אתמול הכלב היה בבית בלילה.

Yesterday the dog was at home at night.

Breakdown of אתמול הכלב היה בבית בלילה.

• בית: home
• ב: at
• לילה: night
• אתמול: yesterday
• להיות: to be
• כלב: dog

Questions & Answers about אתמול הכלב היה בבית בלילה.

Why is אתמול at the beginning of the sentence?

Hebrew often puts time expressions near the beginning to set the scene first. So starting with אתמול is like saying Yesterday, ... in English.

That said, Hebrew word order is fairly flexible. You could also hear:

• הכלב היה בבית אתמול בלילה
• אתמול בלילה הכלב היה בבית

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes a little.

Is אתמול related to the direct-object marker את?

No. אתמול is a single word meaning yesterday. It is not the object marker את plus another word.

This is a common thing for learners to wonder about, because it starts with the same letters.

What does הכלב break down into?

הכלב consists of:

• כלב = dog
• ה־ = the

So הכלב means the dog.

In Hebrew, the definite article the is usually attached directly to the noun as a prefix, instead of being a separate word.

Why is the verb היה used here?

היה is the past tense form of to be for a masculine singular subject.

Since הכלב is masculine singular, היה is the correct form.

Compare:

• הכלב היה = the dog was
• החתולה הייתה = the female cat was
• הכלבים היו = the dogs were

Why does Hebrew use היה here if I often see sentences with no word for is/are?

In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense, but it is normally expressed in the past and future.

So:

• הכלב בבית = the dog is at home / in the house
• הכלב היה בבית = the dog was at home / in the house

That is why היה appears here.

Why is בבית written as one word, and what exactly does it mean?

The prefix ב־ means in / at, and in Hebrew it attaches directly to the following word.

So בבית is literally:

• ב־ = in / at
• בית = house / home

Together, it means something like in the house, at home, or in a house, depending on context.

A tricky point: in normal unpointed Hebrew spelling, בבית can be ambiguous. The spelling does not always show whether the meaning is more like in a house or in the house / at home. Usually the context tells you.

Why is בלילה also one word, and why is there a ב־ there too?

For the same reason: ב־ attaches directly to the noun.

Here, לילה means night, so בלילה means at night or during the night.

Hebrew often uses ב־ with time expressions:

• בבוקר = in the morning
• בערב = in the evening
• בלילה = at night

So this is very normal Hebrew structure.

Why are there two time expressions: אתמול and בלילה?

They are not redundant. Each one adds different information:

• אתמול = which day
• בלילה = which part of that day

So together they mean something like yesterday at night, which English would usually express as last night.

Would a native speaker naturally say the sentence exactly this way?

Yes, it is grammatical and understandable. But many speakers would more naturally put the two time expressions together:

• אתמול בלילה הכלב היה בבית
• הכלב היה בבית אתמול בלילה

Keeping אתמול and בלילה together makes the time phrase feel more unified, especially if the intended meaning is last night.

How would the sentence change if the subject were feminine or plural?

The main change would be the form of to be.

Examples:

• אתמול החתולה הייתה בבית בלילה.
  The subject is feminine singular, so הייתה is used.

• אתמול הכלבים היו בבית בלילה.
  The subject is plural, so היו is used.

So the verb must agree with the subject in gender and number.