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Learn Hardcore Hebrew: המשטרה התחילה חקירה. - The police began an investigation.

Hardcore Hebrew
/Solving an escape room with friends
/המשטרה התחילה חקירה.

המשטרה התחילה חקירה.

Word

המשטרה התחילה חקירה.

Meaning

The police began an investigation.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Hebrew

Lesson

Solving an escape room with friends

Breakdown of המשטרה התחילה חקירה.

חקירהchakira

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Questions & Answers about המשטרה התחילה חקירה.

Why is המשטרה treated as singular when English police often feels plural?

In Hebrew, משטרה means the police force / police department, and it is a singular feminine noun.

So Hebrew says:

המשטרה התחילה... = The police started...

not a plural verb.

This is different from English, where police often takes a plural verb in some varieties of English, like The police are investigating. In Hebrew, משטרה is grammatically singular, so the verb agrees with it in the singular.

Why is the verb התחילה feminine?

Because המשטרה is a feminine singular noun, the verb has to match it.

In the past tense:

התחיל = he started / masculine singular
התחילה = she started / feminine singular

Since המשטרה is feminine singular, Hebrew uses התחילה.

What tense is התחילה?

התחילה is past tense.

So the sentence is describing something that already happened.

Related forms of the same verb:

המשטרה מתחילה חקירה = The police is starting / starts an investigation
המשטרה תתחיל חקירה = The police will start an investigation

In your sentence, התחילה clearly means started.

What does the ה־ in המשטרה mean?

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

משטרה = police / a police force
המשטרה = the police

Hebrew usually adds the as a prefix, not as a separate word.

Why is there no word for a/an before חקירה?

Hebrew normally has no separate word for a or an.

So:

חקירה can mean an investigation
החקירה means the investigation

That means the indefiniteness of חקירה is understood automatically because there is no definite article on it.

Why is there no את before חקירה?

Because את is used before a definite direct object, and חקירה here is indefinite.

Compare:

המשטרה התחילה חקירה = The police started an investigation
המשטרה התחילה את החקירה = The police started the investigation

So no את is needed in your sentence.

How do you pronounce this sentence?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ha-mish-ta-RA hit-khi-LA kha-ki-RA

A few notes:

ח is a throaty sound, like German ch in Bach
The stress is usually at the end in all three words:
- ha-mish-ta-RA
- hit-khi-LA
- kha-ki-RA

Why does התחילה begin with הת־? Is this the hitpa’el pattern?

No. It only looks that way at first.

The verb is from להתחיל = to begin / to start, and its root is ת־ח־ל.

So in התחילה, the first ה is part of the verb pattern, and the ת belongs to the root. It is not the reflexive hitpa’el pattern.

That can be confusing for learners because many hitpa’el verbs also begin with הת־ in writing.

Is חקירה feminine too?

Yes. חקירה is also a feminine singular noun.

You can often spot many feminine nouns by the ending ־ה, though not every noun ending that way is feminine for the same reasons.

If you added an adjective, it would also be feminine singular:

חקירה ארוכה = a long investigation
חקירה רצינית = a serious investigation

Is this normal Hebrew word order?

Yes. This is the basic and very common order:

subject + verb + object

המשטרה = subject
התחילה = verb
חקירה = object

Hebrew can sometimes change word order for style or emphasis, but this sentence is straightforward and natural.

Is this the most natural way to say it, or are there other common ways?

This sentence is grammatical and clear. But in news-style Hebrew, you will also often hear more idiomatic alternatives such as:

המשטרה פתחה בחקירה = The police opened/launched an investigation
המשטרה החלה בחקירה = The police began an investigation

So המשטרה התחילה חקירה is understandable and correct, but depending on context, another verb may sound a bit more natural or more formal.

What is the dictionary form of התחילה?

The dictionary form is להתחיל = to start / to begin.

When learning verbs, it helps to connect the forms like this:

להתחיל = to start
התחיל = he started
התחילה = she started
מתחיל = starting / starts (masculine singular)
מתחילה = starting / starts (feminine singular)

So in your sentence, התחילה is simply the feminine singular past form of להתחיל.

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