היא שותה חלב, אבל הוא שותה קפה.

She is drinking milk, but he is drinking coffee.

Breakdown of היא שותה חלב, אבל הוא שותה קפה.

• הוא: he
• קפה: coffee
• היא: she
• אבל: but

Questions & Answers about היא שותה חלב, אבל הוא שותה קפה.

Why are there two different pronouns, היא and הוא?

Hebrew marks gender in third-person singular pronouns:

• היא = she
• הוא = he

Their usual pronunciations are:

• היא = hi
• הוא = hu

So the sentence is contrasting she and he.

Why does שותה look the same after both היא and הוא?

This is a very common question. The short answer is: the verb does agree with gender here, but in normal Hebrew spelling the masculine and feminine singular forms happen to be written the same.

With vowel marks, they are different:

• היא שׁוֹתָה = hi shota = feminine singular
• הוא שׁוֹתֶה = hu shote = masculine singular

So the spelling is the same, but the pronunciation changes.

Does שותה mean drinks or is drinking?

It can mean both.

In Modern Hebrew, the present tense often covers both:

• she drinks
• she is drinking