היא הולכת לחנות עכשיו.

She is going to the store now.

Breakdown of היא הולכת לחנות עכשיו.

• היא: she
• עכשיו: now
• חנות: store
• ללכת: to go
• ל: to

Questions & Answers about היא הולכת לחנות עכשיו.

Why is there no separate word for is in this sentence?

In Modern Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not expressed in the present tense.

So:

• היא הולכת literally looks like she going
• but it means she goes or she is going

This is completely normal Hebrew grammar.

Why is the verb הולכת?

Because Hebrew present-tense verb forms must agree with the subject in gender and number.

Here the subject is היא = she, which is:

• feminine
• singular

So the correct form is הולכת.

Compare:

• הוא הולך = he goes / is going
• היא הולכת = she goes / is going

Does הולכת mean goes or is going?

It can mean either one.

Hebrew present tense often covers both:

• simple present: she goes
• present continuous: she is going

In this sentence, עכשיו = now makes she is going now the most natural understanding.

Does הולכת mean specifically walking, or can it just mean going?

It often means simply going, not necessarily walking on foot.

So היא הולכת לחנות is very commonly understood as she is going to the store.

Sometimes it can carry a more literal walking sense, but not always. If you specifically want to stress that she is traveling by vehicle, Hebrew might use another verb such as נוסעת.

Why is לחנות written as one word?

Because the preposition ל־ = to attaches directly to the noun in Hebrew.

So instead of writing two separate words like English to + store, Hebrew combines them:

• ל־
  • חנות → לחנות

This is very common in Hebrew.

Where did the word the go in לחנות?

With the prepositions ב־ (in), כ־ (as/like), and ל־ (to), Hebrew often absorbs the definite article ה־.

So:

• החנות = the store
• ל + החנות = to the store
• together this becomes לחנות

In fully pointed Hebrew, to a store and to the store would have different vowels, but in normal unpointed writing they look the same: לחנות. Context tells you which one is meant.

Why is עכשיו at the end of the sentence?

Because Hebrew word order is fairly flexible, and putting עכשיו at the end is perfectly natural.

This sentence order is fine:

• היא הולכת לחנות עכשיו

You could also say:

• עכשיו היא הולכת לחנות

Both are grammatical. The difference is mostly about focus and emphasis, not basic meaning.

Do you have to say היא, or could you just say הולכת לחנות עכשיו?

You can sometimes leave it out if the context is clear, but here היא helps identify the subject.

That is because הולכת only tells you:

• feminine
• singular

It does not tell you person clearly by itself. So הולכת לחנות עכשיו could mean, depending on context:

• I am going to the store now (if the speaker is female)
• you are going to the store now (to one female)
• she is going to the store now

So adding היא removes the ambiguity.

What is the dictionary form of הולכת?

The dictionary form is ללכת = to go / to walk.

Its present-tense forms are:

• הולך = going/goes, masculine singular
• הולכת = going/goes, feminine singular
• הולכים = going/go, masculine plural or mixed plural
• הולכות = going/go, feminine plural

This is a very common verb, so it is worth memorizing well.

Is הולכת a regular verb form?

Not really from an English learner’s point of view. It belongs to a very common verb, ללכת, whose forms are important but not especially transparent at first.

Learners often expect the present form to look more like the infinitive, but instead you get:

• ללכת = to go
• הולכת = going/goes, feminine singular

So it is best to learn this verb as a high-frequency pattern rather than trying to force it into a simple English-style system.

How is the sentence pronounced?

A common Modern Hebrew pronunciation is:

hee ho-LE-khet la-kha-NUT akh-SHAV

A few notes:

• היא sounds like hee
• ח in חנות is a throaty kh sound, like German Bach
• עכשיו is commonly pronounced akhshav
• the stress is usually:
  • ho-LE-khet
  • kha-NUT
  • akh-SHAV