זה ספר.

It is usually pronounced ze sefer.

• זה = ze
• ספר = sefer

So the whole sentence sounds like ze sefer.

In present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted.

So where English says This is a book, Hebrew simply says זה ספר.

This is completely normal. Hebrew often makes simple present-tense sentences without a separate word for is / am / are.

Here, זה means this.

In sentences like this, זה can act like this or this is, depending on how you think about the English translation. Because Hebrew leaves out is in the present tense, זה naturally ends up corresponding to English this in This is a book.

Hebrew does not have a separate word for a or an.

So:

• ספר = book / a book
• הספר = the book

That means זה ספר literally looks like this book, but in normal English translation it is This is a book.

Hebrew is often written without vowels, so one spelling can represent more than one word.

The spelling ספר can be read in different ways depending on context. Here, because the meaning is already known and because of the sentence pattern, it is understood as sefer = book.

This is very common in Hebrew: context usually tells you which meaning is intended.

Yes, זה is the masculine form of this.

Since ספר is a masculine noun, זה fits.

With a feminine noun, Hebrew normally uses זאת or זו. For example:

• זאת דירה = This is an apartment
• זו דירה = same meaning, in a more common modern style

So the gender of the noun matters.

The normal order is:

זה + noun

So:

• זה ספר = This is a book

This is a very common and natural pattern for identification sentences in Hebrew.

Yes, but that means something different.

• זה ספר = This is a book
• הספר הזה = this book

So זה ספר is a full sentence, while הספר הזה is a noun phrase.

Because Hebrew does not normally need a separate present-tense is word in a simple sentence like this.

Adding הוא would sound unnatural here. The basic and correct form is simply:

זה ספר

Hebrew prefers the shorter structure.

Yes. In speech, intonation can turn it into a question:

• זה ספר. = This is a book.
• זה ספר? = Is this a book?

In writing, the question mark helps show that it is a question.