בלילה הרחוב שקט.

street

Breakdown of בלילה הרחוב שקט.

• ב: at
• לילה: night
• שקט: quiet

Questions & Answers about בלילה הרחוב שקט.

What does בלילה mean exactly, and how is it formed?

בלילה means at night or during the night.

It is made from:

• ב־ = in / at
• לילה = night
• plus the definite article ה־ = the

So the full underlying idea is in the night. In Hebrew, ב־ and ה־ combine, so ב + הלילה becomes בלילה.

If you learn pointed Hebrew, you may see it as בַּלַּיְלָה.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because in present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not stated.

So:

• הרחוב שקט = the street is quiet
• literally: the street quiet

This kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence.

In other tenses, Hebrew usually does use a form of to be:

• בלילה הרחוב היה שקט = At night the street was quiet
• בלילה הרחוב יהיה שקט = At night the street will be quiet

Why does the sentence start with בלילה instead of הרחוב?

Hebrew often puts a time expression at the beginning of the sentence, especially when setting the scene.

So בלילה הרחוב שקט is very natural and means:

• At night, the street is quiet

You could also say:

• הרחוב שקט בלילה

That has the same basic meaning, but the version starting with בלילה puts a little more focus on when this is true.

Why does הרחוב have ה־?

הרחוב means the street.

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, equivalent to English the.

So:

• רחוב = a street / street
• הרחוב = the street

In this sentence, the subject is definite: the street.

Why is שקט not השקט?

Because שקט here is a predicate adjective, not part of the noun phrase.

Compare:

• הרחוב שקט = the street is quiet
• הרחוב השקט = the quiet street

That is a very important difference in Hebrew:

• noun + adjective with no is → sentence: the street is quiet
• noun + adjective, both definite → noun phrase: the quiet street

So שקט has no ה־ because it is saying something about the street, not naming a type of street.

Why is the adjective שקט and not some other form?

Adjectives in Hebrew usually agree with the noun in gender and number.

רחוב is:

• masculine
• singular

So the adjective is also masculine singular:

• שקט = quiet (masculine singular)

Compare:

• העיר שקטה = the city is quiet
  because עיר is feminine singular, so the adjective becomes שקטה

• הרחובות שקטים = the streets are quiet
  because streets is masculine plural, so the adjective becomes שקטים

Is this a complete sentence, or is something missing?

It is a complete sentence.

Its parts are:

• בלילה = time expression: at night
• הרחוב = subject: the street
• שקט = predicate adjective: quiet

So the structure is:

• At night
  • the street
    • quiet

Even though English needs is, Hebrew does not in the present tense, so nothing is missing.

Could this sentence also be translated as The street is quiet at night?

Yes. That is a perfectly natural English translation.

Because Hebrew word order is more flexible than English, בלילה הרחוב שקט and הרחוב שקט בלילה can both correspond to:

• The street is quiet at night
• At night, the street is quiet

The difference is mainly one of focus or style, not core meaning.

How would this be pronounced?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ba-LAI-la ha-reKHOV sha-KET

A few notes:

• בלילה = ba-LAI-la
• הרחוב = ha-reKHOV
• שקט = sha-KET

The ch / kh sound in הרחוב is the throaty Hebrew sound of ח, not an English ch as in chair.

Does בלילה always mean one specific night?

Not necessarily.

In many contexts, בלילה means at night in a general sense, as in:

• At night, the street is quiet

Depending on context, it can also refer to during the night or in the nighttime.

So the exact nuance comes from the situation, but in a basic sentence like this, learners usually understand it as a general statement about nighttime.