הוא ישב וקרא עד שהאחות שלו חזרה הביתה.

Because Hebrew often uses this pattern to describe one ongoing action together with another action happening at the same time.

• ישב literally means sat
• קרא means read
• ישב וקרא literally is sat and read

But in natural English, this usually means:

• He sat reading
• He was sitting and reading
• or simply He read

In Hebrew, ישב + another verb can suggest that someone was occupied with something for a while, not just performing two separate actions one after the other.

The ו is the Hebrew word and, attached directly to the next word.

So:

• קרא = read
• וקרא = and read

Hebrew very often attaches short words like ו directly to the following word instead of writing them separately.

Also, the pronunciation of ו can vary slightly depending on the sounds around it, but here it is simply ve-: ve-kara.

עד ש־ means until.

It is made of:

• עד = until / up to
• ש־ = that or a connector meaning something like when / that

Together, עד ש־ introduces the point in time when the first action stopped or continued up to.

So:

• הוא ישב וקרא עד שהאחות שלו חזרה הביתה = He sat and read until his sister came back home.

This is a very common Hebrew structure.

Hebrew often expresses possession in spoken and modern standard usage with:

• noun + של
  • possessive ending

So:

• האחות שלו = the sister of him = his sister

Breakdown:

• האחות = the sister
• שלו = his

This is one of the most common ways to say possession in Hebrew.

There is also a more formal or literary structure called the construct state, but for a learner, noun + שלו/שלה/שלהם is extremely useful and very common.

Because שלו is the standard masculine singular possessive form meaning his.

Here are some related forms:

• שלי = my
• שלך = your (masculine singular)
• שלך = your (feminine singular)
• שלו = his
• שלה = her
• שלנו = our
• שלהם = their (masculine/mixed)
• שלהן = their (feminine)

Even though אחות is a feminine noun, the possessive word depends on the owner, not the thing owned. Since the owner is he, Hebrew uses שלו = his.

Because the subject of that verb is האחות שלו = his sister, and אחות is feminine.

In the past tense, Hebrew verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

So:

• חזר = he returned
• חזרה = she returned

Since his sister is feminine singular, Hebrew uses חזרה.

הביתה means homeward or more naturally home in the sense of movement toward home.

This ־ה at the end is an old directional ending that still survives in some common words. It often gives the sense of to / toward a place.

So:

• בית = house
• הביתה = home / to the house / toward home

In many everyday contexts, it is best translated simply as home, especially after verbs of motion:

• חזר הביתה = returned home
• הלך הביתה = went home

This is a very common expression, and learners should treat הביתה as a useful fixed form.

The ה is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• אחות = sister
• האחות = the sister

In this sentence, Hebrew says the sister שלו, literally the sister of him, where English would usually just say his sister.

That means Hebrew often uses the definite article in places where English does not.

Without vowel marks, קרא can represent more than one meaning, including forms related to read and call. In this sentence, context tells you it means read.

Why?

Because:

• הוא ישב וקרא naturally means he sat and read
• he sat and called would be much less likely here
• the rest of the sentence gives a smooth time frame: he was reading until his sister got home

So Hebrew readers rely heavily on context when reading unvocalized text.

Yes, very much so.

לחזור הביתה means to return home / come back home, and it is a common everyday expression.

Examples:

• אני חוזר הביתה = I’m returning home / going back home
• היא חזרה הביתה מאוחר = She came back home late

So in your sentence, חזרה הביתה is a very natural phrase.

Yes, that is a very reasonable way to understand it.

Because ישב וקרא is not just physically sat and read in a mechanical sense. It often suggests that he remained engaged in reading for some period of time.

Possible natural translations include:

• He sat and read until his sister came home.
• He was sitting and reading until his sister came home.
• He stayed reading until his sister came home.

The exact English wording depends on style, but the Hebrew structure is very natural.