כדאי שתוסיפו קצת תירס אם הילדים לא אוהבים חסה.

כדאי is a very common Hebrew word meaning it’s כדאי / it’s advisable / it’s a good idea. It is often used to give advice or make a recommendation.

In this sentence, כדאי introduces the idea that something would be a good thing to do. It does not change for gender or number here.

A very common pattern is:

כדאי ש־... = It’s כדאי that... / You should...

So:

כדאי שתוסיפו...
means something like You should add... or It would be good if you added...

This is a softer, more natural way to give advice than a direct command.

שתוסיפו is made up of two parts:

• ש־ = that
• תוסיפו = you (plural) will add / add

Together, ש־ + תוסיפו gives the meaning that you add or for you to add, depending on the context.

After כדאי, Hebrew very often uses this structure:

כדאי ש־ + verb

So:

• כדאי שתלכו = You should go
• כדאי שתאכלי = You should eat (to one female)
• כדאי שתוסיפו = You should add (to more than one person, or sometimes to someone addressed politely in plural)

תוסיפו is the you plural form of the verb להוסיף (to add).

That means the speaker is addressing:

• more than one person, or
• sometimes a group in general

Here are some related forms:

• תוסיף = you will add / add (masculine singular)
• תוסיפי = you will add / add (feminine singular)
• תוסיפו = you will add / add (plural)

So the sentence is specifically directed at multiple people: you all should add...

Formally, תוסיפו is a future tense form: you (plural) will add.

But after words like כדאי, future forms often function more like English should, ought to, or it would be good to.

So even though it is grammatically future, the meaning here is not simple future time. It is more about recommendation.

This is very common in Hebrew:

• כדאי שתבוא = You should come
• כדאי שנלך = We should go
• כדאי שתוסיפו = You should add

קצת means a little, a bit, or some.

In this sentence:

קצת תירס = a little/some corn

Hebrew often places קצת before the noun it modifies, much like English some or a little.

Examples:

• קצת מים = a little water
• קצת סוכר = a little sugar
• קצת תירס = some corn

It is a very common everyday word.

Hebrew uses את before a definite direct object—usually one with ה־ (the) or something otherwise definite.

Here, קצת תירס is indefinite: it means some corn, not the corn.

So you do not use את.

Compare:

• תוסיפו קצת תירס = Add some corn
• תוסיפו את התירס = Add the corn

That is why את is absent here.

הילדים means the children, so it has the definite article ה־.

But חסה here means lettuce in a general sense, not the lettuce, so it does not take ה־.

So:

• הילדים = the children
• חסה = lettuce

This is similar to English, where we often say:

• the children
• don’t like lettuce

not necessarily the lettuce.

If Hebrew wanted to say the lettuce, it would be:

החסה

The subject is הילדים (the children), which is grammatically masculine plural here.

So the verb must agree with it:

• הילד אוהב = the boy likes
• הילדה אוהבת = the girl likes
• הילדים אוהבים = the children like
• הילדות אוהבות = the girls like

Because הילדים is masculine plural, Hebrew uses אוהבים.

Here, אם means if:

אם הילדים לא אוהבים חסה = if the children do not like lettuce

Yes, אם can also sometimes mean whether, depending on context.

Examples:

• אם ירד גשם, נישאר בבית = If it rains, we’ll stay home
• אני לא יודע אם הוא בא = I don’t know whether he is coming

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly if because it introduces a condition.

In everyday Hebrew, it is extremely common to express not liking with:

לא אוהב / לא אוהבת / לא אוהבים

So:

הילדים לא אוהבים חסה = the children don’t like lettuce

Hebrew does have ways to express stronger dislike, but לא אוהבים is the most natural and straightforward way to say don’t like in this context.

This is a very natural word order:

כדאי שתוסיפו קצת תירס אם הילדים לא אוהבים חסה.

It goes roughly like this:

• כדאי = recommendation
• שתוסיפו קצת תירס = what you should do
• אם הילדים לא אוהבים חסה = the condition

Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, but this version is very standard.

For emphasis, speakers might rearrange parts, but learners should treat this as a good default pattern.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

kedái she-tosífu ktsát tirás im ha-yeladím lo ohavím khasá

A few notes:

• כדאי sounds like keh-DAI
• שתוסיפו has stress on סי: to-SI-fu
• קצת is often pronounced roughly ktsat
• תירס is tee-RAS
• הילדים is ha-yela-DIM
• אוהבים is o-ha-VIM
• חסה is kha-SA

The ח in חסה is a throaty sound with no exact English equivalent.

Yes. In Hebrew, as in English, a singular noun can sometimes refer to a substance or food in a general sense.

So:

הילדים לא אוהבים חסה
means the children don’t like lettuce

It does not mean they dislike only one single lettuce head. It means lettuce as a food/category.

This is very normal with foods and materials:

• אני לא אוהב חלב = I don’t like milk
• היא אוכלת אורז = she eats rice
• הילדים לא אוהבים חסה = the children don’t like lettuce