אני מסרקת ומברישה כלב מהגזע הזה.

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Breakdown of אני מסרקת ומברישה כלב מהגזע הזה.

• אני: I
• כלב: dog
• גזע: breed (of animal)

Questions & Answers about אני מסרקת ומברישה כלב מהגזע הזה.

Why do מסרקת and מברישה end in -ת / -ה? Does that tell me anything about the speaker?

Yes. These verb forms show that the speaker is feminine singular in the present tense.

• מסרקת = feminine singular present of לסרק
• מברישה = feminine singular present of להבריש

So this sentence is being said by a woman or girl. A male speaker would say:

אני מסרק ומבריש כלב מהגזע הזה.

Why is אני included? Don’t the verbs already mean I?

Not exactly. In the Hebrew present tense, the verb usually shows gender and number, but not person.

So מסרקת could mean:

• I comb if the speaker is female
• you comb if speaking to one female
• she combs

That is why אני is helpful here: it makes it clear that the subject is I.

Is this really the Hebrew present tense?