הקדר שם גוש חימר על האובניים.

The potter puts a lump of clay on the potter's wheel.

Breakdown of הקדר שם גוש חימר על האובניים.

• על: on
• לשים: to put
• קדר: potter
• אובניים: potter's wheel

Questions & Answers about הקדר שם גוש חימר על האובניים.

Why does שם mean put here? I thought שם meant name or there.

In unpointed Hebrew, several different words are written the same way:

• שָׂם = put / placed
• שֵׁם = name
• שָׁם = there

So you have to use context. In this sentence, שם comes right after the subject הקדר, so it is functioning as the verb put / placed.

Is שם past tense or present tense here?

With the verb לשים (to put), the masculine singular past form and the masculine singular present form can both appear as שם.

So by itself, הקדר שם... can be understood as either:

• the potter put...
• the potter puts / is putting...

Usually the wider context, or the translation given in your lesson, tells you which meaning is intended.

Why isn’t there את before גוש חימר?