יש מקום פנוי ליד החלון?

Is there a free place by the window?

Breakdown of יש מקום פנוי ליד החלון?

• יש: there is
• חלון: window
• ליד: by
• פנוי: free

Questions & Answers about יש מקום פנוי ליד החלון?

What does יש do in this sentence?

יש is the Hebrew word used to express existence: there is / there are.

So in this sentence, יש introduces the idea is there...?

A few useful points:

• יש does not change for singular vs. plural.
  • יש מקום = there is a place
  • יש מקומות = there are places
• Hebrew does not need a separate word like English there here.
• In the negative, Hebrew usually uses אין:
  • אין מקום פנוי = there is no available place

Why is there no word for a in מקום פנוי?

Hebrew usually does not have an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• מקום can mean a place / place
• מקום פנוי = an available place

Hebrew does have a definite article, ה־, which means the:

• חלון = window
• החלון = the window

So Hebrew often works like this:

• no article = a / an or just a general noun
• ה־ = the