הוא היה עצוב בבוקר, אבל בערב הוא שמח.

He was sad in the morning, but in the evening he is happy.

Breakdown of הוא היה עצוב בבוקר, אבל בערב הוא שמח.

• הוא: he
• אבל: but
• ב: in
• בוקר: morning
• להיות: to be
• ערב: evening
• שמח: happy
• עצוב: sad

Questions & Answers about הוא היה עצוב בבוקר, אבל בערב הוא שמח.

Why is עצוב used here? Is it a verb?

No. עצוב is an adjective, meaning sad.

In Hebrew, feelings and states are often expressed with to be + adjective:

• הוא היה עצוב = he was sad
• הוא עצוב = he is sad

So the adjective does the job that English also gives to sad in he was sad.

Why is there היה in the first part, but not before שמח in the second part?

That is a very good question, because it is something learners notice quickly.

• הוא היה עצוב clearly means he was sad
• הוא שמח normally means he is happy

So, as written, the second half is formally a present-tense clause.

If you want both parts to be clearly in the past, standard Hebrew would usually say:

הוא היה עצוב בבוקר, אבל בערב הוא היה שמח.

So if the translation you were shown has was in both halves, it makes sense to ask about this. The sentence as written may sound like a tense shift unless context explains it.

What does בבוקר mean, and why does it have two ב letters?

בבוקר means in the morning.

It is built from:

• ב־ = in / at
• בוקר = morning

There are two ב letters because:

• the first ב is the preposition in
• the second ב is the first letter of בוקר

So this is not a typo. It is a normal Hebrew form.

Why is there no separate word for the in בבוקר and בערב?

Because in Hebrew, the preposition ב־ often combines with the definite article ה־.

So:

• ב + הבוקר becomes בבוקר
• ב + הערב becomes בערב

That means these usually mean:

• in the morning
• in the evening

not just in morning or in evening.

Then why does בערב have only one ב, unlike בבוקר?

Because the word ערב starts with ע, not with ב.

So:

• בבוקר shows two ב letters because the base word בוקר already begins with ב
• בערב shows only one ב because ערב begins with ע

In both words, the beginning ב־ still means in / at.

Why are עצוב and שמח in these particular forms?

They agree with הוא, which is masculine singular.

So the adjective is also masculine singular:

• עצוב = sad (masculine singular)
• שמח = happy (masculine singular)

If the subject were feminine, you would change the adjectives:

• היא הייתה עצובה בבוקר, אבל בערב היא שמחה.

So Hebrew adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun or pronoun they describe.

Why is הוא repeated in the second half?

Because Hebrew often repeats the subject in a new clause, especially after a word like אבל (but).

So:

• הוא היה עצוב בבוקר, אבל בערב הוא שמח

sounds clear and natural.

The repeated הוא helps mark the second clause and can also add a slight sense of contrast. English does this too sometimes: He was sad in the morning, but in the evening he was happy.

Can the word order change?

Yes. Hebrew is fairly flexible with time expressions like בבוקר and בערב.

For example, you can also say:

בבוקר הוא היה עצוב, אבל בערב הוא שמח.

This still means the same basic thing. Moving בבוקר to the front puts a little more emphasis on in the morning.

So the sentence order can shift depending on what the speaker wants to emphasize.

How do you pronounce the sentence?

A simple transliteration is:

Hu haya atzuv ba-boker, aval ba-erev hu sameach.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• hu = hoo
• haya = ha-YA
• atzuv = ah-TSOOV
• ba-boker = ba-BO-ker
• aval = a-VAL
• ba-erev = ba-E-rev
• sameach = sa-ME-akh

The final sound in sameach is not like English ch in chair. It is a throaty kh sound, like in German Bach or Scottish loch.

Do בבוקר and בערב mean a specific morning and evening, or just a general time of day?

They can do either, depending on context.

Most basically, they mean:

• in the morning
• in the evening

That can refer to:

• a specific morning/evening in a story, or
• a general time of day

Hebrew often leaves that to context, just like English sometimes does.