הכלב רץ לתוך הבית.

house

Breakdown of הכלב רץ לתוך הבית.

• כלב: dog
• לרוץ: to run
• לתוך: into; to the inside of

Questions & Answers about הכלב רץ לתוך הבית.

How do you pronounce הכלב רץ לתוך הבית?

A common pronunciation is:

ha-kelev ratz le-tokh ha-bayit

A rough breakdown:

• הכלב = ha-kelev = the dog
• רץ = ratz = runs / is running
• לתוך = le-tokh = into
• הבית = ha-bayit = the house

Notes:

• ח / כ in לתוך is a throaty sound that English does not really have. Many learners approximate it with a soft kh sound.
• ץ at the end of רץ sounds like ts.

Why does הכלב mean the dog?

Because Hebrew adds the definite article ה־ to the beginning of a noun.

So:

• כלב = dog
• הכלב = the dog

This ה־ is the Hebrew equivalent of English the.

What does רץ mean exactly? Is it runs or is running?

It can mean either one, depending on context.

In modern Hebrew, the present tense often covers both:

• he runs
• he is running

So הכלב רץ לתוך הבית can mean:

• The dog runs into the house
• The dog is running into the house

English makes a stronger distinction between simple present and present progressive than Hebrew does.