מה השם שלך?

What is your name?

Breakdown of מה השם שלך?

• מה: what
• שלך: your
• שם: name

Questions & Answers about מה השם שלך?

What does each word in מה השם שלך? mean?

A literal breakdown is:

• מה = what
• השם = the name
• שלך = your

So the sentence is literally something like What [is] the name of yours?, which is how Hebrew expresses What is your name?

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So where English says:

• What is your name?

Hebrew simply says:

• What your name? / more literally What the name your?

This is completely normal Hebrew grammar.

Why does it say השם (the name) instead of just שם (name)?

In this structure, Hebrew normally uses the definite form:

• השם שלך = your name

So מה השם שלך? is the standard way to say it.

If you said מה שם שלך?, it would sound unnatural or incorrect in normal modern Hebrew.

There is also a different, shorter form:

• מה שמך?

That is more formal or literary.