זה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר, אבל לא הבנק הכי חדש.

This is the biggest bank in the city, but not the newest bank.

Breakdown of זה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר, אבל לא הבנק הכי חדש.

• זה: this
• גדול: big
• חדש: new
• אבל: but

Questions & Answers about זה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר, אבל לא הבנק הכי חדש.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted.

So זה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר literally looks like this the-bank most big in-the-city, but it means This is the biggest bank in the city.

Hebrew does use forms of to be in the past and future:

• זה היה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר = This was the biggest bank in the city
• זה יהיה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר = This will be the biggest bank in the city

What does זה mean here?

Here זה means something like this is or it is, depending on how you think about the sentence.

At the start of an identifying sentence, זה often introduces what something is:

• זה הבנק... = This is the bank...

Because בנק is masculine singular, זה is the matching masculine form. With a feminine noun, you would often see זאת or זו instead.

Why is it הבנק and not just בנק?

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

So:

• בנק = a bank