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
• חלב: milk
• לשתות: to drink

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

So היא שותה חלב can mean either she drinks milk or she is drinking milk, depending on context.

Why is there no word for a or some before חלב and קפה?

Hebrew does not normally use an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• חלב can mean milk or some milk
• קפה can mean coffee or some coffee

If Hebrew wants to say the milk or the coffee, it adds ה־:

• החלב = the milk
• הקפה = the coffee

Why is there no את before חלב or קפה?

Because את is used before a definite direct object, not an indefinite one.

Here the objects are not definite:

• חלב = milk
• קפה = coffee

So there is no את.

Compare:

• היא שותה חלב = she drinks milk
• היא שותה את החלב = she drinks the milk

That second sentence has את because החלב is definite.

Is the word order here the normal Hebrew word order?

Yes. This sentence uses the basic Modern Hebrew order:

subject + verb + object

So:

• היא / הוא = subject
• שותה = verb
• חלב / קפה = object

That makes the sentence very straightforward and natural.

Could you leave out היא and הוא?

Usually, in a sentence like this, no—or at least it would sound less clear.

In the present tense, Hebrew often keeps the subject pronoun because the verb form does not always clearly show person by itself. Here the pronouns are especially helpful because the sentence is making a contrast:

• she drinks milk
• but he drinks coffee

So היא and הוא are important and natural here.

Why is שותה repeated after אבל?

Because Hebrew normally repeats the verb in this kind of contrast.

So this is natural:

• היא שותה חלב, אבל הוא שותה קפה.

If you tried to leave out the second שותה, it would sound incomplete or unnatural in standard Hebrew.

Repeating the verb makes the contrast clear and smooth.

What does אבל do, and how is it pronounced?

אבל means but.

It links two contrasting parts of the sentence:

• she drinks milk
• but he drinks coffee

It is usually pronounced aval, with the stress on the second syllable: a-VAL.

Why are there no vowel marks in the sentence? How am I supposed to know how to read it?

Most everyday Hebrew is written without vowel marks (niqqud). Native readers usually understand the pronunciation from vocabulary, grammar, and context.

That is why a learner may see the same spelling שותה and need help knowing whether it is:

• shota = feminine singular
• shote = masculine singular

This is normal in Hebrew. At first it feels tricky, but over time you start recognizing the patterns automatically.