זאת תגובה אנושית.

A natural pronunciation is:

zot t’guVÁ enoSHÍT

A few notes:

• זאת = zot
• תגובה = t’guvá
• אנושית = enoshít

The main stress is on the last syllable of תגובה and אנושית.

You may also hear a very slight helping vowel in תגובה, so it can sound a bit like teguvá in fast speech, but t’guvá is a good learner pronunciation.

זאת is the feminine singular form of this (and sometimes that, depending on context).

It is feminine because תגובה (response/reaction) is a feminine noun.

So:

• זה = masculine singular this
• זאת / זו = feminine singular this

Since תגובה is feminine, Hebrew uses זאת rather than זה.

In present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted in simple sentences like this.

So Hebrew says, literally:

זאת תגובה אנושית
= This/that [is] a human response

That is completely normal Hebrew.

Compare:

• זאת תגובה אנושית = This is a human response
• זאת הייתה תגובה אנושית = This was a human response
• זאת תהיה תגובה אנושית = This will be a human response

In the past and future, Hebrew does use forms of to be.

Yes, תגובה is feminine.

One clue is the ending -ה, which often marks feminine nouns in Hebrew. It is not a perfect rule, but it is very common.

Because תגובה is feminine singular, other words connected to it also become feminine singular:

• זאת = feminine singular
• אנושית = feminine singular adjective

Its plural is:

• תגובות = responses / reactions

Because it is a feminine singular adjective agreeing with תגובה.

The base adjective is:

• אנושי = human (masculine singular)

To match a feminine singular noun, it becomes:

• אנושית = human (feminine singular)

This is standard Hebrew adjective agreement:

• masculine singular: אנושי
• feminine singular: אנושית
• masculine plural: אנושיים
• feminine plural: אנושיות

So תגובה אנושית means a human response.

Because that is the normal position for adjectives in Hebrew.

English says:

• human response

Hebrew says:

• תגובה אנושית
• literally: response human

This is one of the most basic word-order differences between English and Hebrew: adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

Because the sentence is indefinite: a human response, not the human response.

So:

• תגובה אנושית = a human response
• התגובה האנושית = the human response

In Hebrew, if a noun is definite and has an adjective, the adjective is usually definite too. That means both take ה־:

• התגובה האנושית

So this sentence means:

• This is a human response

not:

• This is the human response

Usually, in a sentence like this, learners translate זאת as this.

However, Hebrew does not always divide this and that in exactly the same way English does, especially in short identifying sentences. Context often decides the feel.

So זאת תגובה אנושית will most often be understood as:

• This is a human response

If you want to say that response, Hebrew often uses:

• התגובה ההיא = that response

So for learning purposes, זאת here is best taken as this.

They are different sentence types.

זאת תגובה אנושית
= This is a human response

Here, זאת stands alone at the start and identifies something.

But:

התגובה הזאת אנושית
= This response is human

Here, התגובה הזאת means this response, and אנושית is the description about it.

So the difference is roughly:

• זאת תגובה אנושית = identifying what something is
• התגובה הזאת אנושית = describing a specific response

Not always. אנושי / אנושית can have a few related meanings depending on context, such as:

• human
• humane
• understandably human / natural for a person

In this sentence, it most naturally means human.

So the idea is something like:

• This is a human response
• possibly with the sense This is a very natural, human reaction

Context tells you which shade is intended.

Because in Hebrew, adjectives agree with the noun they describe, not with the English idea behind the sentence.

Here, אנושית describes תגובה (response), and תגובה is feminine.

So the adjective must also be feminine:

• תגובה אנושית = human response

It does not mean the response belongs to a woman. It just means the noun response is grammatically feminine.