Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Hebrew: מה את שותה? - What are you drinking?

Hardcore Hebrew
/Lesson 3
/מה את שותה?

מה את שותה?

Word

מה את שותה?

Meaning

What are you drinking?

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Hebrew

Lesson

Breakdown of מה את שותה?

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Hebrew grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Hebrew now

Questions & Answers about מה את שותה?

How do you pronounce מה את שותה?

A common pronunciation is:

ma at shotá?

A few notes:

מה = ma
את = at
שותה = sho-TA

The stress is usually on the last syllable of שותה.

In everyday speech, people may run the words together a bit, so it can sound like ma’at shotá?

Why is the word order literally what you drinking instead of what are you drinking?

That is normal Hebrew word order.

Hebrew often forms questions without adding a helping verb like do / does / are. So instead of needing something like What are you drinking?, Hebrew can simply say:

מה = what
את = you
שותה = drinking / drink

So the structure מה את שותה? is completely natural in Hebrew.

What does את mean here? Is it the word you, or is it the direct object marker את?

Here, את means you — specifically you addressed to one female.

This is a very common point of confusion, because Hebrew also has another word spelled את that marks a definite direct object.

In this sentence, it is definitely the pronoun you, because it comes before the verb and fits the meaning:

מה את שותה? = What are you drinking?

It is not the direct object marker here.

Why is את feminine?

Hebrew usually distinguishes between masculine and feminine in the second person.

So:

את = you to one female
אתה = you to one male

This sentence is being said to a woman or girl. If you were speaking to a man, you would say:

מה אתה שותה?

This gender distinction is completely normal in Hebrew and appears in pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and more.

What form is שותה exactly?

שותה is the present-tense form of the verb לשתות (to drink), used with a masculine singular subject in grammar.

That may seem surprising, because the subject here is את (you, feminine singular). But in Hebrew present tense, the form used for אני, אתה, and הוא is often the same masculine singular form.

So:

אני שותה = I drink / I am drinking
אתה שותה = you (masc.) drink / are drinking
הוא שותה = he drinks / is drinking

For feminine singular, the verb changes:

את שותה = same spelling here? Actually in this verb, feminine singular is usually שותה in unpointed writing? With full vocalization, masculine and feminine can differ in pronunciation patterns in many verbs, but in everyday unpointed modern usage, context often tells you the subject.

For a learner, the important thing is:

שותה here means drink / drinking in the present.

Does שותה mean drink, drinks, or drinking?

It can mean any of those in English, depending on context.

Hebrew present tense does not separate these ideas the way English does. So שותה can be translated as:

drink
drinks
am drinking
is drinking
are drinking

That is why מה את שותה? can naturally mean:

What do you drink?
What are you drinking?

Usually the context tells you which one is meant. In many everyday situations, people understand it as What are you drinking?

Why is there no word for are in the sentence?

Because Hebrew does not use the verb to be in the present tense the way English does.

English says:

you are drinking

Hebrew simply says:

את שותה

So there is no separate word for am / is / are here.

This is a basic feature of Hebrew grammar, and you will see it very often.

Do you need a special word like האם to make this a question?

No. Because the sentence already begins with the question word מה (what), that is enough to show it is a question.

So:

מה את שותה? = What are you drinking?

You use האם mainly for yes/no questions, not for wh-questions like what, where, why, and so on.

How would I say this to a man?

To one male, you would say:

מה אתה שותה?

The only change is:

את → אתה

Everything else stays the same.

How would I say this to more than one person?

For a group, Hebrew changes both the pronoun and the verb form.

To more than one male or a mixed group:

מה אתם שותים?

To more than one female:

מה אתן שותות?

So Hebrew marks both number and gender.

Is מה always pronounced ma?

Usually, yes.

מה is the normal Hebrew word for what, and in this sentence it is pronounced ma.

In some contexts in careful or older-style pronunciation, you may hear slight variations, but for everyday Modern Hebrew, ma is what learners should use.

Can this sentence also mean What do you drink?

Yes, it can.

Hebrew present tense often covers both:

simple present: What do you drink?
present progressive: What are you drinking?

In real conversation, context decides which one sounds right.

For example:

at a café, looking at someone’s cup: מה את שותה? probably means What are you drinking?
asking about someone’s habits: it could mean What do you drink?

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io