החבר עובד היום.

A common pronunciation is:

ha-kha-VER o-VED ha-YOM

A few notes:

• ח in החבר is the throaty Hebrew sound often written as kh.
• The stress is usually on the last syllable in all three words:
  • החבר = ha-kha-VER
  • עובד = o-VED
  • היום = ha-YOM

A natural reading of the whole sentence is:

ha-kha-VER o-VED ha-YOM

ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• חבר = friend
• החבר = the friend

In this sentence, the subject is definite: the friend.

Not always. חבר can mean:

• friend
• boyfriend in some contexts

So החבר could mean:

• the friend
• the boyfriend

Usually the context tells you which meaning is intended.

In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not used in the present tense.

So English says:

• The friend is working today

But Hebrew simply says:

• החבר עובד היום

Literally, word for word, that is closer to:

• the-friend working today

This is completely normal in Hebrew.

עובד is the present-tense form.

In Hebrew, the present tense can often cover both ideas that English separates:

• works
• is working

So החבר עובד היום could be understood as:

• The friend works today
• The friend is working today

The exact English translation depends on context.

Because it agrees with a masculine singular subject.

Here, החבר is masculine singular, so the present-tense verb is:

• עובד = masculine singular

Other forms would be:

• עובדת = feminine singular
• עובדים = masculine plural
• עובדות = feminine plural

So if the subject were feminine, you would say:

• החברה עובדת היום = The female friend is working today

Here היום means today.

Although it looks like ה־ + יום (the + day), in modern Hebrew היום is the normal word for today.

So in this sentence:

• היום does not mean the day
• it simply means today

This is a very common word, and learners usually just memorize it as a whole word:

• היום = today

Yes. This is a very normal Hebrew word order:

• החבר = subject
• עובד = verb/predicate
• היום = time expression

So the pattern is:

subject + verb + time

Hebrew is often flexible with word order, but this version is straightforward and natural.

Yes. Hebrew allows some flexibility, especially with time words.

For example, you may also hear:

• היום החבר עובד
• החבר היום עובד

These can all be grammatical, but:

• החבר עובד היום is a very neutral, standard way to say it.

Because Hebrew does not use a preposition here.

English says:

• working today

and also says things like:

• on Monday

But with today, Hebrew simply uses היום by itself:

• עובד היום = working today

No extra word is needed.

You would change both the noun and the present-tense verb form if you mean a female friend:

• החברה עובדת היום

That means:

• The female friend is working today

Changes:

• החבר → החברה
• עובד → עובדת

This is because Hebrew marks gender much more consistently than English does.

Hebrew has no separate word for a/an.

So you would simply remove ה־ from החבר:

• חבר עובד היום

That can mean:

• A friend is working today

In many contexts, though, Hebrew speakers may prefer a fuller or more natural phrasing depending on what exactly they want to emphasize. But grammatically, removing ה־ is the basic idea.