Hebrew · Lesson 13

Demonstratives, Interrogatives, and Relativesזֶה · מִי · אֲשֶׁר — the little words that point, ask, and connect

Three small classes of words do an enormous amount of work in biblical Hebrew. The demonstratives (זֶה "this," אֵלֶּה "these," הוּא "that") point at things and behave grammatically like adjectives — agreeing in gender, number, and definiteness with the noun they modify. The interrogatives (מִי "who?", מָה "what?", אֵיךְ "how?") open questions and follow neat pointing rules. The relative (אֲשֶׁר "who/which/that") is the universal, invariable connector — one word that does the work of English "who," "which," "that," "where," and "when." Together these three classes let you read whole sentences.

Self-check before reading on

English distinguishes "this man" (close) from "that man" (far) — and uses entirely different words. Hebrew likewise distinguishes near from far, but uses a familiar word for "that." Look at the phrase הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה ("this man"). What do you notice about the word order? And what word do you think Hebrew would use for "that man"?

Reveal answer

Two surprises. First, Hebrew writes the demonstrative after the noun, and repeats the article on both: literally "the-man the-this." Hebrew demonstratives in this position behave exactly like adjectives. Second, Hebrew has no separate word for "that"; it reuses the third-person pronouns הוּא ("he") and הִיא ("she") to mean "that (one over there)." So "that man" is הָאִישׁ הַהוּא — literally "the-man the-he." Strange to English ears, but consistent across the whole Hebrew Bible.

Watch · 22-Slide Overview

Demonstratives, Interrogatives, Relatives — The Visual Tour

Why these little words matter; the demonstrative "this/these" paradigm (זֶה / זֹאת / אֵלֶּה); the "that/those" paradigm (הוּא / הִיא / הֵם / הֵן); attributive vs predicative demonstratives; the interrogatives (מִי "who?", מָה "what?" and its pointing variations, plus אַיֵּה, מָתַי, לָמָּה, אֵיךְ); the relative אֲשֶׁר with its clauses and resumptive pronouns; the short form -שֶׁ of later books; reading Gen 1:31; common mistakes; the drill plan; recap; theological note; practice; and closing.

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LESSON 13 · Unit III — Pronouns and Sentences · ~50 minutes + drilling

By the End of This Lesson

Recognize and produce all seven demonstrative forms (this ms/fs, these cp; that ms/fs, those mp/fp)
Distinguish attributive use (after the noun, both definite) from predicative use (separate from the noun, no article on the demonstrative)
Recognize the seven main Hebrew interrogatives and the pointing variation of מָה / מַה / מֶה
Identify the relative אֲשֶׁר in any context and recognize that it never inflects
Parse a relative clause introduced by אֲשֶׁר, including the resumptive-pronoun pattern
Recognize the short relative -שֶׁ in later books (Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes)
Read Gen 1:31 (אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה) and parse the relative

Why These Little Words Matter

The words we cover in this lesson are short, common, and grammatically unspectacular — but they appear thousands of times in the Hebrew Bible. The relative אֲשֶׁר alone occurs over 5,500 times. The demonstrative זֶה appears about 1,200 times. The interrogative מִי appears over 400 times. You cannot read three verses of biblical Hebrew without meeting one of these words.

And yet they often confuse beginners. The demonstrative is one of the few "adjective-like" words you'll meet that has a special paradigm of its own. The relative אֲשֶׁר functions where English uses a half-dozen different words ("who," "which," "that," "where," "when") — and it never changes form, so the student has to discover what role it's playing from context. The interrogatives almost all begin with m- and look slightly alike on a quick glance.

The good news: once you've memorized these forms and seen the patterns at work, your reading speed jumps. Whole verses come into focus that were previously a blur of unfamiliar shapes.

The Demonstratives — "This" and "These"

Hebrew has three forms for "this/these," corresponding to masculine singular, feminine singular, and common plural. The plural אֵלֶּה serves for both genders.

Form	Gender/Number	Meaning	Example phrase
זֶה	masculine singular	this	הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה — "this man"
זֹאת	feminine singular	this	הָאִשָּׁה הַזֹּאת — "this woman"
אֵלֶּה	common plural	these	הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה — "these things"

💡 Tip — recognize the shapes The masculine singular זֶה begins with zayin (z). The feminine singular זֹאת is the same root with the feminine ending -ת and a vowel letter aleph. The plural אֵלֶּה looks unrelated — and historically isn't — but it's the only "these" form Hebrew has. Memorize the three together as one paradigm.

