בזמן הפגישה הוא היה רציני מאוד.

בזמן means during or at the time of in this sentence.

Literally, it is made of:

• ב־ = in / at
• זמן = time

So בזמן הפגישה is literally something like at the time of the meeting, but in natural English it usually means during the meeting.

The ה־ at the beginning is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• פגישה = a meeting / meeting
• הפגישה = the meeting

Because the sentence is referring to a specific meeting, Hebrew uses הפגישה.

Both can sometimes be translated similarly, but they are not exactly the same.

• בפגישה = in the meeting / at the meeting
• בזמן הפגישה = during the meeting / at the time of the meeting

בזמן הפגישה emphasizes the time period more clearly. It sounds a bit more like during the course of the meeting.

So this sentence is focusing on when he was serious.

היה is the past tense form of to be for he.

In present-tense Hebrew, you usually do not use a separate word for is:

• הוא רציני = He is serious

But in the past, Hebrew does use forms of to be:

• הוא היה רציני = He was serious

So היה is necessary because the sentence is in the past.

רציני is the masculine singular form of serious.

It matches הוא (he), which is masculine singular.

Compare:

• הוא היה רציני = He was serious
• היא הייתה רצינית = She was serious

So the adjective changes to agree with the person being described.

מאוד means very.

In Hebrew, words like very often come after the adjective, not before it as in English.

So:

• רציני מאוד = very serious

This word order is completely normal in Hebrew.

It could often be left out.

Hebrew verbs in the past usually show the subject clearly enough, so:

• הוא היה רציני מאוד and
• היה רציני מאוד

can both work, depending on context.

But הוא may be included:

• for clarity
• for contrast
• for emphasis
• because the speaker wants to make the subject explicit

So in this sentence, הוא is natural, but not always strictly required.

The sentence is:

• בזמן הפגישה = time phrase
• הוא = subject
• היה = verb
• רציני מאוד = description

So the structure is roughly:

During the meeting + he + was + very serious

Hebrew is fairly flexible with word order, especially with time expressions. You could also move בזמן הפגישה later in some contexts, but putting it first is very natural.

A common pronunciation guide is:

bizman ha-pgisha hu haya retzini me'od

A few notes:

• בזמן = bizman
• הפגישה = ha-pgisha
• הוא = hu
• היה = haya
• רציני = retzini
• מאוד = me'od

Different speakers may pronounce some sounds a little differently, especially ר, but this is a good practical guide.

Yes, פגישה is feminine.

One clue is the ending ־ה, which often marks feminine nouns in Hebrew.

Because it is feminine, if you were using other agreeing words with it, they would also be feminine. For example:

• פגישה ארוכה = a long meeting
• הפגישה הייתה ארוכה = the meeting was long

In your sentence, though, רציני does not describe הפגישה. It describes הוא, so it stays masculine.

Yes. רציני can mean serious in a few related ways, depending on context:

• serious in attitude
• not joking
• stern
• important or significant

In this sentence, because it describes a person during a meeting, the most natural meaning is that he was serious in demeanor.

Yes, literally בזמן הפגישה can mean at the time of the meeting, but in most everyday contexts it is naturally understood as during the meeting.

If the wider context were different, it might sound a little more like when the meeting was happening, but for most learners, during the meeting is the best reading here.

It would become:

בזמן הפגישה היא הייתה רצינית מאוד.

Changes:

• הוא → היא = he → she
• היה → הייתה = past was for feminine singular
• רציני → רצינית = feminine form of serious

So Hebrew changes both the past form of to be and the adjective to match gender.