היא יושבת בכיתה ליד הלוח וכותבת על דף נקי.

She is sitting in the classroom near the board and writing on a clean sheet of paper.

Breakdown of היא יושבת בכיתה ליד הלוח וכותבת על דף נקי.

• היא: she
• ו: and
• ב: in
• לשבת: to sit

Questions & Answers about היא יושבת בכיתה ליד הלוח וכותבת על דף נקי.

Why are יושבת and כותבת written in that form?

Because the subject is היא (she), and both verbs are in the feminine singular present form.

In Modern Hebrew, present-tense verb forms agree with gender and number:

• יושב / כותב = masculine singular
• יושבת / כותבת = feminine singular
• יושבים / כותבים = masculine plural
• יושבות / כותבות = feminine plural

So with היא, you use:

• היא יושבת
• היא כותבת

These come from the verbs:

• לשבת = to sit
• לכתוב = to write

Does יושבת mean sits or is sitting?

It can mean either one.

Hebrew does not normally make a separate grammatical distinction between:

• she sits
• she is sitting

The plain present tense can cover both meanings, and context tells you which one is meant.

So היא יושבת בכיתה could mean:

• She sits in the classroom
• She is sitting in the classroom

In this sentence, English would often naturally translate it as is sitting because it describes an ongoing scene.