פתאום המורה אמרה שיש מבחן קצר מחר.

המורה is made of:

• ה־ = the
• מורה = teacher

So המורה means the teacher.

By itself, מורה can refer to either a male teacher or a female teacher. You know the teacher is female here because the verb is אמרה, which is the feminine singular past form of to say.

So:

• המורה אמר = the teacher said (male teacher)
• המורה אמרה = the teacher said (female teacher)

Hebrew past tense verbs change according to gender and number.

The verb here is from אמר = to say.

In the past tense:

• אמר = he said
• אמרה = she said

Since the sentence uses אמרה, the subject must be feminine singular. That matches a female teacher.

פתאום means suddenly or all of a sudden.

It is often placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis, just like in English:

• פתאום המורה אמרה... = Suddenly, the teacher said...

Hebrew allows some flexibility with adverb placement, but putting פתאום first makes the suddenness feel more immediate and natural.

שיש is actually two pieces joined together:

• ש־ = that
• יש = there is / there are

So:

• שיש מבחן קצר מחר = that there is a short test tomorrow

After verbs like say, know, think, Hebrew often uses ש־ to introduce a clause:

• אמרה ש... = she said that...

Because the next part is an existence statement, Hebrew uses יש:

• יש מבחן = there is a test

So together:

• אמרה שיש... = she said that there is...

יש is the Hebrew way to express existence: there is or there are.

Examples:

• יש ספר = There is a book
• יש תלמידים בכיתה = There are students in the classroom

In your sentence:

• יש מבחן קצר מחר = There is a short test tomorrow

Hebrew does not need a verb like to be in the present tense here. יש does that job.

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

So:

• מבחן קצר = literally test short = a short test

This is normal Hebrew word order.

More examples:

• ילד קטן = a small boy
• ספר מעניין = an interesting book
• שיעור קשה = a difficult lesson

So even though English says short test, Hebrew says test short.

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

מבחן is a masculine singular noun, so the adjective must also be masculine singular:

• מבחן קצר = a short test

If the noun were feminine singular, you would use קצרה:

• בדיקה קצרה = a short check / short examination

So the adjective form tells you something about the noun it describes.

Hebrew has no indefinite article. There is no separate word for a or an.

So:

• מבחן can mean a test
• ספר can mean a book
• ילד can mean a boy

If Hebrew wants to say the test, it adds ה־:

• המבחן = the test

So:

• מבחן קצר = a short test
• המבחן הקצר = the short test

Because the noun מבחן is indefinite here.

In Hebrew, if a noun is definite with ה־, its adjective must also be definite.

Compare:

• מבחן קצר = a short test
• המבחן הקצר = the short test

Both the noun and adjective need to match in definiteness.

Since your sentence says מבחן קצר without ה־, it means a short test, not the short test.

מחר means tomorrow.

It tells you when the test is.

So:

• יש מבחן קצר מחר = There is a short test tomorrow

Hebrew does not need a preposition here. It does not say something like in tomorrow or on tomorrow.

Just מחר by itself is enough.

The sentence you have is very natural:

• פתאום המורה אמרה שיש מבחן קצר מחר.

Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, but changes can affect emphasis.

For example:

• המורה אמרה פתאום שיש מבחן קצר מחר sounds more like the teacher suddenly said...
• מחר יש מבחן קצר emphasizes tomorrow

Still, the original order is a very normal way to say it, especially in a story or conversation.

Yes, and that is a very helpful way to read Hebrew.

A good breakdown is:

• פתאום = suddenly
• המורה אמרה = the teacher said
• שיש = that there is
• מבחן קצר = a short test
• מחר = tomorrow

So the whole sentence is built like this:

Suddenly + the teacher said + that there is + a short test + tomorrow

Chunking it this way makes the grammar much easier to follow.

Only the verb would need to change:

• פתאום המורה אמר שיש מבחן קצר מחר.

Now אמר is masculine singular, so it means:

• Suddenly the teacher said there is a short test tomorrow.

The noun מורה stays the same; the verb tells you the teacher’s gender here.