Questions & Answers about הוא איש טוב.
It is pronounced roughly hu ish tov.
A more detailed breakdown:
- הוא = hu
- איש = ish
- טוב = tov
A natural English approximation is: hoo eesh tove
But the final v in tov should be a real v sound, not a ve syllable.
Word by word:
- הוא = he
- איש = man
- טוב = good
So the sentence is literally something like he man good, but in normal English it means He is a good man.
In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not written in the present tense.
So instead of saying:
- He is a good man
Hebrew simply says:
- He good man / He a good man
That is completely normal Hebrew grammar.
However, in the past or future, Hebrew does use forms of to be:
- הוא היה איש טוב = He was a good man
- הוא יהיה איש טוב = He will be a good man
Because הוא is the subject: he.
Even though Hebrew often omits to be in the present tense, it still needs a subject if you want to say who the sentence is about.
So:
- הוא איש טוב = He is a good man
Without הוא, the phrase איש טוב would just mean:
- a good man
- or good man
not a full sentence with he as the subject.
In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.
So:
- איש טוב = literally man good
- natural English: a good man
This is one of the most basic word-order differences between Hebrew and English.
More examples:
- ילד קטן = small boy
- בית גדול = big house
- אישה חכמה = smart woman
Because טוב is the masculine singular form of the adjective.
The noun איש is masculine singular, so the adjective must match it.
Hebrew adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number.
For example:
- איש טוב = a good man
- אישה טובה = a good woman
- אנשים טובים = good men / good people
- נשים טובות = good women
So טוב is used here because איש is masculine singular.
Yes, איש is a common Hebrew word meaning man, especially in a general or somewhat formal sense.
But learners often also see בן אדם or אדם:
- איש = man
- אדם = person / human
- בן אדם = person, guy, human being
In many everyday situations, modern Hebrew may prefer other words depending on context.
Still, איש טוב is a very normal and useful phrase meaning a good man.
Hebrew does not have a separate word for a or an.
So איש טוב can mean:
- a good man
If you wanted to say the good man, Hebrew would use the definite article ה on both the noun and the adjective:
- האיש הטוב = the good man
So:
- איש טוב = a good man
- האיש הטוב = the good man
Because in Hebrew, when a noun is definite, its adjective usually becomes definite too.
So:
- איש טוב = a good man
- האיש הטוב = the good man
Both words get ה:
- האיש = the man
- הטוב = the good
This is different from English, where only the appears once.
Yes. Hebrew grammatical gender works differently from English.
הוא usually means he, but it can also be used for it when referring to a masculine noun.
Likewise, היא can mean she or it for a feminine noun.
But in הוא איש טוב, the meaning is clearly he, because the sentence is about a male person.
Not by itself.
הוא איש טוב specifically means He is a good man or He is a good person/man.
If you wanted just He is good / nice, you would normally say:
- הוא טוב = He is good
Adding איש makes the description about the kind of person he is.
It is mostly neutral and fully understandable.
However, in very casual spoken Hebrew, people might sometimes choose different wording depending on what exactly they mean. For example:
- הוא בן אדם טוב = He is a good person
- הוא גבר טוב = He is a good man (depending on context)
Still, הוא איש טוב is a solid, standard sentence and a good example for learning Hebrew grammar.
Not if you mean the full sentence He is a good man.
- איש טוב by itself means a good man or good man
- הוא איש טוב means He is a good man
So the subject הוא is necessary if you want a complete sentence with he.
You would change both the pronoun and the adjective form:
- היא אישה טובה = She is a good woman
Changes:
- הוא → היא = he → she
- איש → אישה = man → woman
- טוב → טובה = masculine good → feminine good
This shows how Hebrew often changes word forms to match gender.