בדרך כלל אני עושה את הקניות הגדולות ביום שישי, כי אז יש לי חופש.

בדרך כלל means usually, generally, or as a rule.

Literally, it comes from:

• דרך = way
• כלל = rule / general principle

So the phrase literally suggests something like as a general rule.

In this sentence:

• בדרך כלל אני עושה את הקניות הגדולות...
• I usually do the big shopping...

It is a very common way to say usually in Hebrew.

Hebrew often uses the verb לעשות (to do / to make) with קניות (shopping / purchases) to express to shop or to do the shopping.

So:

• לעשות קניות = to shop
• אני עושה את הקניות = I do the shopping

This is a normal Hebrew expression, even though word-for-word it may sound slightly different from natural English.

A few related examples:

• אני עושה קניות = I’m shopping / I do shopping
• אני הולך לעשות קניות = I’m going to do some shopping

את is the marker used before a definite direct object.

Here:

• הקניות הגדולות = the big shopping / the major groceries / the big purchases
• Because it is definite, Hebrew puts את before it.

So:

• אני עושה קניות = I do shopping / I shop
• אני עושה את הקניות = I do the shopping

Important: את does not mean with here. It is just a grammatical marker showing that the following noun is the direct object and is definite.

הקניות הגדולות literally means the big purchases or the big shopping.

In natural English, in this sentence it usually means something like:

• the big grocery shop
• the main weekly shopping
• the larger shopping trip

Breakdown:

• קניות = shopping / purchases
• גדולות = big / large (feminine plural)

So the speaker means they do the main, larger shopping trip on Friday.

Because קניות is a feminine plural noun, the adjective has to agree with it.

Agreement in Hebrew means the adjective matches the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

Here:

• קניות = feminine plural
• so the adjective must also be feminine plural: גדולות

Compare:

• ספרים גדולים = big books (masculine plural)
• מכוניות גדולות = big cars (feminine plural)

In Hebrew, if a noun is definite, its adjective is usually definite too.

So:

• קניות גדולות = big shopping / big purchases
• הקניות הגדולות = the big shopping / the big purchases

Both the noun and the adjective take ה־:

• הקניות = the shopping / the purchases
• הגדולות = the big ones

This is different from English, where only the appears once.

ביום שישי means on Friday.

Breakdown:

• ב־ = in / on
• יום = day
• שישי = sixth / Friday

Together:

• ביום שישי = on Friday

Hebrew commonly uses ב־ with days of the week to mean on:

• ביום ראשון = on Sunday
• ביום שני = on Monday
• ביום שישי = on Friday

Both can exist, but ביום שישי is very clear and very common.

• ביום שישי = on Friday
• בשישי can also mean on Friday, but depending on context it may sound a bit shorter, more casual, or less explicit.

For learners, ביום שישי is a very useful standard pattern:

• ביום ראשון
• ביום שני
• ביום שלישי etc.

Literally, it means:

• כי = because
• אז = then
• יש לי = there is to me / I have
• חופש = freedom / free time / time off

So the whole part means:

• because then I have free time
• or more naturally: because I’m off then

The word אז here means then / at that time.

Hebrew often expresses possession with יש ל־.

Literally:

• יש = there is / there exists
• לי = to me

So:

• יש לי חופש = there is free time to me
• natural English: I have free time / I’m off

Other examples:

• יש לי ספר = I have a book
• יש לי זמן = I have time
• יש לי עבודה = I have work

This is one of the most important Hebrew structures to learn.

Here, חופש means free time, time off, or a day off.

The word חופש can mean different things depending on context:

• freedom
• vacation
• time off
• being off work/school

In this sentence, the meaning is clearly:

• because then I’m free
• because I have time off then

So it does not mean political or philosophical freedom here.

In unpointed Hebrew writing, עושה can represent either:

• masculine singular pronunciation: osé
• feminine singular pronunciation: osá

So the spelling is the same, but the pronunciation changes.

That means this sentence could be said by:

• a male speaker: אני עושֶה...
• a female speaker: אני עושָה...

Without vowel marks or audio, you often cannot tell from the spelling alone.

Hebrew often puts אז before the full clause to mean then / at that time.

So:

• כי אז יש לי חופש = because then I have free time

This sounds natural in Hebrew and nicely emphasizes then.

You might also hear slightly different word orders in speech, but this one is very standard and natural.

Yes, it sounds natural.

A native speaker would understand it easily as:

• Usually I do the big shopping on Friday, because I’m off then.

The phrase עושה את הקניות הגדולות is slightly more descriptive than just עושה קניות, and it clearly suggests the main weekly shopping trip, especially groceries or household shopping.

Yes, very often that is how it will be understood.

Depending on context, הקניות הגדולות can suggest:

• the weekly grocery run
• the main household shopping
• the bigger shopping trip, as opposed to small errands

So even though the Hebrew does not explicitly say groceries, many people would understand it that way from normal life context.