המשפט הזה קצר, אבל התרגום שלו לא כל כך פשוט.

Here is a word-for-word breakdown:

• המשפט — the sentence
• הזה — this
• קצר — short
• אבל — but
• התרגום — the translation
• שלו — of it / its / his
• לא — not
• כל כך — so / that / all that
• פשוט — simple

So the structure is roughly:

• המשפט הזה קצר — this sentence is short
• אבל התרגום שלו לא כל כך פשוט — but its translation is not so simple / not that simple

In Hebrew, demonstratives like this and that usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• המשפט הזה = this sentence
• literally, something like the sentence this

This is the normal Hebrew pattern:

• הספר הזה — this book
• הילד הזה — this boy

That can feel backward to an English speaker, but it is standard Hebrew word order.

This is a normal Hebrew feature often called double definiteness.

In Hebrew, when you say this/that + noun, the noun is definite, and the demonstrative is also in its definite form:

• המשפט הזה — this sentence
• הספר הזה — this book
• הילדה הזאת — this girl

So Hebrew does not say a structure equivalent to sentence this without definiteness. The noun takes ה־, and the demonstrative also appears as הזה / הזאת / האלה, etc.

Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not expressed in the present tense.

So:

• המשפט הזה קצר literally looks like this sentence short
• but it means this sentence is short

This is completely normal in Hebrew. Compare:

• הוא עייף — he is tired
• היא בבית — she is at home
• התרגום פשוט — the translation is simple

In past and future, Hebrew does use forms of to be when needed, but in the present tense it is usually omitted.

Because משפט is a masculine singular noun, and adjectives must agree with the noun they describe.

So:

• משפט — masculine singular
• therefore קצר — masculine singular adjective form

If the noun were feminine, you would usually use קצרה instead:

• הפסקה קצרה — the paragraph is short / a short paragraph

In this sentence:

• המשפט הזה קצר
• both the noun and adjective are masculine singular

For the same reason: פשוט describes התרגום, and תרגום is also masculine singular.

So:

• התרגום — masculine singular
• פשוט — masculine singular adjective

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:

• הגרסה פשוטה — the version is simple

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

התרגום שלו means its translation here.

Literally, it is:

• התרגום — the translation
• שלו — of it / its / his

So the phrase is literally the translation of it.

Hebrew often expresses possession with של plus a pronoun:

• שלי — mine / my
• שלך — yours / your
• שלו — his / its
• שלה — hers / its

Since the sentence is talking about the translation of the sentence, Hebrew uses שלו to refer back to המשפט.

That is a very common question.

In Hebrew, the same possessive form can refer to a masculine singular noun, whether that noun is a person or a thing.

So שלו can mean:

• his
• its for a masculine noun

Since משפט is a masculine noun, שלו refers back to it naturally.

So in this sentence, שלו does not mean a male person owns the translation. It simply means its, referring to the sentence.

Because we are talking about a specific translation: the translation of this sentence.

Hebrew often uses the definite article in this kind of context because the thing being discussed is identifiable:

• התרגום שלו — its translation / the translation of it

Using תרגום שלו without ה would sound less natural here, because the meaning is not some translation of it, but rather the translation of this particular sentence.

לא כל כך פשוט literally means not so simple, but in natural English it often means:

• not that simple
• not all that simple
• not so straightforward

The phrase כל כך is an intensifier meaning so / that much.

Examples:

• זה לא כל כך קשה — it’s not that hard
• הוא לא כל כך צעיר — he’s not that young

So here, לא כל כך פשוט does not mean the translation is impossible. It means it is less simple than it may seem.

Yes. Both are possible.

• התרגום שלו — its translation
• התרגום של המשפט הזה — the translation of this sentence

The version with שלו is shorter and avoids repeating המשפט הזה. The version with של המשפט הזה is more explicit.

So Hebrew, like English, can choose between:

• a pronoun: its translation
• a full noun phrase: the translation of this sentence

Yes, that alternative is possible.

Both of these can be heard:

• לא כל כך פשוט
• לא פשוט כל כך

They are very close in meaning. The version in your sentence, לא כל כך פשוט, is very common and natural.

A rough feeling difference is that:

• לא כל כך פשוט presents not that simple as one unit
• לא פשוט כל כך can sound slightly more like not simple to that degree

But in everyday use, the difference is usually small.

Yes. A comma before אבל is very common, just as a comma before but is common in English when it connects two clauses.

Here the sentence has two parts:

• המשפט הזה קצר
• אבל התרגום שלו לא כל כך פשוט

So the comma helps mark the contrast clearly:

• This sentence is short, but its translation is not that simple.

It is normal punctuation.