In this post, we’ll learn how to meet people, say who you are and ask who they are in an informal situation. Before we begin, take some time to look over the vocabulary used in this lesson and listen to the audio for the pronunciation:

וְ (vuh/v) – and אֲנִי (ah-NEE) – I מַר (mahr) – Mr. מָרַת (mahr-AHT) – Mrs./Ms. מִי (mee) – who אַתָה (ah-TAH) – you (masc.) אַת (aht) – you (fem.)

דוד וויליאמס – David Williams שרה וויליאמס – Sarah Williams יוחנן כוהן – Johanan Kohen

Ready To Begin?

First, let’s say who we are. So we take the word אני and then add our name. I am Johanan: אני יוחנן

David would say “אני דוד“.

Now you try it with your name. אני …

Say these in Hebrew:
I am Sarah
I am Johanan

Who Are You?

 

Now, let’s ask the other person who they are. You’ll need two words from the vocabulary list above. They are “who” and “you”. But you’ll see one thing that may stop you for a moment (here comes the grammar).

There’s actually two words for “you” in this case – The masculine form: אתה and the feminine form: את. Here’s where that grammar rule comes in. I briefly touched on it in a previous post. All nouns, adjectives and verbs in Hebrew have a masculine and feminine form – depending on who is talking to whom. Let’s take a look by example.

You want to know who that guy is across the room, or standing next to you. So you would ask him מי אתה?. You would ask this question, using the masculine form of the word “you” to a man, or a male child.

If you’re going to ask a woman, or a female child, you would ask מי את? with the feminine form.

In the lessons, I’ll be indicating these masculine and feminine forms in the vocabulary lists with masc. and fem. so you’ll be grammatically correct.

Let’s take a look at a short conversation using what we’ve learned so far. David sees a woman, walks up to her and says:

שלום, אני דוד. מי את?
אני שרה.

If David was talking to a man, what do you think he would’ve asked?

Check Yourself

1. Answer in Hebrew: שׁלום, אני ינאי. מי את?
2. Ask in Hebrew: Your friend, David, has someone with him, ask who he/she is.

Read this dialogue and see how much you can understand:

שׂרה: שׁלום, מי אתה?
דוד: אני דוד, מי אתה?
מר כוהן: אני מר כוהן, ואת, מי את?
מרת וויליאמס: אני מרת וויליאמס.

See the word “ואת (v-aht)”? This is how to write “and you”. The word ו (and) is always attached to the word that follows.

Cultural Awareness

Going through this lesson, you may think that asking “Who are you?” sounds a little rude. Well, it does in English. But in Hebrew, this is a commonly used alternative to מה שמך? (what is your name?) in an informal situation. So feel free to use it, and don’t be offended if someone asks you the same.

Related articles

Meeting and Greeting