Questions & Answers about היא מחייכת, וגם אני מחייך.
Why are there two different forms, מחייכת and מחייך, if they both mean smiling?
Because in Hebrew, the present-tense form agrees with gender and number.
- מחייכת = smiling for a singular feminine subject
- מחייך = smiling for a singular masculine subject
So:
- היא מחייכת = She is smiling
- אני מחייך = I am smiling said by a male speaker
Hebrew does this much more consistently than English, where smiling stays the same.
Why is אני followed by מחייך and not מחייכת?
Because אני means I, but Hebrew still marks the speaker’s gender in the verb/adjective form in the present tense.
So:
- A man says: אני מחייך
- A woman says: אני מחייכת
English does not usually show this difference, but Hebrew does.
If the speaker were female, how would the sentence change?