החדר חדש, אבל הבית לא חדש.

The room is new, but the house is not new.

Breakdown of החדר חדש, אבל הבית לא חדש.

• בית: house
• חדש: new
• אבל: but
• לא: not
• חדר: room

Questions & Answers about החדר חדש, אבל הבית לא חדש.

How do I pronounce this sentence?

A natural pronunciation is ha-cheder chadash, aval ha-bayit lo chadash.

A few helpful notes:

• ח in חדר is a throaty ch sound, like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach
• ה at the beginning of החדר and הבית is the definite article the
• לא is pronounced lo

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?

In Hebrew, present-tense sentences like this often do not use a separate word for is or are.

So:

• החדר חדש literally looks like the room new
• but it means the room is new

This is completely normal Hebrew. In the past or future, Hebrew usually does use a form of to be, but in the present it is often omitted.

Why is the attached directly to the nouns?

Hebrew uses a prefix, ה־, for the. It is attached to the beginning of the noun.

So:

• חדר = room
• החדר = the room

and:

• בית = house
• הבית = the house

Unlike English, Hebrew does not write the as a separate word.

Why does חדש come after the noun instead of before it?

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• חדר חדש = a new room
• literally: room new

That same basic order is still visible in:

• החדר חדש = the room is new

This is one of the first word-order differences English speakers notice in Hebrew.

Why is חדש the same form for both room and house?

Because both חדר and בית are masculine singular nouns, and the adjective agrees with them in gender and number.

So:

• masculine singular: חדש
• feminine singular: חדשה
• masculine plural: חדשים
• feminine plural: חדשות

For example:

• הדירה חדשה = the apartment is new

In your sentence, both nouns are masculine singular, so חדש is the correct form both times.

Why doesn’t חדש also have ה־ on it?

Because here חדש is a predicate adjective, not part of a noun phrase.

There is an important difference between these:

• החדר החדש = the new room
• החדר חדש = the room is new

In החדר החדש, the adjective describes the noun inside one noun phrase, so it also takes ה־.

In החדר חדש, the adjective is the predicate of the sentence, so it does not take ה־.

This is a very common and important distinction in Hebrew.

How does the negative לא work in this sentence?

לא means not. In this kind of sentence, it goes before the adjective or predicate.

So:

• הבית לא חדש = the house is not new

Hebrew does not need a separate word like isn’t here. It simply uses:

• subject + לא
  • predicate

What does אבל mean, and where does it go?

אבל means but.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• החדר חדש = the room is new
• אבל = but
• הבית לא חדש = the house is not new

So the whole sentence contrasts the two ideas:

• the room is new
• but the house is not new

Is the comma before אבל necessary?

The comma is normal and helpful in writing because it separates the two clauses.

So:

• החדר חדש, אבל הבית לא חדש.

is a standard written form.

In very informal writing, people sometimes leave punctuation out, but using the comma is a good habit.

Could I say החדר הוא חדש instead?

You can, but in simple everyday Hebrew it is usually more natural to say just:

• החדר חדש

Adding הוא is often unnecessary in present-tense sentences like this. The version without הוא is the basic pattern learners should get comfortable with first.

Why is חדש repeated in the second clause instead of being left out?

Hebrew usually prefers the full form here:

• החדר חדש, אבל הבית לא חדש

That is the clearest and most standard version. In conversation, speakers may sometimes shorten repeated material if the meaning is obvious, but as a learner, repeating חדש is the safest and most natural choice.