The Demonstratives — "That" and "Those"

Hebrew has no separate word for "that." Instead, it reuses the third-person personal pronouns you learned in Lesson 11 (הוּא "he," הִיא "she," הֵם "they-mp," הֵן "they-fp"). Context — and the article — tells you whether to read them as personal pronouns or as demonstratives.

Form	Gender/Number	Meaning	Example phrase
הוּא	masculine singular	that	הָאִישׁ הַהוּא — "that man"
הִיא	feminine singular	that	הָאִשָּׁה הַהִיא — "that woman"
הֵם / הֵמָּה	masculine plural	those	הַיָּמִים הָהֵם — "those days"
הֵן / הֵנָּה	feminine plural	those	הַנָּשִׁים הָהֵנָּה — "those women"

Memory hook

Same word, two senses. הוּא by itself in a sentence usually means "he" or "it." הוּא with the article (הַהוּא) attached to a definite noun is the demonstrative "that." When you see בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם ("in those days") — one of the most common formulas in the Hebrew Bible — recognize the structure: article + noun + article + 3rd-person pronoun = "those Xs."

Attributive Use — Demonstrative as Adjective

When a demonstrative modifies a noun ("this man," "those days"), it sits after the noun and agrees with it in gender, number, and definiteness. Hebrew literally says "the X the this" — both noun and demonstrative carry the article.

Hebrew	Literal	English
הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה	the-man the-this	this man
הָאִשָּׁה הַזֹּאת	the-woman the-this(f)	this woman
הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה	the-words the-these	these words
הָאִישׁ הַהוּא	the-man the-he	that man
הַיָּמִים הָהֵם	the-days the-those	those days

💡 Tip — three agreements at once Every attributive demonstrative must agree with its noun in three ways simultaneously: (1) gender (m/f), (2) number (sg/pl), and (3) definiteness (both get the article). If even one fails, the construction is no longer attributive — it's predicative (see next section), and the meaning changes from "this X" to "this is X."

Predicative Use — "This is the X"

When the demonstrative is the predicate of a verbless sentence — when you want to say "this is the man" rather than just "this man" — Hebrew drops the article on the demonstrative and (usually) puts it first. The article on the noun stays.

Hebrew	Literal	English
זֶה הָאִישׁ	this the-man	this is the man
זֹאת הָאִשָּׁה	this(f) the-woman	this is the woman
אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים	these the-words	these are the words

אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ

— elleh toledot ha-shamayim ve-ha-arets —

"These are the generations of the heavens and the earth" (Gen 2:4). Classic predicative use. אֵלֶּה stands alone (no article), the noun phrase תּוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם follows — and the unwritten "is/are" is supplied: "these are the generations…" This single-word opening (a demonstrative + a noun) launches an entire major section of Genesis.

Common error — missing the predicative structure

Reading זֶה הָאִישׁ as "this man"

Reading זֶה הָאִישׁ as "this is the man"

The difference is the article on the demonstrative. הַזֶּה (with article) after a definite noun = attributive ("this man"). זֶה (without article) before a definite noun = predicative ("this is the man"). One letter (the he) carries the whole semantic difference.

Interrogative — מִי "Who?"

The simplest interrogative. מִי means "who?" and never changes its form, regardless of gender or number.

מִי אַתָּה

— mi attah —

"Who are you?" Two words: the interrogative מִי ("who?") and the 2ms pronoun אַתָּה ("you"). No verb of being — Hebrew supplies it from context. This is the exact phrase Boaz uses to Ruth on the threshing floor (Ruth 3:9).

מִי כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה

— mi chamochah ba-elim YHWH —

"Who is like you among the gods, O LORD?" (Ex 15:11). מִי opens the question; the rest answers it implicitly: no one. The interrogative carries the punch of the whole rhetorical structure.

Interrogative — מָה "What?" and Its Three Pointings

The interrogative "what?" has three written forms — מָה, מַה, מֶה — depending on the first letter of the following word. The form changes; the meaning is identical.

Form	Used before	Sound	Example
מָה	most words; standalone	mah (long a)	מָה אֲנִי — "what am I?"
מַה	before a non-guttural — joined with maqqef + dagesh in next letter	mah (short a)	מַה־זֶּה — "what is this?"
מֶה	before certain gutturals (esp. ע, ה)	meh	מֶה עָשִׂיתִי — "what have I done?"

💡 Tip — the pointing follows a phonological rule The three pointings of "what?" are not three different words but one word adjusting its vowel to fit the next sound. Hebrew dislikes certain vowel-consonant combinations, so the vowel under the mem shifts. The shewa-and-dagesh of מַה־זֶּה reflects close juncture: "what-this." For reading, treat all three as the same word with the same meaning.

