הבאתי מגש גדול ומפיות לבנות, כדי שנוכל לשים את הצלחות על השולחן.

הבאתי is the past tense, first person singular form of the verb להביא (to bring).

Breakdown:

• הבאתי = I brought
• Base verb: להביא = to bring

This pattern is very common in Hebrew:

• כתבתי = I wrote
• שמעתי = I heard
• הבאתי = I brought

The -תי ending is a strong clue that the subject is I in the past tense.

In Hebrew, the verb often already tells you who the subject is, so a separate pronoun is usually unnecessary.

So:

• הבאתי already means I brought
• You could say אני הבאתי for emphasis, but it is not required

This is different from English, where you must say I brought.

מגש means tray or serving tray.

In this sentence:

• מגש גדול = a big tray

It is a masculine noun.

Examples:

• מגש קטן = a small tray
• המגש על השולחן = the tray is on the table

Because מגש is a masculine singular noun, the adjective must match it in gender and number.

So:

• מגש = masculine singular
• גדול = masculine singular form of big

Compare:

• מגש גדול = a big tray
• צלחת גדולה = a big plate

Hebrew adjectives agree with the nouns they describe.

Because מפיות is feminine plural, so the adjective must also be feminine plural.

Breakdown:

• מפית = napkin
• מפיות = napkins
• לבנות = white, feminine plural

So:

• מפיות לבנות = white napkins

Compare the adjective forms of לבן (white):

• לבן = masculine singular
• לבנה = feminine singular
• לבנים = masculine plural
• לבנות = feminine plural

Hebrew does not use an indefinite article like a/an at all.

So:

• מגש גדול can mean a big tray
• מפיות לבנות can mean white napkins or some white napkins, depending on context

Hebrew only has a definite article, ה־, meaning the.

Compare:

• מגש גדול = a big tray
• המגש הגדול = the big tray

The comma separates the main clause from a purpose clause.

Main clause:

• הבאתי מגש גדול ומפיות לבנות
• I brought a big tray and white napkins

Purpose clause:

• כדי שנוכל לשים את הצלחות על השולחן
• so that we can put the plates on the table

כדי often means in order to or so that. The comma helps show that the second part explains the purpose of bringing those items.

כדי ש־ means so that.

So:

• כדי by itself often means in order to
• כדי ש־ means so that

In your sentence:

• כדי שנוכל = so that we can / so that we will be able to

The ש is a short form of ש־, a connector meaning that.

So this structure is:

• כדי ש + verb
• so that + clause

Examples:

• כדי ללמוד = in order to study
• כדי שנלמד = so that we study / so that we can study

שנוכל is made of:

• ש־ = that / so that
• נוכל = we can / we will be able

The verb נוכל comes from יכול (can / be able to).

Here it is:

• first person plural = we
• used in a way that gives the meaning we can or we will be able to, depending on context

So:

• כדי שנוכל לשים... = so that we can put...

This is a very common Hebrew pattern.

Because after יכול / can / be able to, Hebrew usually uses the infinitive.

So:

• נוכל לשים = we can put
• literally: we will-be-able to put

לשים is the infinitive form of to put.

Other examples:

• אני יכול ללכת = I can go
• אנחנו יכולים לראות = we can see
• הם יוכלו לעזור = they will be able to help

את marks a definite direct object in Hebrew.

Here:

• הצלחות = the plates
• because it is definite (the plates), Hebrew uses את

So:

• לשים את הצלחות = to put the plates

Compare:

• לשים צלחות = to put plates
• לשים את הצלחות = to put the plates

Important: את does not really translate into English; it is a grammatical marker.

ה־ means the.

So:

• צלחות = plates
• הצלחות = the plates

Since the sentence refers to specific plates, Hebrew uses the definite form.

Also notice:

• because the object is definite, Hebrew also adds את
• את הצלחות = the plates (as a direct object)

The singular is צלחת = plate.

Plural:

• צלחת = plate
• צלחות = plates

This is a common feminine plural ending:

• singular feminine often ends in ־ת
• plural often ends in ־ות

Examples:

• מפה / מפות = tablecloth / tablecloths
• צלחת / צלחות = plate / plates

על means on and השולחן means the table.

So:

• על השולחן = on the table

Breakdown:

• שולחן = table
• ה שולחן = the table

This is a very common prepositional phrase in Hebrew:

• על הכיסא = on the chair
• על המיטה = on the bed
• על השולחן = on the table

Yes. The word order is very natural.

Hebrew sentence:

• הבאתי מגש גדול ומפיות לבנות, כדי שנוכל לשים את הצלחות על השולחן.

Natural structure:

1. verb: הבאתי
2. objects: מגש גדול ומפיות לבנות
3. purpose clause: כדי שנוכל...

Hebrew often starts a sentence with the verb, especially in narrative or simple statements, although other word orders are also possible.

For example, you could also say:

• אני הבאתי מגש גדול ומפיות לבנות... This adds the pronoun and can sound slightly more emphatic.

Yes, sometimes כדי is followed directly by an infinitive.

For example:

• הבאתי מגש כדי לשים את הצלחות על השולחן
• I brought a tray in order to put the plates on the table

But your sentence says:

• כדי שנוכל לשים
• so that we can put

That version adds the idea of we can / we’ll be able to, which sounds slightly more complete and natural in this context.

So both patterns exist:

• כדי + infinitive = in order to...
• כדי ש + verb = so that...

No. In this sentence, לבנות means white in the feminine plural form.

That can be confusing because לבנות can also be the infinitive to build, from לבנות.

So Hebrew has two different words spelled the same way:

• לבנות = white (feminine plural adjective), as in מפיות לבנות
• לבנות = to build (verb infinitive)

Context tells you which one it is.

Here, because it comes after the noun מפיות, it is clearly the adjective:

• מפיות לבנות = white napkins

In Hebrew, the word and is usually the prefix ו־ attached directly to the next word.

So:

• ו + מפיות = ומפיות
• meaning and napkins

This is completely normal Hebrew spelling.

Other examples:

• וספר = and a book
• והילד = and the boy
• ולבן = and white

The pronunciation of ו־ can vary slightly depending on the following sound, but the basic meaning is always and.