הכנו דג עם אורז וסלט, והארוחה הייתה קטנה אבל טובה.

We prepared fish with rice and salad, and the meal was small but good.

Breakdown of הכנו דג עם אורז וסלט, והארוחה הייתה קטנה אבל טובה.

• קטן: small
• טוב: good
• ו: and
• אבל: but
• עם: with
• להיות: to be
• ארוחה: meal
• סלט: salad
• אורז: rice
• דג: fish
• להכין: to prepare

Questions & Answers about הכנו דג עם אורז וסלט, והארוחה הייתה קטנה אבל טובה.

How do you pronounce this sentence?

A natural pronunciation is:

Hekhánu dag im órez ve-salát, ve-ha’arukhá hayetá k’taná aval tová.

A few notes:

• הכנו = hekhánu = we prepared / we made
• והארוחה = ve-ha’arukhá = and the meal
• הייתה = hayetá = was

Hebrew stress is often near the end of the word, as in arukhá, hayetá, tová.

What does הכנו mean exactly?

הכנו is the past tense form of the verb להכין, meaning to prepare.

Here it means:

• הכנו = we prepared / we made / we got ready

This is:

• 1st person plural
• past tense
• used for we, whether the speakers are male, female, or mixed

So unlike some other Hebrew past-tense forms, this one does not change based on gender.

Why is there no separate word for a in דג עם אורז וסלט?

Hebrew has no indefinite article. In other words, there is no word that directly matches English a or an.

So:

• דג can mean fish or a fish
• אורז can mean rice
• סלט can mean salad or a salad

If a noun does not have ה־ at the beginning, it is often indefinite, depending on context.

So:

• דג = a fish / fish
• הדג = the fish

Why does הארוחה have ה־ at the beginning?

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• ארוחה = meal
• הארוחה = the meal

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a specific meal, so Hebrew uses ה־.

Why is it הייתה and not היה?

Because ארוחה is a feminine singular noun.

In the past tense, to be agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• היה = was for masculine singular
• הייתה = was for feminine singular
• היו = were for plural

Since הארוחה is feminine singular, the sentence uses:

• הארוחה הייתה = the meal was

Why do קטנה and טובה end in ־ה?

Because adjectives in Hebrew must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

Here, the noun is:

• הארוחה = feminine singular

So the adjectives must also be feminine singular:

• קטנה = small
• טובה = good

Compare:

• ארוחה קטנה = a small meal
• ארוחה טובה = a good meal

Masculine singular would be:

• קטן
• טוב

So Hebrew is matching the adjectives to ארוחה.

Why is there no את before דג?

In Hebrew, את marks a definite direct object.

You use את before a direct object when it is definite, such as:

• a noun with ה־
• a name
• a pronoun

For example:

• הכנו את הדג = we prepared the fish

But in your sentence, it is:

• הכנו דג = we prepared fish / a fish

Since דג is indefinite, there is no את.

Does עם אורז וסלט describe the fish, or the whole meal?

Most naturally, עם אורז וסלט goes with דג:

• הכנו דג עם אורז וסלט = we prepared fish with rice and salad

So the structure is understood as:

• fish
• served/prepared with rice and salad

Then the next clause comments on the meal as a whole:

• והארוחה הייתה קטנה אבל טובה
• and the meal was small but good

Why is the word order הארוחה הייתה קטנה and not adjective before noun?

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

So:

• ארוחה קטנה = a small meal
• literally: meal small

However, in your sentence, קטנה is not inside a noun phrase like a small meal. It is part of the predicate:

• הארוחה הייתה קטנה
• the meal was small

That is:

• subject: הארוחה
• verb: הייתה
• description: קטנה

So this is normal Hebrew sentence structure.

What is the role of ו־ in this sentence?

The prefix ו־ usually means and.

In this sentence it appears twice:

• וסלט = and salad
• והארוחה = and the meal

So Hebrew often attaches and directly to the next word instead of writing it as a separate word.

Its pronunciation can vary slightly depending on the next sound, but here it is naturally read as:

• ve-salat
• ve-ha’arukha

Why use אבל here? Is it exactly like English but?

Yes, אבל is the normal Hebrew word for but.

Here:

• קטנה אבל טובה
• small but good

It works very much like English but: it contrasts two ideas.

The speaker is saying:

• the meal was small
• however, it was good

So אבל introduces that contrast.

Can this sentence be understood as we prepared a fish, meaning one whole fish?

Yes, it can. But Hebrew דג can also be used in a more general food sense, similar to English fish.

So depending on context, הכנו דג could mean:

• we prepared fish
• we prepared a fish dish
• we prepared a fish

If the context is a meal, English often translates this more naturally as we prepared fish with rice and salad rather than we prepared a fish with rice and salad.

Is ארוחה always feminine?

Yes. ארוחה is a feminine noun.

That is why words connected to it in this sentence are feminine:

• הייתה
• קטנה
• טובה

When learning Hebrew, it is very useful to memorize each noun together with its gender, because it affects:

• adjectives
• verbs in some tenses
• pronouns and agreement patterns