Questions & Answers about מי שם עם האחות?
In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not stated in the present tense.
So where English says Who is there with the nurse/sister?, Hebrew naturally says:
מי שם עם האחות?
Literally: Who there with the nurse/sister?
This is completely normal Hebrew.
Here, שם means there.
A very common learner question is that the same spelling, שם, can also mean name. The difference is in pronunciation:
- שָם = there → pronounced sham
- שֵם = name → pronounced shem
In everyday unpointed Hebrew writing, they look the same, so you understand the meaning from context.
A common pronunciation guide would be:
Mi sham im ha-achot?
A few notes:
- מי = mi
- שם = sham
- עם = im
- האחות = ha-achot
The ח in אחות is a throaty sound, like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch.
The main stress in אחות is on the last syllable: a-CHOT.
עם means with.
So:
- עם האחות = with the nurse/sister
It is a very common preposition and does not change here.
The ה at the beginning is the definite article, meaning the.
So:
- אחות = a nurse / a sister
- האחות = the nurse / the sister
In this sentence, Hebrew specifically says the nurse/sister.
It can mean either one.
Hebrew uses אחות for both:
- sister
- nurse
So the correct meaning depends on context.
For example:
- In a hospital, האחות probably means the nurse
- In a family context, it probably means the sister
This is very common in Hebrew, and native speakers rely on context to know which meaning is intended.
Yes, it is normal.
Hebrew often puts the question word first:
- מי = who
Then the rest of the sentence follows:
- שם = there
- עם האחות = with the nurse/sister
So the structure is roughly:
Who there with the nurse/sister?
That sounds incomplete in English, but it is natural in Hebrew because the present-tense is is omitted.
Yes, you could, but the meaning would change slightly.
- מי שם עם האחות? = Who is there with the nurse/sister?
- מי עם האחות? = Who is with the nurse/sister?
Adding שם gives a sense of there / over there / in that place.
So שם adds location emphasis.
Usually, the answer would name a person.
For example:
- דני שם עם האחות. = Dani is there with the nurse/sister.
- אמא שם עם האחות. = Mom is there with the nurse/sister.
- אני שם עם האחות. = I’m there with the nurse/sister.
So the question is asking for who the person is.
This sounds very natural in everyday spoken Hebrew.
It is simple, direct, and conversational. Hebrew often uses short present-tense sentences like this without the verb to be.
So this is the kind of sentence you could easily hear in real life.