Other Interrogatives

Beyond "who" and "what," Hebrew has a small inventory of question words for place, time, manner, and cause. Most begin with mem or aleph and are short.

Hebrew	Meaning	Example
אַיֵּה	where? (location)	אַיֵּה אָחִיךָ — "where is your brother?" (Gen 4:9)
אָנָה / אֵיכָה	whither? / how? / where?	אֵיכָה — "how!" (opening of Lamentations)
מָתַי	when?	עַד־מָתַי — "until when? / how long?"
לָמָּה	why?	לָמָּה רָגְשׁוּ גוֹיִם — "why do the nations rage?" (Ps 2:1)
אֵיךְ	how?	אֵיךְ נָפְלוּ גִבּוֹרִים — "how the mighty have fallen!" (2 Sam 1:19)

Memory hook

The m-words and the a-words. מִי, מָה, מָתַי, לָמָּה all carry a mem; אַיֵּה, אֵיכָה, אֵיךְ all carry an aleph. Recognizing the two clusters at a glance will speed your reading. Some of these (אֵיכָה, אֵיךְ) double as exclamations: "how (terrible)!"

The Relative Pronoun — אֲשֶׁר

The most common relative pronoun in biblical Hebrew. אֲשֶׁר means "who," "which," "that" — and also "where," "when," and "in which" depending on context. It never changes form: one spelling, all gender/number combinations, all syntactic roles.

Where English has a small army of relative words (who, which, that, where, whose, when), Hebrew has one. The word אֲשֶׁר is a "universal relativizer": it simply marks the start of a relative clause and leaves the reader to figure out from context what role the antecedent plays in that clause.

Because אֲשֶׁר is invariable, it is one of the easiest words to recognize. It is also one of the most frequent — over 5,500 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible. Once you have it locked in, your reading of biblical Hebrew prose accelerates dramatically.

הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי

— ha-ish asher ra'iti —

"The man whom I saw." The antecedent is הָאִישׁ ("the man"); the relative אֲשֶׁר introduces the clause; רָאִיתִי ("I saw") is the verb. Same structure as English, but with one all-purpose relative word.

Resumptive Pronouns — When אֲשֶׁר Isn't Enough

Because אֲשֶׁר is invariable, Hebrew sometimes needs to specify the antecedent's role in the relative clause by adding a pronoun later — a "resumptive pronoun." English does this clumsily ("the man who I spoke to him"); Hebrew does it freely and idiomatically.

הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתִּי לוֹ

— ha-ish asher amarti lo —

"The man to whom I spoke" — literally "the-man that I-spoke to-him." The לוֹ ("to him") at the end is the resumptive pronoun that clarifies the antecedent's role (indirect object). English would drop "to him"; Hebrew leaves it in.

הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה שֹׁכֵב עָלֶיהָ

— ha-arets asher attah shochev aleyha —

"The land on which you are lying" (Gen 28:13). Literally "the-land that you are lying on-it." The resumptive עָלֶיהָ ("on it") clarifies the spatial relation. This is how Hebrew handles English "where," "on which," "in which."

💡 Tip — translate intelligently Don't translate the resumptive pronoun literally into English ("the man whom I spoke to him") — it sounds wrong. Drop it. The Hebrew syntax needs the resumptive; English syntax doesn't. When you parse, identify the resumptive (so you know what role the antecedent plays), then leave it untranslated.

The Short Form -שֶׁ

In later books of the Hebrew Bible — Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes (Qohelet), Lamentations, some psalms — the relative אֲשֶׁר is frequently shortened to a prefix -שֶׁ attached directly to the next word. The next consonant takes a dagesh forte.

Form	Where it occurs	Example
אֲשֶׁר	throughout the OT; standard form; dominant in Pentateuch and prophets	הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי — "the land which I gave"
-שֶׁ	later books (Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, late Psalms); rare in Pentateuch	שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים אֲשֶׁר לִשְׁלֹמֹה / שֶׁכָּכָה לּוֹ

אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם שֶׁכָּכָה לּוֹ

— ashrei ha-am she-kachah lo —

"Blessed is the people for whom this is so" (Ps 144:15). The -שֶׁ is prefixed to כָּכָה ("thus, so"), with a dagesh in the kaf marking the prefix's attachment. In earlier classical Hebrew this would be אֲשֶׁר כָּכָה לוֹ; the short form is characteristic of later language.

