הכלב מתגרד הרבה.

The dog scratches itself a lot.

Breakdown of הכלב מתגרד הרבה.

• כלב: dog
• הרבה: a lot
• להתגרד: to scratch oneself

Questions & Answers about הכלב מתגרד הרבה.

Why does הכלב start with ה־?

ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• כלב = dog
• הכלב = the dog

In this sentence, we are talking about a specific dog, not just a dog in general.

What exactly does מתגרד mean here?

מתגרד means scratches itself or is scratching itself.

It comes from the root ג־ר־ד, which is related to scratching.
In this form, the verb is reflexive, so it means the dog is doing the action to itself.

So the idea is not just scratch in general, but specifically self-scratch.

Why doesn’t Hebrew say itself separately?

Because the verb form already includes that idea.

מתגרד is a reflexive form, so the meaning scratches itself is built into the verb. Hebrew often does this with certain verb patterns, instead of adding a separate word like itself.

So:

• מתגרד = scratches itself
• not just scratches

Is מתגרד present tense?