זה בית גדול.

This is a big house.

Breakdown of זה בית גדול.

• זה: this
• בית: house
• גדול: big

Questions & Answers about זה בית גדול.

How do you pronounce זה בית גדול?

A common pronunciation is ze bayit gadol.

A more detailed breakdown:

• זה = ze
• בית = bayit
• גדול = gadol

With vowel marks, it is usually written זֶה בַּיִת גָּדוֹל.

Roughly:

• ze rhymes with meh
• bayit sounds like BA-yit
• gadol sounds like ga-DOL

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So:

• זה בית גדול literally looks like this big house
• but it means This is a big house

This is completely normal in Hebrew.

Compare:

• Present: זה בית גדול = This is a big house
• Past: זה היה בית גדול = This was a big house
• Future: זה יהיה בית גדול = This will be a big house

Why does גדול come after בית instead of before it?

Because in Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• בית גדול = big house
• literally: house big

This is the normal order in Hebrew:

• ילד קטן = small boy
• מכונית חדשה = new car

So בית גדול is exactly what you should expect.

Why is it גדול and not גדולה?

Because בית is a masculine singular noun, and Hebrew adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

So:

• בית גדול = masculine singular
• דירה גדולה = feminine singular

If the noun changes, the adjective changes too:

• בתים גדולים = big houses
• דירות גדולות = big apartments

Why is there no word for a?

Hebrew has no indefinite article. In other words, there is no separate word for a or an.

So:

• בית גדול can mean a big house
• or sometimes just big house, depending on context

Hebrew does have a definite article, ה־, which means the.

So:

• בית גדול = a big house
• הבית הגדול = the big house

What exactly does זה mean here?

Here, זה means this, but in this sentence pattern it functions like this is.

So זה בית גדול means:

• This is a big house

Depending on context, English might sometimes translate it more naturally as:

• It is a big house

But the basic Hebrew word here is still זה = this / this one / it in this kind of identifying sentence.

Does זה בית גדול mean This house is big?

Usually, no.

זה בית גדול normally means:

• This is a big house

If you want to say:

• This house is big

the usual Hebrew way is:

• הבית הזה גדול

That is an important difference:

• זה בית גדול = This is a big house
• הבית הזה גדול = This house is big

How would I say the big house or This is the big house?

You would say:

• הבית הגדול = the big house
• זה הבית הגדול = This is the big house

Notice that when a noun is definite in Hebrew, the adjective is also made definite.

So Hebrew says:

• the-house the-big

not:

• the-house big

This agreement is very important:

• בית גדול = a big house
• הבית הגדול = the big house

Why is בית pronounced bayit here? I sometimes see beit.

In this sentence, בית is pronounced bayit because it stands as an independent noun: house.

You may also see beit in a different structure called the construct state, where one noun is linked to another noun, such as:

• בית ספר = school
  literally: house of book

In that kind of expression, בית is often pronounced beit.

So:

• בית גדול = bayit gadol
• בית ספר = often beit sefer

That difference is very common in Hebrew.