בעל הכרטיס חסם את כרטיס החיוב.

Literally, it means the owner of the card.

In natural English, though, it often corresponds to the cardholder. Hebrew uses בעל very often for owner, holder, or person associated with something.

In this sentence, בעל does not mean husband, even though that is another common meaning of the word. The context clearly points to owner/holder.

Because בעל הכרטיס is a construct chain (called סמיכות in Hebrew).

In a construct chain:

• the first noun usually does not take ה
• definiteness is shown on the second noun

So:

• בעל כרטיס = an owner/holder of a card or a cardholder
• בעל הכרטיס = the owner/holder of the card

This is very common in Hebrew noun combinations.

חסם is a past-tense verb meaning blocked.

More specifically, it is:

• 3rd person
• masculine
• singular

So it means he blocked.

That matches the subject בעל הכרטיס, which is grammatically masculine singular.

Related forms:

• חסמה = she blocked
• חסמו = they blocked

Yes, in this context חסם means blocked.

With things like:

• cards
• phone numbers
• roads
• accounts
• websites

it usually means prevented from being used/accessed.

So with כרטיס החיוב, it means the debit card was made unusable or disabled for transactions.

את marks a definite direct object.

It does not translate directly into English, but it tells you that the next noun phrase is:

• the object of the verb
• and definite

Here:

• חסם = blocked
• את כרטיס החיוב = the debit card as the thing being blocked

So את appears because כרטיס החיוב is definite.

Compare:

• חסם כרטיס חיוב = blocked a debit card
• חסם את כרטיס החיוב = blocked the debit card

Because כרטיס החיוב is also a construct chain.

It literally means something like card of debit/charge, and in normal English we say debit card.

In a construct chain, the definite article goes on the second noun:

• כרטיס חיוב = a debit card
• כרטיס החיוב = the debit card

So הכרטיס החיוב would be incorrect here.

A useful contrast:

• construct chain: כרטיס החיוב
• noun + adjective: הכרטיס הגדול = the big card

With an adjective, both parts behave differently, and the noun itself can take ה.

No. חיוב is a noun, not an adjective.

It means something like:

• charge
• billing
• debit

So כרטיס חיוב is a noun+noun combination, not noun+adjective.

That is why it behaves like a construct chain rather than like something such as:

• כרטיס גדול = a big card

Yes. This is a very normal Hebrew word order:

Subject + Verb + Object

• בעל הכרטיס = subject
• חסם = verb
• את כרטיס החיוב = object

Hebrew can sometimes move things around for emphasis, but this sentence is straightforward and neutral.

Usually, that is the most natural interpretation: the cardholder blocked the debit card.

However, the Hebrew sentence itself does not explicitly say his.

So grammatically, context is what tells you whether:

• it is his own card
• or just a debit card that is already known in the conversation

In real-life usage, most readers would probably assume it is the cardholder’s own card unless context suggests otherwise.

A simple transliteration is:

ba'al ha-kartis chasam et kartis ha-chiyuv

A few pronunciation notes:

• ח in חסם and החיוב is like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch
• כרטיס is stressed on the last syllable: kar-TIS
• חיוב is stressed on the last syllable: chi-YUV

In many modern accents, בעל may sound close to ba-al or ba'al.