הבן בבית, והבת בעיר.haben babayit, vehabat bair.
The son is at home, and the daughter is in the city.
Questions & Answers about הבן בבית, והבת בעיר.
How do you pronounce the sentence?
A natural modern Israeli pronunciation is:
ha-BEN ba-BA-yit, ve-ha-BAT ba-IR
With vowel marks, it would be:
הַבֵּן בַּבַּיִת, וְהַבַּת בָּעִיר.
A few notes:
- הבן = ha-BEN
- בבית = ba-BA-yit
- והבת = ve-ha-BAT
- בעיר = ba-IR
The ע in עיר is usually not strongly pronounced in modern speech, so English speakers often hear it as something close to ba-eer or ba-ir.
Why is there no word for is in the sentence?
Because Hebrew usually leaves out the verb to be in the present tense.
So instead of saying something literally like the son is in the house, Hebrew normally says:
- הבן בבית = literally the son in the house / at home
- הבת בעיר = literally the daughter in the city
This is completely normal Hebrew. If you want was or will be, Hebrew does use a verb, but in the present tense it is usually omitted.
What does the ה at the beginning of הבן and הבת mean?