"The eagle is beautiful."
Translation:הנשר יפה.
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722
I would like to understand: When you have to put in these hebwrew phrases withou a verb a זה ,זות ,הוא ,היא and when NOT ???
- 1443
According to the information from the various Tips and Notes and if I understood them correctly, it is used in (at least) two cases:
- when the subject is indefinite (A book is good - ספר הוא טוב literally "(a) book he/it (is) good");
- when the predicative is nominal.
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/he/Introduction-to-adjectives/tips-and-notes
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/he/Adjectives1-basics/tips-and-notes
All Tips and Notes: https://duome.eu/tips/en/he
I am unsure whether the pronoun/copula is necessary when the subject is indefinite and the predicative definite (because it seems it would be unambiguous even without the copula)… For instance, I wonder whether דג החייה (rather than דג הוא החייה) could be correct to mean ‘a fish is the animal’. If anyone knows, you’re welcome to tell.
(The words from the version without copula will not be displayed correctly from right to left, sorry about this!)
- 1366
I am not a native English speaker, so I don't know what "when the attribute is nominal" means, but here is when to use copula.
When you have a definite noun and an adjective, just like in this sentence, you don't need copula. However, sometimes when you have a longer subjet, it is possible to insert it, in order to avoid ambiguity.
When you have an indefinite noun and adjective, just like your first example, you need copula. פיל הוא גדול. An elephant is big. Otherwise, without a copula פיל גדול would mean "a big elephant".
When you equate two nouns, regardless if they are definite or indefinite, you need copula. So דג הוא חיה is correct. Not sure if I can think of an example right now when you would say that with only one side definite, as you wrote it.
What is wrong with saying הנשר הוא יפה? i thought this was proper usage in hebrew? I understand that הנשר יפה is correct but i thought my response would be correct also...?
It's redundant when connecting the subject to its adjective. You'd use הוא in a sentence like הנשר הוא ציפור גדולה
Apparently, a female נשר can be called .נִשְׁרִית But I don't know if Duolingo will accept this form.