Memory hook

A clue to the book's date. The shift from אֲשֶׁר to -שֶׁ tracks (loosely) with the date of the book. Pentateuch and earlier prophetic books overwhelmingly use אֲשֶׁר; Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and parts of Esther shift toward -שֶׁ. Modern Hebrew has gone all the way: it uses -שֶׁ almost exclusively. So you're witnessing a language change in slow motion, recorded across the canon.

Reading Practice — Gen 1:31

The relative אֲשֶׁר appears in one of the most theologically loaded sentences in the Bible — the conclusion of the creation account.

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה־טוֹב מְאֹד

— vayyar elohim et-kol-asher asah ve-hinneh tov me'od —

"And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen 1:31). Parse the relative clause: כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה = "all that he-had-made." The antecedent is כָּל ("all"); the relative אֲשֶׁר introduces the clause; the verb עָשָׂה ("he made") completes it. The object marker אֶת applies to the whole relative phrase. Beautiful, compact Hebrew — and unforgettable theology.

Common Mistakes

Confusing attributive and predicative demonstratives. הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה = "this man"; זֶה הָאִישׁ = "this is the man." The article on the demonstrative is the entire difference.
Reading הוּא as "he" when it means "that." When attached attributively to a definite noun with the article (הָאִישׁ הַהוּא), it means "that man," not "the-man he."
Treating מָה and מַה as different words. They are the same interrogative in different phonetic environments.
Trying to inflect אֲשֶׁר. It never changes. Same form for "who" (mp), "whom" (fs), "which" (cp), "where," "when."
Translating the resumptive pronoun literally. Drop it in English ("the man to whom I spoke," not "the man whom I spoke to him").
Missing the short form -שֶׁ. When you see a shewa + dagesh-attached prefix you don't recognize, check if it's the short relative.

Daily Drill Plan

Day	Focus	Goal
1	Read this lesson. Write out the demonstrative paradigms (this/these, that/those) twice.	Forms memorized
2	Drill 12 noun + demonstrative phrases — attributive ("this man") and predicative ("this is the man"). 10 min.	Both constructions automatic
3	Drill the seven interrogatives in sentences. Notice the מָה/מַה/מֶה variations.	Question-words recognized
4	Parse 10 relative clauses with אֲשֶׁר from Genesis. Identify each resumptive pronoun.	Relative clauses parsed
5	Read Gen 1:31 aloud. Read Ecclesiastes 1:9 (uses -שֶׁ). Compare.	Real-text fluency

Read These Aloud

Six phrases combining demonstratives, interrogatives, and relatives — the words of this lesson at work in real biblical context.

הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה

— ha-ish ha-zeh —

"This man." Attributive demonstrative. Both noun and demonstrative are definite (article on both). Literally "the-man the-this."

בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם

— ba-yamim ha-hem —

"In those days." The 3mp pronoun הֵם serving as the demonstrative "those." The prefix bet ("in") fuses with the article: be+ha → ba.

מִי אַתָּה בְּנִי

— mi attah beni —

"Who are you, my son?" (Gen 27:18). Isaac to Jacob, the great deception scene. מִי + 2ms pronoun + 1cs-possessive noun.

מָה אֱנוֹשׁ

— mah enosh —

"What is man?" (Ps 8:5). Two words — interrogative + noun — and a question that echoes through the whole Bible. Note the standalone מָה with long qamatz.

הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם

— ha-arets asher ani noten lachem —

"The land which I am giving to you." A formula appearing dozens of times in Deuteronomy. אֲשֶׁר introduces the relative clause; לָכֶם ("to you") is a resumptive-like indirect object.

כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה

— kol-asher asah —

"All that he made" (Gen 1:31). The phrase from God's verdict on creation. כָּל + maqqef + אֲשֶׁר + verb. Compact, weighty, foundational.

Theological Note · The Universal Relativizer

אֲשֶׁר

asher — "who, which, that"

The relative אֲשֶׁר is one of those small, invariant Hebrew words that does theological work just by being itself. It is the word that binds the act of creation to the verdict on creation: "God saw all that he had made." It is the word that binds promise to land: "the land which I am giving you." It is the word that binds person to deed: "the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt." Every "that," every "which," every "who" of consequence in the Hebrew Bible flows through this one syllable. Memorize the shape; expect to see it everywhere; let its sound (asher) become as familiar as breath. It is the relational connector of biblical Hebrew — and through it the Bible binds God, people, land, and history into one woven story.

Next up Lesson 14 covers prepositions and their pronominal suffixes — how Hebrew attaches "to me," "with him," "from her" onto a small set of common prepositions. With these in hand, you'll be able to read whole prose narratives without stopping.