זה ספר.

this

Breakdown of זה ספר.

• ספר: book

Questions & Answers about זה ספר.

How do you pronounce זה ספר?

It is usually pronounced ze sefer.

• זה = ze
• ספר = sefer

So the whole sentence sounds like ze sefer.

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

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.

What role does זה play here?

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.

Why doesn’t ספר have ה־ if the English meaning 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.

How do I know ספר means book here and not some other word with the same spelling?

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.

Is זה masculine? What would happen with a feminine noun?

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.

What is the normal word order here?

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.

Could I also say הספר הזה?

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.

Why isn’t it זה הוא ספר?

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.

Can זה ספר? be a question too?

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.