Learn Arabic (Modern Standard): هل أنت أمريكي؟

In Arabic, there is no direct translation for the present tense verbs "am", "is", or "are". You just put the subject (أنت, meaning "you") and the information about them (أمريكي, meaning "American") next to each other.

What is the word هل doing at the beginning?

هل is a question word used specifically for "Yes or No" questions. English usually flips the word order to ask a question ("You are" becomes "Are you"), but Arabic simply puts هل at the start of a regular statement.

Is this sentence being spoken to a man or a woman?

It is being spoken to a man. The pronoun أنت is written the same way for both genders, but is pronounced "anta" for a man and "anti" for a woman. We know this is addressed to a man because the word for American (أمريكي) is in the masculine form.

How would I change this sentence to ask a woman if she is American?

You would pronounce the pronoun as "anti", and you need to add the feminine ending (a taa marbuuta, ة) to the adjective. The sentence would become هل أنت أمريكية؟.