Breakdown of הקיר ליד החלון נקי, אבל הרצפה עדיין מלוכלכת.
Questions & Answers about הקיר ליד החלון נקי, אבל הרצפה עדיין מלוכלכת.
How do I read this sentence out loud if there are no vowel marks?
A common reading is:
ha-kir le-yad ha-khalon naki, aval ha-ritzpah adayin melukhlekhet
A few helpful notes:
- ח and sometimes כ are often pronounced like kh, a throaty sound, not like English k.
- נקי = naki
- מלוכלכת = melukhlekhet
- עדיין = adayin
In normal modern Hebrew writing, vowel marks are usually omitted, so learners gradually learn the pronunciation from familiarity and context.
Why is there no word for is in the sentence?
In Hebrew, present-tense sentences often do not use a word for is/are.
So:
- הקיר ליד החלון נקי literally looks like the wall ליד the window clean
- but it means the wall next to the window is clean
And:
- הרצפה עדיין מלוכלכת literally looks like the floor still dirty
- but it means the floor is still dirty
This is completely normal in Hebrew. In past and future tenses, Hebrew does use forms of to be.
What does the ה־ at the beginning of הקיר, החלון, and הרצפה mean?
ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.
So:
- קיר = wall
הקיר = the wall
- חלון = window
החלון = the window
- רצפה = floor
- הרצפה = the floor
Hebrew attaches the directly to the beginning of the noun instead of writing it as a separate word.
Why don’t נקי and מלוכלכת also have ה־ on them?
Because here they are predicate adjectives, not adjectives directly attached to the noun inside a noun phrase.
Compare these:
- הקיר נקי = the wall is clean
- הקיר הנקי = the clean wall
And:
- הרצפה מלוכלכת = the floor is dirty
- הרצפה המלוכלכת = the dirty floor
So in your sentence, נקי and מלוכלכת are saying what the wall and floor are, not forming phrases like the clean wall.
Why is it נקי for the wall but מלוכלכת for the floor?
Because Hebrew adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.
Here:
- הקיר is masculine singular, so the adjective is נקי
- הרצפה is feminine singular, so the adjective is מלוכלכת
This kind of agreement is very important in Hebrew.
For example:
- masculine singular: נקי
- feminine singular: נקייה
and
- masculine singular: מלוכלך
- feminine singular: מלוכלכת
How am I supposed to know that קיר is masculine and רצפה is feminine?
Usually, you learn the gender together with each noun.
In this sentence:
- קיר is masculine
- חלון is masculine
- רצפה is feminine
Sometimes noun endings help, but not always reliably. For example, many feminine nouns end in ־ה or ־ת, and רצפה does end in ־ה, which fits that pattern. But the safest habit is to memorize each new noun with its gender.
What exactly does ליד mean?
ליד means next to, beside, or by.
So:
- הקיר ליד החלון = the wall next to the window
It introduces a location in relation to something else. In this sentence, it tells you which wall we are talking about.
Why is it ליד החלון and not some combined form?
Because ליד is a full preposition-like word, so the article stays on the noun after it:
- ליד החלון = next to the window
This is different from one-letter prepositions such as ב, ל, and כ, which often combine with ה־.
So:
- ב + הבית becomes בבית in many contexts
- but ליד stays separate: ליד הבית
Does ליד החלון describe the wall, or does it go with clean?
It describes the wall.
The structure is:
- הקיר ליד החלון = the wall next to the window
- נקי = is clean
So the whole first clause means:
- The wall next to the window is clean
A good way to see it is that ליד החלון helps identify which wall.
What does עדיין mean here, and why is it placed there?
עדיין means still here.
So:
- הרצפה עדיין מלוכלכת = the floor is still dirty
Its position is very natural in Hebrew: after the subject and before the adjective or other main information.
You may also see עדיין in other places depending on emphasis, but this placement is standard and easy to understand.
What does אבל mean, and is it used just like English but?
Yes, אבל means but.
It connects the two contrasting parts:
- the wall ... is clean
- but the floor is still dirty
That is a very normal use of אבל, just like English but.
Why is there a comma before אבל?
Because Hebrew often uses a comma before אבל when it connects two full clauses, much like English often does before but.
So the punctuation here is very natural:
- הקיר ליד החלון נקי, אבל הרצפה עדיין מלוכלכת.
It helps separate the two ideas clearly.
How would I say the clean wall or the dirty floor instead of the wall is clean and the floor is dirty?
Then you would use an adjective directly attached to the noun, and the adjective would also take ה־ if the noun is definite.
So:
- הקיר הנקי = the clean wall
- הרצפה המלוכלכת = the dirty floor
But in your sentence, the structure is different:
- הקיר נקי = the wall is clean
- הרצפה מלוכלכת = the floor is dirty
That difference between attached adjective and predicate adjective is one of the most important things to notice here.
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