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Learn Hardcore Hebrew: היא נתנה לי מבט קצר. - She gave me a brief look.

Hardcore Hebrew
/Getting an eye exam and new glasses
/היא נתנה לי מבט קצר.

היא נתנה לי מבט קצר.

Word

היא נתנה לי מבט קצר.

Meaning

She gave me a brief look.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Hebrew

Lesson

Getting an eye exam and new glasses

Breakdown of היא נתנה לי מבט קצר.

Questions & Answers about היא נתנה לי מבט קצר.

What form is נתנה?

נתנה is the past tense, third-person feminine singular form of the verb לתת (to give).

So:

הוא נתן = he gave
היא נתנה = she gave

In this sentence, it matches היא because the subject is feminine singular.

Why is היא written at all? Doesn’t נתנה already mean she gave?

Yes. In Hebrew, the verb form already tells you the person, number, and in the past tense also the gender. So נתנה by itself can already mean she gave.

That means:

נתנה לי מבט קצר is a complete sentence.
היא נתנה לי מבט קצר is also correct.

Including היא can make the sentence clearer, more explicit, or slightly more emphatic.

Why is it לי and not אותי?

מבטmabat

look; glance

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Because לי means to me / for me, and with the verb לתת (to give), the receiver is usually marked with ל־.

So:

נתנה לי = she gave me / literally she gave to me

By contrast:

אותי means me as a direct object.

In English, gave me looks direct, but in Hebrew the person receiving the thing is expressed with ל־:

נתנה לי ספר = she gave me a book
literally: she gave a book to me

What exactly is מבט?

מבט is a noun meaning look, glance, or gaze, depending on context.

In this sentence, מבט קצר means something like:

a brief look
a quick glance

It is a fairly common noun in Hebrew, especially in expressions like:

לתת מבט = to give a look / take a look
מבט ראשון = first glance
מבט אחרון = last look

Why does קצר come after מבט?

Because in Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

מבט קצר = literally look short
natural English: a short look / a brief glance

This is the normal Hebrew word order for noun + adjective:

בית גדול = a big house
ילדה קטנה = a little girl
מבט קצר = a short look

Why is it קצר and not קצרה?

Because קצר has to agree with מבט, and מבט is masculine singular.

Hebrew adjectives agree with the noun in:

gender
number
definiteness

So here:

מבט = masculine singular
therefore: קצר = masculine singular

If the noun were feminine singular, you would usually get קצרה instead.

Why is there no word for a in a brief glance?

Because Hebrew has no separate word for a/an.

A bare noun is often indefinite by default:

מבט קצר = a short look / a brief glance

Hebrew does have a definite article:

ה־ = the

So:

מבט קצר = a short look
המבט הקצר = the short look

Why is there no את before מבט קצר?

Because את is normally used only before a definite direct object.

Here, מבט קצר is indefinite:

a brief glance, not the brief glance

So:

היא נתנה לי מבט קצר = no את

But if it were definite, you would use את:

היא נתנה לי את המבט הקצר = she gave me the brief look

So the absence of את is completely normal here.

Is נתנה לי מבט קצר a natural Hebrew expression?

Yes, it is natural and understandable. It works much like English gave me a quick look or gave me a brief glance.

That said, Hebrew also has other very common ways to express similar ideas, for example:

היא הסתכלה עליי לרגע = she looked at me for a moment
היא נתנה לי מבט חטוף = she gave me a quick glance

So מבט קצר is fine, but depending on style and nuance, a native speaker might also use מבט חטוף for quick glance.

How is this different from היא הסתכלה עליי?

היא הסתכלה עליי means she looked at me. It is more neutral and straightforward.

היא נתנה לי מבט קצר is a bit more specific and expressive. It suggests:

a brief look
a directed glance
sometimes a meaningful look

So the difference is mainly one of nuance:

הסתכלה עליי = she looked at me
נתנה לי מבט קצר = she gave me a quick/brief glance

How do you pronounce the whole sentence?

A common pronunciation is:

hi natNA li maBAT kaTSAR

Rough breakdown:

היא = hi
נתנה = natNA
לי = li
מבט = maBAT
קצר = kaTSAR

The stress is usually on the last syllable of נתנה, מבט, and קצר.

Can the sentence be said without היא?

Yes:

נתנה לי מבט קצר

This is still grammatical and natural, because נתנה already tells you the subject is she.

Adding היא is useful when:

you want emphasis
you want contrast, like she gave me that look, not someone else
you want extra clarity in context

So both versions are correct.

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