הקדר בודק את עובי הדופן.

הקדר means the potter.

• קדר = potter
• ה־ = the Hebrew definite article, meaning the

So קדר is a potter / potter, while הקדר is the potter.

In pronunciation, the ה־ is attached directly to the word: ha-kadar.

בודק is the present tense, masculine singular form of the verb לבדוק, meaning to check / to examine.

So:

• בודק = checks / is checking
• base verb: לבדוק = to check

Because Hebrew present tense often works for both simple present and present progressive, בודק can mean:

• checks
• is checking

Because הקדר is grammatically masculine singular.

Hebrew present-tense verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:

• הקדר בודק = the potter checks (masculine singular)
• הקדרת בודקת or הקדרית בודקת would be feminine, depending on the noun used for a female potter

So בודק matches הקדר.

את marks a definite direct object.

In this sentence:

• הקדר = the subject
• בודק = the verb
• את עובי הדופן = the direct object

Hebrew uses את before a direct object when that object is definite. English usually does not translate it with a separate word.

So:

• הקדר בודק את עובי הדופן = The potter checks the thickness of the wall

You usually do not translate את itself. It is a grammatical marker, not a meaning word like with or to.

עובי is a noun meaning thickness, formed from עבה (thick).

In this sentence, עובי is being used in a very common Hebrew pattern: a noun followed by another noun to mean the X of the Y.

So:

• עובי = thickness
• עובי הדופן = the thickness of the wall

This is a standard and natural way to say it in Hebrew.

This is a construct phrase in Hebrew, called סמיכות.

The pattern is:

noun 1 + noun 2 = noun 1 of noun 2

So here:

• עובי = thickness
• הדופן = the wall / the side

Together:

• עובי הדופן = the thickness of the wall

This is one of the most important noun patterns in Hebrew.

Other examples:

• דלת הבית = the door of the house
• צבע המכונית = the color of the car

Because in a construct phrase (סמיכות), definiteness is usually marked on the second noun, and that makes the whole phrase definite.

So:

• עובי דופן = thickness of a wall / wall thickness (indefinite)
• עובי הדופן = the thickness of the wall (definite)

Even though עובי itself does not have ה־, the whole phrase is definite because הדופן is definite.

This is very normal in Hebrew grammar.

דופן literally means side or wall.

In everyday Hebrew, it is often used for the side wall of an object or container, not just the wall of a building.

So in a pottery context, הדופן most likely means:

• the wall of the vessel
• the side of the ceramic piece

That is why עובי הדופן is a very natural phrase here: it means the thickness of the vessel’s wall.

Yes. The word order is very normal.

The sentence is:

• הקדר = subject
• בודק = verb
• את עובי הדופן = direct object

So the structure is basically:

Subject + Verb + Object

That is one of the most common word orders in modern Hebrew, especially in straightforward declarative sentences.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

ha-ka-DAR bo-DEK et O-vi ha-DO-fen

A few notes:

• stress in הקדר is on the last syllable: ka-DAR
• stress in בודק is on the last syllable: bo-DEK
• עובי is usually pronounced O-vi
• דופן is DO-fen

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

ha-ka-DAR bo-DEK et O-vi ha-DO-fen

Yes. That is a very natural translation.

Because בודק is present tense, it can often mean either:

• checks
• is checking

And עובי הדופן can be translated either as:

• the thickness of the wall
• the wall thickness

So all of these are reasonable depending on context:

• The potter checks the thickness of the wall
• The potter is checking the thickness of the wall
• The potter is checking the wall thickness