To ask a question is לשאול שאלה. What about to answer?
The basic word is לענות, a simple verb, as in:
שמעתי את כל מה שאמרת, אבל עדיין לא ענית לי על השאלה.
I heard everything you (a male) said, but you still haven’t answered my question.
For practice conjugating לענות, watch today’s video.
Now, while לענות is the word we use in day-to-day conversation, a higher-register word for to answer is להשיב – literally, to return (something). להשיב is a הפעיל verb using the root ש.ו.ב, the same as that of תשובה, which means both an answer as well as repentance.
Here’s להשיב in context:
היא שאלה, ואני השבתי לה תשובה.
She asked, and I gave her (answered her) an answer.
As mentioned, we can also use להשיב in the context of returning something or someone, as in:
חשוב ביותר להשיב את החטופים.
It is extremely important to return the hostages (kidnapped).
