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אחרי זה ניקינו את השולחן, ועכשיו הבית נקי.

אחרי זה ניקינו את השולחן, ועכשיו הבית נקי.
After that we cleaned the table, and now the house is clean.

Breakdown of אחרי זה ניקינו את השולחן, ועכשיו הבית נקי.

בית
house
שולחן
table
עכשיו
now
ו
and
את
direct object marker
אחרי
after
זה
that
לנקות
to clean
נקי
clean
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Questions & Answers about אחרי זה ניקינו את השולחן, ועכשיו הבית נקי.

What does אחרי זה mean here?

It literally means after this or after that, but in this sentence the natural English meaning is after that or then.

So:

  • אחרי = after
  • זה = this/that

In everyday Hebrew, אחרי זה is a very common way to say after that.

Is אחרי זה the same as אחר כך?

They are very close in meaning. Both can mean afterward / afterwards / then.

A learner can usually think of them like this:

  • אחרי זה = after that
  • אחר כך = afterwards / later

In many everyday sentences, either one would sound natural.

Why does ניקינו mean we cleaned?

ניקינו is a past-tense verb form from לנקות = to clean.

The ending ־נו often marks we in the past tense, so:

  • ניקיתי = I cleaned
  • ניקינו = we cleaned

So ניקינו את השולחן means we cleaned the table.

What is את doing in את השולחן?

את is the Hebrew direct object marker. It does not get translated into English, but it tells you that the next word is the definite direct object of the verb.

Here:

  • ניקינו = we cleaned
  • את השולחן = the table as the thing being cleaned

A very important rule: את is normally used only before a definite direct object, such as a noun with ה־ (the) or a name.

So:

  • ניקינו את השולחן = we cleaned the table
  • not ניקינו את שולחן because שולחן by itself is not definite
Why is there no את before הבית?

Because הבית is not the direct object here. It is the subject of the second clause.

In הבית נקי:

  • הבית = the house
  • נקי = clean

So the structure is basically the house is clean.

Since הבית is not receiving the action of a verb, there is no את before it.

Why is there no word for is in הבית נקי?

Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So Hebrew says:

  • הבית נקי
  • literally: the house clean
  • natural English: the house is clean

This is completely normal Hebrew.

In other tenses, Hebrew does use forms of to be, for example:

  • הבית היה נקי = the house was clean
  • הבית יהיה נקי = the house will be clean
Why is it נקי and not some other form?

Because נקי is an adjective, and Hebrew adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

בית is masculine singular, so the adjective must also be masculine singular:

  • בית נקי = a clean house
  • הבית נקי = the house is clean

Compare:

  • דירה נקייה = a clean apartment because דירה is feminine singular
  • בתים נקיים = clean houses because בתים is masculine plural
What does the ו in ועכשיו mean?

The ו means and.

So ועכשיו literally means and now.

In English, sometimes you would translate it as and now, and sometimes just now, depending on what sounds natural.

Here, ועכשיו הבית נקי can be understood as:

  • and now the house is clean
  • or simply now the house is clean
Can the word order be changed?

Yes, Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, though some versions sound more natural in certain contexts.

For example:

  • אחרי זה ניקינו את השולחן = natural
  • ניקינו את השולחן אחרי זה = also possible, with a slightly different emphasis

And in the second part:

  • ועכשיו הבית נקי = very natural
  • הבית עכשיו נקי = also possible

The original sentence sounds smooth and normal.

Why do both השולחן and הבית have ה־?

The prefix ה־ means the.

So:

  • שולחן = table
  • השולחן = the table
  • בית = house
  • הבית = the house

The sentence is talking about specific, known things: the table and the house.

Also, this connects to את:

  • because השולחן is definite, you say את השולחן
  • but הבית is the subject, so it does not take את
Is הבית נקי describing a state rather than an action?

Yes. The sentence has two different kinds of clauses:

  1. אחרי זה ניקינו את השולחן
    This is an action: we cleaned the table.

  2. ועכשיו הבית נקי
    This describes a state/result: the house is clean now.

So the first part tells you what happened, and the second part tells you the result now.