Sentences without "is"

Hebrew has no word for "am", "is" or "are" in the present tense. Put the subject and what you say about it side by side.

• אֲנִי סְטוּדֶנְט.
  ani student
  I'm a student.
  a man speaking
• הַבַּיִת גָּדוֹל.
  habayit gadol
  The house is big.
• דָּנָה בַּבַּיִת.
  dana babayit
  Dana is at home.
• הַמּוֹרָה נֶחְמָדָה.
  hamora nekhmada
  The teacher is nice.

There is no dummy "it" either: חַם הַיּוֹם kham hayom "it's hot today".

This is: זֶה, זֹאת

To say what something is, start with זֶה ze for a masculine noun, זֹאת zot for a feminine one, or אֵלֶּה ele for plurals. זֶה also means "it" or "that" for a situation.

• מָה זֶה?
  ma ze?
  What's this?
• זֹאת אִמָּא שֶׁלִּי.
  zot ima sheli
  This is my mom.
• זֶה טוֹב.
  ze tov
  That's good.

A pronoun as "is"

When both sides are nouns, especially definite ones, a pronoun often stands between them as a link. It agrees with the subject: הוּא, הִיא, הֵם or הֵן.

• דָּנִי הוּא הָאָח שֶׁלִּי.
  dani hu ha'akh sheli
  Dani is my brother.
• תֵּל אָבִיב הִיא עִיר גְּדוֹלָה.
  tel aviv hi ir gdola
  Tel Aviv is a big city.
• הַבְּעָיָה הִיא שֶׁאֵין זְמַן.
  habe'aya hi she'ein zman
  The problem is that there's no time.

Was and will be

The past and future do have a verb "be", הָיָה haya, which agrees with the subject. See The past tense and The future tense.

• הַבַּיִת הָיָה גָּדוֹל.
  habayit haya gadol
  The house was big.
• הִיא הָיְתָה בַּבַּיִת.
  hi hayta babayit
  She was at home.
• מָחָר יִהְיֶה חַם.
  makhar yihye kham
  It will be hot tomorrow.