יש לו חיוך גדול כשהוא אוכל מהעוגה המתוקה.

Hebrew usually does not use a normal verb for to have in the present tense.

Instead, it uses:

• יש = there is / there exists
• לו = to him / for him

So יש לו חיוך גדול literally means something like There is to him a big smile, but in natural English that becomes He has a big smile.

This is a very common Hebrew pattern:

• יש לי ספר = I have a book
• יש לה זמן = She has time
• יש להם בית = They have a house

So in this sentence, יש לו is just the normal Hebrew way to say he has.

לו means to him or for him.

It is made from:

• ל־ = to / for
• ו = him

In the sentence יש לו חיוך גדול, it helps form the idea he has.

Related forms are:

• לי = to me / I have
• לך = to you
• לה = to her
• לנו = to us
• להם = to them

So if you changed the person, you could get:

• יש לי חיוך גדול = I have a big smile
• יש לה חיוך גדול = She has a big smile

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• חיוך גדול = big smile
• literally: smile big

This is normal Hebrew word order.

More examples:

• ילד קטן = small boy
• בית גדול = big house
• עוגה מתוקה = sweet cake

Also, the adjective must match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

Here:

• חיוך is masculine singular
• גדול is also masculine singular

So they agree correctly.

כש means when or as/while, but very often Hebrew adds a full subject pronoun after it if needed for clarity.

So:

• כשהוא אוכל = when he eats / when he is eating

This is made of:

• כש = when
• הוא = he

You can think of כשהוא as when he...

Hebrew often combines these into one written word.

Similar examples:

• כשהיא באה = when she comes
• כשאני עובד = when I work / when I am working
• כשהם מדברים = when they speak / are speaking

It can mean either one, depending on context.

In modern Hebrew, the present tense often covers both:

• he eats
• he is eating

So כשהוא אוכל could mean:

• when he eats
• when he is eating

In this sentence, because it describes what is happening at that moment, English might naturally say when he is eating or as he eats. But the Hebrew form itself does not separately mark progressive is eating the way English does.

מהעוגה means from the cake or more naturally some of the cake.

It is made from:

• מ־ = from
• העוגה = the cake

So אוכל מהעוגה suggests he is eating some of the cake, not necessarily the whole cake.

This is a very common Hebrew structure when talking about taking or eating part of something:

• לשתות מהמים = to drink some of the water
• לקחת מהלחם = to take some of the bread
• לאכול מהעוגה = to eat some of the cake

If you said אוכל את העוגה, that would more strongly suggest he is eating the cake as a direct object, possibly the whole thing or the cake as the object in general.

So מהעוגה gives a partial sense: from the cake / some of the cake.

The ה־ prefix is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• העוגה = the cake
• חיוך = a smile / smile

In Hebrew, there is no separate word for a or an. A noun without ה־ is often indefinite.

So:

• חיוך גדול = a big smile
• החיוך הגדול = the big smile

In your sentence:

• יש לו חיוך גדול = he has a big smile
• מהעוגה המתוקה = from the sweet cake

So the sentence mixes an indefinite noun (a big smile) with a definite noun (the sweet cake), which is completely normal.

Because the noun העוגה is definite: the cake.

In Hebrew, when a noun is definite, the adjective describing it must also be definite.

So:

• עוגה מתוקה = a sweet cake
• העוגה המתוקה = the sweet cake

Both the noun and the adjective take ה־.

This is called agreement in definiteness.

Compare:

• ספר טוב = a good book
• הספר הטוב = the good book

So מהעוגה המתוקה correctly means from the sweet cake.

You often learn noun gender as part of the vocabulary item.

In this sentence, the adjectives help show it:

• חיוך גדול

  • גדול is masculine singular
  • so חיוך is masculine singular

• העוגה המתוקה

  • מתוקה is feminine singular
  • so עוגה is feminine singular

A lot of feminine singular nouns end in ־ה, like עוגה, but not all of them. And not every noun without ־ה is masculine in every case. So the safest method is to learn each noun with its gender.

The dictionary form is usually given as the infinitive:

• לאכול = to eat

The form אוכל here is the masculine singular present tense form, used with הוא:

• הוא אוכל = he eats / he is eating

Other present-tense forms are:

• אוכלת = she eats / is eating
• אוכלים = they (masculine/mixed) eat / are eating
• אוכלות = they (feminine) eat / are eating

So if the subject changed, the verb form would change too:

• כשהיא אוכלת = when she is eating
• כשהם אוכלים = when they are eating

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Yesh lo chiyukh gadol k'she-hu okhel meha-ugah hametukah.

A few notes:

• יש = yesh
• חיוך begins with ח, a throaty sound that does not exist in normal English
• כשהוא is often pronounced smoothly as k'shehu
• אוכל = okhel
• מהעוגה = meha-ugah
• המתוקה = hametukah

If a learner cannot yet make ח and ע perfectly, that is very common. The most important thing at first is recognizing the word and stress pattern.

Yes, it is natural and straightforward.

It sounds like a descriptive sentence, maybe from:

• a story
• a textbook
• a description of someone’s expression
• a comment about a happy moment

It gives a visual image: he has a big smile when he eats some of the sweet cake.

A Hebrew speaker might also say similar variations, depending on style:

• יש לו חיוך גדול כשהוא אוכל עוגה מתוקה = He has a big smile when he eats sweet cake
• הוא מחייך חיוך גדול כשהוא אוכל מהעוגה המתוקה = He smiles a big smile when he eats some of the sweet cake

But your original sentence is correct and natural.