Questions & Answers about סבא קנה תפוזים, וסבתא קנתה עגבניות.
Why are there two different verb forms, קנה and קנתה?
Because the verb in Hebrew changes to match the gender of the subject in the past tense.
- סבא קנה = Grandpa bought
- סבתא קנתה = Grandma bought
So:
- קנה is the masculine singular past form
- קנתה is the feminine singular past form
This is very normal in Hebrew. In the past tense, verbs agree with the subject in person, number, and gender.
How do I know that סבא is masculine and סבתא is feminine?
These are simply the normal Hebrew words for:
- סבא = grandfather / grandpa
- סבתא = grandmother / grandma
So their natural gender determines the verb form.
A useful note: even though סבתא ends in א, that does not automatically mean anything by itself. Hebrew nouns do not always show gender in a perfectly predictable way just from the last letter. You often need to learn the noun together with its gender.
What does the ו at the beginning of וסבתא mean?