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
• לא: not
• ב: in
• עיר: city
• בנק: bank
• הכי: most

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
• הבנק = the bank

Since the sentence is talking about a specific bank, Hebrew uses הבנק.

How do הכי גדול and הכי חדש mean biggest and newest?

Modern Hebrew usually forms the superlative with:

הכי + adjective

So:

• הכי גדול = biggest / literally most big
• הכי חדש = newest / literally most new

This is very common in everyday Hebrew.

Compare:

• גדול = big
• יותר גדול = bigger
• הכי גדול = biggest

Why are the adjectives גדול and חדש in that form?

Hebrew adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

בנק is masculine singular, so the adjectives are also masculine singular:

• גדול
• חדש

If the noun were feminine singular, the adjectives would change:

• החנות הכי גדולה = the biggest store
• המכונית הכי חדשה = the newest car

Why doesn’t the adjective also take ה־? Why not הבנק הכי הגדול?

In standard modern Hebrew, when you make a superlative with הכי, you normally say:

• הבנק הכי גדול
• not הבנק הכי הגדול

So הכי is what marks the superlative, and the adjective usually stays without ה־.

This is different from an ordinary definite adjective phrase:

• הבנק הגדול = the big bank

But with a superlative:

• הבנק הכי גדול = the biggest bank

Why does the adjective come after the noun in הבנק הכי גדול?

In Hebrew, descriptive adjectives normally come after the noun.

So:

• בנק גדול = a big bank
• הבנק הגדול = the big bank
• הבנק הכי גדול = the biggest bank

This is the normal Hebrew word order, unlike English, where adjectives usually come before the noun.

What exactly does בעיר mean, and where is the word the?

בעיר is made from the preposition ב־ (in) plus עיר (city).

When ב־ is attached to a definite noun, it combines with ה־ (the). So in the city is pronounced ba'ir.

That means:

• בְּעיר = in a city
• בָּעיר = in the city

In normal unpointed Hebrew spelling, both look the same: בעיר. You understand which one is meant from context and pronunciation.

Why does the second half say אבל לא הבנק הכי חדש instead of using a full sentence?

Hebrew often leaves out repeated words when the meaning is obvious.

The full idea is something like:

• אבל זה לא הבנק הכי חדש
• or אבל הוא לא הבנק הכי חדש

But because the contrast is clear, Hebrew can shorten it to:

• אבל לא הבנק הכי חדש

So the meaning is still but not the newest bank.

Could I leave out the second הבנק and say אבל לא הכי חדש?

Yes, in conversation that can work if the context is already clear.

For example:

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

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

The version with הבנק repeated sounds a bit fuller and more balanced:

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

Is there another way to say the biggest or the newest in Hebrew?

Yes. A more formal alternative is:

adjective + ביותר

So you can also say:

• הבנק הגדול ביותר בעיר = the biggest bank in the city
• הבנק החדש ביותר = the newest bank

Both patterns are correct:

• הכי גדול / הכי חדש = more common in everyday speech
• הגדול ביותר / החדש ביותר = more formal or written

Does הכי always mean a true superlative?

Not always. In this sentence, yes: it clearly means the most / -est.

But in colloquial Hebrew, הכי is also often used as an intensifier, almost like really, so, or super:

• זה הכי טוב! = That’s the best! or sometimes That’s really great!
• היא הכי נחמדה = She’s the nicest or in casual speech She’s super nice

In זה הבנק הכי גדול בעיר, it is definitely a real superlative: the biggest.

How is the whole sentence pronounced?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ze ha-BANK ha-KHI ga-DOL ba-IR, a-VAL lo ha-BANK ha-KHI kha-DASH

A few notes:

• הכי is stressed on the last syllable: ha-KHI
• גדול is ga-DOL
• חדש begins with ח, a throat sound that English does not really have
• בעיר here is pronounced ba-IR, because it means in the city