Word
כשהייתה הרבה עבודה במשרד, הוא היה אומר לנו לעצור לדקה ולשתות מים.
Meaning
When there was a lot of work in the office, he would tell us to stop for a minute and drink water.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about כשהייתה הרבה עבודה במשרד, הוא היה אומר לנו לעצור לדקה ולשתות מים.
Why does כשהייתה mean when there was?
כש is a shortened form of כאשר, meaning when.
הייתה is the past form of להיות (to be), feminine singular.
In Hebrew, היה / הייתה can also be used in an existential sense, like there was / there were.
So:
- כש = when
- הייתה הרבה עבודה = there was a lot of work
Together, כשהייתה הרבה עבודה means when there was a lot of work.
Why is it הייתה and not היה?
Because the noun עבודה (work) is grammatically feminine in Hebrew.
Even though English says there was a lot of work, Hebrew treats work as the thing that was, so the verb agrees with עבודה:
- עבודה = feminine singular
- therefore: הייתה
If the noun were masculine, you would expect היה instead.
Why does Hebrew say הרבה עבודה instead of something like עבודה רבה?
הרבה + noun is the most common everyday way to say in modern Hebrew.