֲשֶׂה ta'asé |
| we | עָשִׂינוּ asínu | נַעֲשֶׂה na'asé |
| you, pl. | עֲשִׂיתֶם asitém everyday: עָשִׂיתֶם asítem | תַּעֲשׂוּ ta'asú |
| they | עָשׂוּ asú | יַעֲשׂוּ ya'asú |
| Form type | Forms |
|---|---|
| הוֹוֶה present | עוֹשֶׂה osé · עוֹשָׂה osá · עוֹשִׂים osím · עוֹשׂוֹת osót |
| צִיווּי imperative | עֲשֵׂה asé · עֲשִׂי así · עֲשׂוּ asú |
| שֵׁם הַפּוֹעַל infinitive | לַעֲשׂוֹת la'asót |
| שֵׁם פְּעוּלָה action noun | עֲשִׂיָּיה asiyá |
The specifically feminine plural past עשיתן and future תעשינה are standard forms found in careful or elevated writing. Contemporary speech normally uses עשיתם and תעשו for a group of women as well.
מה אתה עושה פה בשעה כזאת?
ma atá osé po besha'á kazót?
What are you doing here at this hour? (to a man)
עשיתי טעות בטופס ואני צריכה למלא אותו מחדש.
asíti ta'út batófes va'aní tsrikhá lemalé otó mekhadásh
I made a mistake on the form and have to fill it in again. (female speaker)
היא עשתה את זה לבד ולא ביקשה עזרה.
hi astá et ze levád veló bikshá ezrá
She did it by herself and didn't ask for help.
Where the final ה goes
The final ה is a vowel letter, not a consonant that remains stable through the paradigm. Before the consonantal past endings, the older י appears: עָשִׂיתִי, עָשִׂיתָ, עָשִׂינוּ. The 3rd-person feminine past adds ת directly to the reduced stem, giving עָשְׂתָה astá; the plural ends simply in עָשׂוּ.
This is the reusable ל״ה mechanism, not a one-verb accident. רצה ratsá gives רציתי ratsíti; קנה kaná gives קניתי kaníti; ראה ra'á gives ראיתי ra'íti. The full class is on pa'al ל״ה, and its behavior across all binyanim on ל״ה across the binyanim.
מה תעשי אחרי הלימודים?
ma ta'así akharéi halimudím?
What will you do after your studies? (to a woman)
אני אעשה את זה מחר כשיהיה לי יותר זמן.
aní e'esé et ze makhár ksheyihyé li yotér zman
I'll do it tomorrow when I have more time.
Two spellings that hide a contrast
Unpointed עושה is both masculine singular עוֹשֶׂה osé and feminine singular עוֹשָׂה osá. That written gender collision occurs throughout the ל״ה class: קונה koné / koná, רוצה rotsé / rotsá, מנסה menasé / menasá. The subject and agreement elsewhere in the sentence resolve it.
Unpointed עשה also covers עָשָׂה asá “he did” and masculine imperative עֲשֵׂה asé “do.” The imperative is grammatical, but ordinary conversation very often uses the future form תעשה instead.
הוא עושה קפה והיא עושה ארוחת בוקר.
hu osé kafé vehí osá arukhát bóker
He's making coffee and she's making breakfast.
תעשה לי טובה ותסגור את החלון.
ta'asé li tová vetisgór et hakhalón
Do me a favour and close the window. (to a man; everyday future-as-command)
מה עושים עכשיו? מחכים או הולכים?
ma osím akhsháv? mekhakím o holkhím?
What do we do now — wait or go? (impersonal plural)
The last example uses the 3rd-person masculine plural as an impersonal “people / one / we” form. There need not be an explicit הם; the conversational situation supplies the participants.
עשייה and מעשה
The regular action noun is ktiv-male עשייה, pointed here with the same doubled-yod skeleton: עֲשִׂיָּיה asiyá. It refers to doing, activity, or production and is common in written compounds. מַעֲשֶׂה ma'asé is a concrete result or deed — something done — rather than the productive action noun.
| Noun | Core meaning | Example use |
|---|---|---|
| עשייה | doing, activity, creative or practical production | עשייה ציבורית “public activity” (written) |
| מעשה | an act, deed, concrete thing done | מעשה טוב “a good deed” |
זה היה מעשה טוב, גם אם אף אחד לא ראה.
ze hayá ma'asé tov, gam im af ekhád lo ra'á
It was a good deed, even if nobody saw it.
High-frequency collocations
עשה is semantically light: the noun beside it often carries most of the meaning. English alternates among do, make, have, and single verbs, so learn each Hebrew pair as one vocabulary item. The broader inventory and its source history are on collocations with עשה.
| Expression | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|
| עשה חיים | had the time of one's life | (slang) |
| עשה לי טובה | did me a favour; “give me a break” by tone | neutral / (informal) |
| עשה סדר ב־ | sorted out, put in order | neutral |
| עשה רושם על | made an impression on | neutral |
| עשה חשבון | did the calculation; reckoned | neutral / (informal) |
| עשה כסף | made money | neutral |
| עשה שיעורי בית | did homework | neutral |
| עשה שטויות | did silly things, messed around | (informal) |
בוא נעשה סדר בחשבונות לפני סוף החודש.
bo na'asé séder bakheshbonót lifnéi sof hakhódesh
Let's sort out the accounts before the end of the month. (to a man)
הילדים עשו שטויות כל הערב אבל לפחות נהנו.
hayeladím asú shtuyót kol ha'érev avál lefakhót nehenú
The children messed around all evening, but at least they had fun. (informal)
Key Takeaways
- The middle radical is שׂ, so the verb is asá, not ashá.
- Final ה gives way to י before 1st- and 2nd-person past endings: עשה but עשיתי, עשית, עשינו.
- Unpointed עושה is masculine osé or feminine osá; unpointed עשה is past asá or imperative asé.
- Learn עשה with its noun partners, while remembering that many English “make” expressions select another Hebrew verb.
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- Pa'al ל״ה: רצה, קנה, ראה, עשהB1 — The ה of רצה is not a root consonant at all — it is a vowel letter standing in for an original י, which is why it vanishes the moment an ending arrives and comes back as a yod in רָצִיתִי. This is Hebrew's largest weak class and it holds want, see, do, buy and drink.
- Collocations with עשהA2 — Hebrew builds an enormous number of everyday actions as עשה plus a noun, and the pairings do not match English. עשה חיים is a Yiddish calque, עשה החלטה does not exist at all, and the noun — not the verb — is what decides.
- ל״ה Across the BinyanimB2 — Hebrew's largest weak class, and the tidiest: whatever binyan you are in, a ל״ה verb takes the same six endings. Learn them once and קניתי, נראיתי, ניסיתי, הראיתי and השתניתי stop being five separate problems.
- ראה — to seeA1 — Conjugate ראה across the core tenses, distinguish its look-alike forms, and choose naturally among seeing, looking and watching.