יש לי בן קטן ובת קטנה.

Hebrew usually expresses possession with יש ל־ + the possessor.

• יש = there is / there exists
• לי = to me / for me

So יש לי בן קטן ובת קטנה literally means something like:

There is to me a small son and a small daughter.

That is the normal Hebrew way to say I have a small son and a small daughter.

לי means to me.

It is made from:

• ל־ = to
• ־י = me / my as a suffix

So:

• לי = to me
• לך = to you (masculine singular)
• לך = to you (feminine singular, pronounced differently)
• לו = to him
• לה = to her

In this sentence, יש לי is the standard way to say I have.

Because Hebrew does not need אני here.

In English, you say I have.
In Hebrew, the subject is already built into לי (to me), so אני would usually be unnecessary.

Natural Hebrew:

• יש לי בן קטן ובת קטנה.

Less natural here:

• אני יש לי...

So Hebrew normally leaves אני out unless there is special emphasis.

Because adjectives in Hebrew must agree with the noun in gender.

• בן = son → masculine
• קטן = small / little masculine singular

But:

• בת = daughter → feminine
• קטנה = small / little feminine singular

So:

• בן קטן = a small/little son
• בת קטנה = a small/little daughter

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

Because these nouns refer to male and female children:

• בן = son → masculine
• בת = daughter → feminine

In Hebrew, grammatical gender often matches natural gender for people. Since son is male and daughter is female, their adjectives must match:

• בן קטן
• בת קטנה

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

So Hebrew says:

• בן קטן literally son small
• בת קטנה literally daughter small

But in English we say:

• small son
• small daughter

This noun + adjective order is normal in Hebrew.

Hebrew does not have an indefinite article like English a / an.

So:

• בן can mean son or a son
• בת can mean daughter or a daughter

The context tells you which one is meant.

If Hebrew wants to say the, it uses ה־:

• הבן = the son
• הבת = the daughter

But here there is no ה־, so the meaning is indefinite:

• a son
• a daughter

You would add ה־ to both the noun and the adjective:

• הבן הקטן
• הבת הקטנה

In Hebrew, when a noun is definite, its adjective must also be definite.

So:

• בן קטן = a small son
• הבן הקטן = the small son

And:

• בת קטנה = a small daughter
• הבת הקטנה = the small daughter

ו־ means and.

So:

• בן קטן = a small son
• ובת קטנה = and a small daughter

The ו־ is attached directly to the next word, so Hebrew writes it as one word:

• ובת

This is very common in Hebrew.

Because in Hebrew, some very common short words are written as prefixes attached to the following word.

One of them is ו־ = and.

So Hebrew writes:

• ובן = and a son
• ובת = and a daughter

Not as separate words.

This is just normal Hebrew spelling.

It can mean small or little, depending on context.

In a sentence about children, English often naturally translates it as little:

• בן קטן = a little son / a young son / a small son
• בת קטנה = a little daughter

Usually little sounds best in English here.
But grammatically, קטן / קטנה basically means small.

No, not exactly.

• בן = son
• ילד = boy / child

So:

• בן קטן = a little son
• ילד קטן = a little boy

And similarly:

• בת קטנה = a little daughter
• ילדה קטנה = a little girl

So בן / בת express family relationship, while ילד / ילדה describe a child more generally.

Yes, that is a natural implication, even though the word one is not stated.

Hebrew often leaves numbers unstated when they are understood from the singular noun:

• בן = a son / one son
• בת = a daughter / one daughter

So the sentence naturally suggests: I have a little son and a little daughter
or
I have one little son and one little daughter.

If the speaker wanted to be more explicit, they could use numbers.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

yesh li ben katan u-vat ktana

A few notes:

• יש = yesh
• לי = li
• בן = ben
• קטן = katan
• ובת = u-vat
• קטנה = ktana

The ו־ before בת is pronounced u- here, so ובת sounds like u-vat.

Because Hebrew, like English, does not need to repeat the possession phrase when it applies to both items.

So instead of saying:

• יש לי בן קטן ויש לי בת קטנה

Hebrew can simply say:

• יש לי בן קטן ובת קטנה

That is smoother and more natural, just like English: I have a little son and a little daughter, not usually I have a little son and I have a little daughter.

The given order is the most natural neutral order:

יש לי בן קטן ובת קטנה.

Hebrew can sometimes change word order for emphasis, but for a basic statement of possession, this version is best for learners.

The normal pattern is:

יש + possessor + thing possessed

So:

• יש לי... = I have...

Then the possessed nouns come after that:

• בן קטן ובת קטנה