הבית ישן, אבל הדלת חדשה והחלון חדש.

The house is old, but the door is new and the window is new.

Breakdown of הבית ישן, אבל הדלת חדשה והחלון חדש.

• בית: house
• חדש: new
• ו: and
• אבל: but
• חלון: window
• דלת: door
• ישן: old

Questions & Answers about הבית ישן, אבל הדלת חדשה והחלון חדש.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

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

So:

• הבית ישן = the house is old
• literally: the house old

This is completely normal Hebrew.
You would not usually add a separate word for is here.

A beginner might try something like הבית הוא ישן, but in normal Hebrew that sounds unnatural in a simple sentence like this.

Why do the adjectives come after the nouns?

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• בית ישן = an old house
• literally: house old

And in your sentence:

• הבית ישן = the house is old
• הדלת חדשה = the door is new
• החלון חדש = the window is new

This is one of the biggest word-order differences from English.

Why is it ישן with הבית, but חדשה with הדלת, and חדש with החלון?

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

Here are the nouns:

• בית = masculine singular
• דלת = feminine singular
• חלון = masculine singular

So the adjectives match:

• ישן = old, masculine singular
• חדשה = new, feminine singular
• חדש = new, masculine singular

That is why:

• הבית ישן
• הדלת חדשה
• החלון חדש

How do I know that דלת is feminine and בית / חלון are masculine?

In Hebrew, every noun has a grammatical gender, and you often just have to learn it together with the word.

Some patterns help:

• many feminine singular words end in ־ה or ־ת
• but not always
• masculine nouns often have no special ending

So:

• דלת is feminine
• בית is masculine
• חלון is masculine

It is best to memorize nouns with their gender from the beginning, because the adjectives and sometimes verbs will depend on it.

Why do all the nouns begin with ה?

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew word for the.

So:

• בית = house

• הבית = the house

• דלת = door

• הדלת = the door

• חלון = window
• החלון = the window

Hebrew usually attaches the directly to the beginning of the noun instead of writing it as a separate word.

Why don’t the adjectives also have ה־? Why not something like הבית הישן here?

Great question. There is an important difference between:

1. an adjective inside a noun phrase
2. an adjective used as the predicate of the sentence

In your sentence, the adjectives are part of the statement:

• הבית ישן = the house is old

Here, ישן is a predicate adjective, so it does not take ה־.

But if you want to say the old house, where old directly describes house inside one noun phrase, then you do say:

• הבית הישן = the old house

Compare:

• הבית ישן = the house is old
• הבית הישן = the old house

Same idea with:

• הדלת חדשה = the door is new
• הדלת החדשה = the new door

Why does חדשה end in ־ה?

Because it is the feminine singular form of the adjective חדש.

A very common pattern in Hebrew is:

• masculine singular: חדש
• feminine singular: חדשה

So:

• חלון חדש = a new window
• דלת חדשה = a new door

This ־ה ending is very common for feminine adjectives, though not every adjective follows exactly the same pattern.

What do אבל and ו־ mean?

• אבל means but
• ו־ means and

So the sentence is built like this:

• הבית ישן = the house is old
• אבל = but
• הדלת חדשה = the door is new
• והחלון חדש = and the window is new

Notice that ו־ is attached directly to the next word, just like ה־.

So והחלון is:

• ו = and
• החלון = the window

Could Hebrew combine the last part and say something like the door and the window are new?

Yes. Hebrew could combine them, but then the adjective would have to become plural.

For example:

• הדלת והחלון חדשים = the door and the window are new

Why חדשים?

Because:

• there are now two nouns, so the adjective must be plural
• a mixed-gender group in Hebrew normally takes the masculine plural

So:

• הדלת חדשה והחלון חדש = the door is new and the window is new
• הדלת והחלון חדשים = the door and the window are new

Both are correct, but the structure is slightly different.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ha-BAY-it ya-SHAN, a-VAL ha-DE-let chada-SHA ve-ha-kha-LON kha-DASH

A more word-by-word version:

• הבית = ha-bayit
• ישן = yashan
• אבל = aval
• הדלת = ha-delet
• חדשה = chadasha
• והחלון = ve-ha-chalon
• חדש = chadash

A few helpful notes:

• ch here is the throaty sound heard in words like German Bach or Scottish loch
• stress is usually near the end in חדש / חדשה, but earlier in הבית / הדלת

If I wanted to say the house is old, but the door is old too, would ישן change?

Yes. It would change to match דלת, because דלת is feminine.

So:

• הבית ישן = the house is old
• הדלת ישנה = the door is old

This shows the same agreement pattern again:

• masculine singular: ישן
• feminine singular: ישנה

So the adjective always follows the gender and number of the noun it describes.