הבדיחה שלו הייתה מצחיקה, וגם אני צחקתי.

ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, equivalent to the in English.

So:

• בדיחה = a joke
• הבדיחה = the joke

In this sentence, הבדיחה שלו literally means the joke of his, which is how Hebrew commonly expresses his joke.

Modern Hebrew usually expresses possession with:

noun + possessive word

So:

• הבדיחה שלו = his joke
• literally: the joke his / the joke of his

This is very common in everyday Hebrew.

A useful thing to notice: שלו refers to the owner, not to the noun being possessed. So:

• שלו = his
• שלה = her

Even though בדיחה is a feminine noun, you still use שלו if the owner is male.

Because בדיחה is a feminine singular noun, and in the past tense the verb to be agrees with the subject in gender and number.

So:

• הוא היה = he was
• היא הייתה = she was
• הבדיחה הייתה = the joke was

Since בדיחה is feminine, the sentence needs הייתה.

You usually learn the gender of a noun along with the word itself. In this case, בדיחה is feminine.

One clue is the ending ־ה, which often appears on feminine nouns, though not always. Once you know בדיחה is feminine, other parts of the sentence must match it:

• הייתה = feminine singular
• מצחיקה = feminine singular adjective

So the sentence is internally consistent.

Because adjectives in Hebrew usually agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

Here, מצחיקה describes הבדיחה, so it has to match:

• מצחיק = masculine singular
• מצחיקה = feminine singular
• מצחיקים = masculine plural
• מצחיקות = feminine plural

Since בדיחה is feminine singular, מצחיקה is the correct form.

Because here מצחיקה is a predicate adjective, not an adjective directly attached before or after the noun inside a noun phrase.

Compare:

• הבדיחה המצחיקה = the funny joke
  Here, מצחיקה is directly modifying the noun, so it also gets definiteness.

But in your sentence:

• הבדיחה שלו הייתה מצחיקה = his joke was funny

Here, מצחיקה comes after הייתה and functions like funny in the joke was funny, so it does not take ה־.

וגם is ו־ + גם:

• ו־ = and
• גם = also / too

Together, וגם means and also or and too.

So:

• וגם אני צחקתי = and I also laughed / and I laughed too

It connects the second clause to the first and adds the idea of also.

Yes, צחקתי by itself already means I laughed, because the verb ending tells you the subject is I.

• צחקתי = I laughed

So Hebrew often drops אני.

But אני can still be included for emphasis, clarity, or natural rhythm. In this sentence, וגם אני צחקתי sounds like:

• and I laughed too
• I also laughed

Including אני makes the subject a little more explicit and natural in this structure.

צחקתי is past tense, first person singular: I laughed.

It comes from the root צ־ח־ק, related to laughing.

The ending ־תי is the regular past-tense ending for I in many Hebrew verbs:

• כתבתי = I wrote
• למדתי = I studied
• צחקתי = I laughed

So if you recognize ־תי, that is often a good sign you are looking at I in the past tense.

Yes, it is very normal.

The sentence is:

הבדיחה שלו הייתה מצחיקה, וגם אני צחקתי.

This is structured as:

1. subject: הבדיחה שלו
2. verb: הייתה
3. description: מצחיקה
4. second clause: וגם אני צחקתי

This is a natural Hebrew way to say the idea.

You could also hear slightly different word orders, such as:

• הבדיחה שלו הייתה מצחיקה, ואני גם צחקתי.

That is also correct, but the emphasis shifts slightly. Your original sentence is perfectly natural.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

ha-bdi-KHA she-LO ha-ye-TA mats-KHI-ka, ve-GAM a-NI tsa-KHAK-ti

A few notes:

• ח in מצחיקה and צחקתי is a throaty sound, not like English h
• Stress is usually:
  • בדיחה → bdi-KHA
  • שלו → she-LO
  • הייתה → ha-ye-TA
  • מצחיקה → mats-KHI-ka
  • אני → a-NI
  • צחקתי → tsa-KHAK-ti

The difference is small, but yes, there is a nuance.

• גם אני צחקתי = I also laughed / I laughed too
• וגם אני צחקתי = and I also laughed

The ו־ explicitly links it to the previous clause. Since this sentence has two connected parts, וגם works very naturally.

So the full sentence feels like:

• His joke was funny, and I laughed too.

The comma separates two related clauses:

1. הבדיחה שלו הייתה מצחיקה
2. וגם אני צחקתי

It works much like English punctuation in a sentence such as:

• His joke was funny, and I laughed too.

In Hebrew, punctuation in modern writing is often fairly similar to English in this kind of sentence.