הקהל היה שקט קודם, אבל בסוף ההופעה האנשים חייכו ודיברו עליה.

Because הקהל (the audience/crowd) is grammatically singular in Hebrew, even though it refers to many people.

So Hebrew treats it like one group:

• הקהל היה שקט = the audience was quiet

That is why:

• היה is singular masculine past of to be
• שקט is singular masculine adjective

If you were talking about the individual people, then you would use plural:

• האנשים היו שקטים = the people were quiet

This is similar to English when we say the audience was quiet.

It matches הקהל.

In Hebrew, adjectives usually agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

Since קהל is masculine singular, the adjective is also masculine singular:

• קהל שקט = a quiet audience
• הקהל היה שקט = the audience was quiet

If the noun were plural masculine, you would get:

• האנשים היו שקטים

If it were feminine singular:

• ההופעה הייתה שקטה would mean the show/performance was quiet

Here קודם means earlier, before that, or previously.

So:

• הקהל היה שקט קודם = the audience was quiet earlier / before

It often refers to an earlier point in the situation, not necessarily a very specific time.

A learner should know that קודם can sometimes also mean first in other contexts, for example:

• קודם נלך הביתה = first we’ll go home

So the exact meaning depends on context.

Because בסוף is made of:

• ב־ = in / at
• סוף = end

So בסוף ההופעה literally means:

• at the end of the performance

This is a construct phrase in Hebrew:

• סוף ההופעה = the end of the performance

In this kind of structure, the first noun usually does not take ה־ even when the whole phrase is definite. The definiteness comes from the second noun:

• סוף הופעה = end of a performance
• סוף ההופעה = the end of the performance

Then add ב־:

• בסוף ההופעה = at the end of the performance

Because it refers to a specific performance/show, not just any performance.

• הופעה = a performance / show
• ההופעה = the performance / the show

So:

• בסוף הופעה would mean something like at the end of a performance
• בסוף ההופעה means at the end of the performance

Both חייכו and דיברו are 3rd person plural past forms.

They agree with האנשים (the people), which is masculine plural.

So:

• חייכו = smiled
• דיברו = spoke / talked

Hebrew often does not need a separate word for they in the past tense, because the verb form already shows it.

So:

• האנשים חייכו = the people smiled
• האנשים דיברו = the people talked

Because the subjects are different.

In the first part:

• הקהל is the subject, and it is grammatically singular
• so: היה שקט

In the second part:

• האנשים is the subject, and it is plural
• so: חייכו ודיברו

So the sentence shifts from talking about the group as one unit (the audience) to talking about the individuals (the people).

עליה means about it or about her, depending on context.

Here it means about it, referring back to ההופעה (the performance/show), which is a feminine noun.

Hebrew attaches pronoun endings to prepositions. So:

• על = on / about
• עליה = about her / about it (feminine singular)

Since הופעה is feminine singular, the sentence uses עליה:

• דיברו עליה = they talked about it

Yes. Hebrew does not distinguish between her and it when the noun is feminine.

So עליה can mean:

• about her
• about it (for a feminine noun)

You understand which one is intended from context. In this sentence, it clearly refers to ההופעה, so the meaning is about it.

Because Hebrew often combines prepositions with pronoun suffixes.

Instead of saying:

• על היא or something similar

Hebrew uses one combined form:

• עליו = about him / it (masculine)
• עליה = about her / it (feminine)
• עליהם = about them (masculine or mixed)
• עליהן = about them (feminine)

So דיברו עליה is the natural Hebrew way to say they talked about it/her.

אבל means but, so it introduces contrast.

Here the contrast is:

• earlier the audience was quiet
• later, at the end, the people smiled and talked about the show

So אבל is stronger than just ו־ (and). It tells you that the second part is different from what came before.

Compare:

• הקהל היה שקט קודם, ובסוף ההופעה האנשים חייכו = more neutral sequence
• הקהל היה שקט קודם, אבל בסוף ההופעה האנשים חייכו = clear contrast

Yes, it is very natural.

Hebrew word order is flexible, but this sentence is completely standard:

• הקהל היה שקט קודם
• אבל בסוף ההופעה האנשים חייכו ודיברו עליה

A few things to notice:

• time expressions like קודם and בסוף ההופעה can move around
• the subject often comes before the verb, especially in simple statements

For example, these are also possible:

• קודם הקהל היה שקט
• האנשים חייכו ודיברו עליה בסוף ההופעה

But the original version sounds natural and clear.

In Hebrew, the masculine plural is often used for:

• a group of men
• a mixed group
• a group when gender is unspecified

So האנשים חייכו ודיברו is normal unless the speaker specifically wants to refer to an all-female group.

If it were all female, you would say:

• הנשים חייכו ודיברו עליה

Also, the past plural verb form דיברו / חייכו is the same for masculine and feminine plural in modern everyday Hebrew, so the noun is what makes the gender clear here.

הופעה most often means:

• performance
• show
• appearance

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, because people were quiet earlier and then smiled and talked about it, show/performance is the natural meaning.

In other contexts, הופעה can also mean:

• a public appearance
• a musical performance
• even appearance/look in some uses

So it is a useful word with a broader range than just one English translation.