מישהו רוצה משהו טוב
mishahoo rotse mashahoo tov?
mishahoo= somebody, noun (subject)
mashahoo= something, noun (object)
rotse= wants, verb- male singular, present tense
tov= good, adjective
mashahoo tov= something good (to eat is implied- and one is usually thinking of something sweet, like cake-עוגה ooga)
In a question like this one, the male singular is always used. The answer can be male or female, singular or plural. The same sort of thing is done in English in questions such as Who wants to go to the movies? wants is third person singular.
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2 comments:
and hence my continual confusion in the world of hebrew language. After all, I am female, so why wouldn't I use rotsah (fem, singular)? Especially if I am asking the question to the group of female friends I am with? Since no males are even in the vicinity, why would I even think of using the masc version of the verb? Help!!!
In this case, it's just a grammar thing- the word מישהוא is male. To specify someone female, you would use מישהיא and then match the verb to it. You can see how מישהוא is related to the pronoun 'he': הוא and the feminine form, מישהיא is related to the pronoun 'she': היא
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