היא שואלת אם התרגיל הזה קשה יותר, ואני עונה שהפעם הוא קל.

They are in the present tense.

In Modern Hebrew, present-tense verb forms come from participles, so they can often cover both:

• simple present: she asks
• present progressive: she is asking

So:

• היא שואלת = she asks / she is asking
• אני עונה = I answer / I am answering

Hebrew usually does not force the same distinction that English does between asks and is asking. Context decides.

Hebrew can leave subject pronouns out, but in the present tense they are often kept for clarity.

The reason is that present-tense forms usually show gender and number, but not person clearly enough on their own.

For example:

• שואלת could mean she asks or you ask when speaking to one female
• עונה in plain spelling could mean I answer, you answer, he answers, or she answers, depending on context and pronunciation

So:

• היא שואלת clearly means she asks
• אני עונה clearly means I answer

In past and future tense, Hebrew verbs usually mark person more clearly, so pronouns are omitted more often.

Because the subject is היא, which is feminine singular.

Hebrew verbs in the present tense agree with the subject in gender and number:

• הוא שואל = he asks
• היא שואלת = she asks

So שואלת is the correct feminine singular form.

This is a very common Hebrew spelling issue.

Without vowel marks, עונה can represent both:

• עוֹנֶה = masculine singular, pronounced roughly oné
• עוֹנָה = feminine singular, pronounced roughly oná

So in plain everyday Hebrew writing, both are written עונה.

That means אני עונה could be said by:

• a male speaker
• a female speaker

Only pronunciation or context tells you which one it is.

Here אם means whether / if in an indirect yes-no question.

So:

• היא שואלת אם התרגיל הזה קשה יותר = She asks if/whether this exercise is harder

This is not a conditional if like:

• If it rains, we’ll stay home

Instead, it introduces the content of a yes-no question.

A direct question would be something like:

• האם התרגיל הזה קשה יותר?
• or simply התרגיל הזה קשה יותר? with questioning intonation

Because in Hebrew, when you say this/that with a noun, the noun is normally definite, so it usually takes ה־.

So:

• התרגיל הזה = this exercise

Hebrew also usually puts the demonstrative after the noun:

• התרגיל הזה = literally the exercise this

This is the normal modern Hebrew pattern.

A more formal/literary alternative is:

• תרגיל זה

But in everyday Hebrew, התרגיל הזה is the most natural form.

Yes. Hebrew usually makes comparatives with:

adjective + יותר

So:

• קשה = difficult
• קשה יותר = more difficult / harder
• קל = easy
• קל יותר = easier

Unlike English, Hebrew does not usually add an ending like -er to the adjective. It uses יותר instead.

Examples:

• גדול יותר = bigger
• מעניין יותר = more interesting

Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not expressed in the present tense in sentences like this.

So:

• התרגיל הזה קשה יותר literally looks like this exercise harder
• but it means this exercise is harder

This is completely normal Hebrew.

In other tenses, Hebrew does use forms of היה:

• התרגיל היה קשה = the exercise was difficult
• התרגיל יהיה קל = the exercise will be easy

So the missing is is not an omission or mistake; it is just how present-tense Hebrew works.

No. הוא here is still the pronoun he / it, not the verb is.

It refers back to התרגיל, which is a masculine singular noun. Since Hebrew nouns have grammatical gender, תרגיל takes:

• הוא = it for masculine nouns
• קל = masculine singular easy

So:

• שהפעם הוא קל = that this time it is easy

For a feminine noun, you would get feminine agreement:

• השאלה הזאת קלה = this question is easy
• and if you used a pronoun: היא קלה

Also, Hebrew sometimes allows this pronoun to be omitted if the subject is obvious, but here הוא helps make the reference clear.

Because ש־ is a very common Hebrew prefix meaning that, and it attaches directly to the following word.

So:

• שהפעם = ש + הפעם
• meaning that this time

This attached ש־ is extremely common after verbs like:

• say
• think
• know
• remember
• answer

In this sentence:

• ואני עונה שהפעם הוא קל means
• and I answer that this time it is easy

In very colloquial speech, Hebrew sometimes drops this ש־, but in normal standard writing it is very natural to keep it.

Yes, literally הפעם is the time / the occurrence, but idiomatically it very often means this time or this occasion.

So:

• הפעם הוא קל = this time it is easy

This is a very common Hebrew expression.

Hebrew often uses הפעם where English would say:

• this time
• on this occasion

A more explicit form such as בפעם הזאת can exist in some contexts, but הפעם is shorter and very natural here.

Because קל agrees with תרגיל, and תרגיל is masculine singular.

Hebrew adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender and number:

• תרגיל קל = an easy exercise
• שאלה קלה = an easy question

So in this sentence:

• הוא קל uses masculine singular agreement because הוא refers back to התרגיל.

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:

• היא קלה = it is easy for a feminine noun