רוחק ראייה שונה מקוצר ראייה.

Because Hebrew usually leaves out the verb to be in the present tense.

So:

• רוחק ראייה שונה מקוצר ראייה
• literally: farsightedness different from nearsightedness
• natural English: Farsightedness is different from nearsightedness

This is completely normal Hebrew. In the present tense, Hebrew often just puts the subject and the description next to each other.

Here it is best understood as an adjective meaning different.

So שונה מ־ means different from.

That matters because שונה can also look like a present-tense verb form in other contexts, but in this sentence it clearly means different, not changes.

A good way to read the sentence is:

• רוחק ראייה = the subject
• שונה = different
• מקוצר ראייה = from nearsightedness

Because Hebrew says different from, and the from part is expressed with מ־.

So:

• שונה מ... = different from...

In this sentence:

• מקוצר ראייה = from nearsightedness

This is very standard Hebrew usage.

Because מ־ is a prefixed preposition in Hebrew. It attaches directly to the following word.

So:

• מ־ + קוצר
• becomes
• מקוצר

This is the normal way Hebrew writes short prepositions such as ב־, כ־, ל־, and often מ־.

So even though English would write from nearsightedness as two words, Hebrew writes מקוצר ראייה with the מ־ attached to קוצר.

They are examples of the construct chain in Hebrew, often called סמיכות.

This is the very common noun + noun pattern that means something like:

• X of Y

So literally:

• רוחק ראייה = farness of vision
• קוצר ראייה = shortness of vision

In smoother English, these become the established terms:

• farsightedness
• nearsightedness

Hebrew often uses this compact noun + noun structure where English might use a single word or an of phrase.

A literal breakdown is:

• רוחק = farness / distance
• קוצר = shortness
• ראייה = vision / sight

So the two medical terms are built very transparently:

• רוחק ראייה = farsightedness
• קוצר ראייה = nearsightedness

Even if you already know the full meaning, seeing the literal pieces can help you remember the vocabulary.

It is pronounced roughly re-iyah or re'iyah.

A few things to notice:

• the א belongs to the root ר-א-ה related to seeing
• the word is not pronounced like one simple syllable after ר
• there is a little break between re and iyah

So ראייה means vision, sight, eyesight.

This same word appears in both expressions because both are about vision.

Because each expression is a complete term on its own:

• רוחק ראייה
• קוצר ראייה

Hebrew treats them as two separate compound nouns, so repeating ראייה is the clearest and most natural way to compare them.

In other words, the sentence is comparing:

• farsightedness with
• nearsightedness

not just comparing רוחק with קוצר by themselves.

Because the sentence is making a general statement about two categories, not talking about one specific case.

Hebrew often leaves nouns without ה־ in general statements like this.

So this is like saying:

• Farsightedness is different from nearsightedness

not:

• The farsightedness is different from the nearsightedness

If you wanted a definite construct phrase, Hebrew would usually mark definiteness on the second noun:

• רוחק הראייה
• קוצר הראייה

But in a general statement, the bare forms are very natural.

Because the subject רוחק ראייה is a singular noun phrase.

Hebrew adjectives agree with the noun they describe, so the predicate stays singular here.

That is why you get:

• שונה = singular

not:

• שונים = plural

The sentence is talking about one condition compared with another condition.

Because רוחק ראייה is treated as a masculine singular noun phrase, and the adjective agrees with it.

So the intended reading here is masculine singular שונה.

A useful detail: in unpointed Hebrew, masculine singular שונה and feminine singular שונה are spelled the same, but they are pronounced differently. In this sentence, the grammar points to the masculine reading.

Yes. That would also be grammatical and would mean essentially the same thing:

• קוצר ראייה שונה מרוחק ראייה
• Nearsightedness is different from farsightedness

The version you were given simply starts with רוחק ראייה instead.

So the main structure is:

• X שונה מ־Y
• X is different from Y

and either medical term can be X.