הוא ניחש נכון, אבל לפני זה הוא היסס כמה שניות וביקש עוד רמז.

ניחש is the past tense, 3rd person masculine singular form of the verb לנחש (to guess).

So:

• הוא ניחש = he guessed
• dictionary form: לנחש

This matches the subject הוא (he).

A few related forms:

• אני ניחשתי = I guessed
• היא ניחשה = she guessed
• הם ניחשו = they guessed

In ניחש נכון, נכון literally means correct/right, but here it functions like an adverb: correctly.

Hebrew often uses an adjective where English would use an adverb.

So:

• ניחש נכון = guessed correctly
• literally: guessed correct

This is very natural in Hebrew. You do not need a special adverb ending like English -ly.

Hebrew past tense verbs already show the subject, so ניחש נכון can indeed mean he guessed correctly without הוא.

But adding הוא is common when:

• you want to make the subject explicit
• you are starting a sentence
• you want clearer or slightly more natural storytelling flow

So both can work:

• ניחש נכון = he guessed correctly
• הוא ניחש נכון = he guessed correctly

The version with הוא sounds very normal here.

אבל לפני זה means but before that.

Breakdown:

• אבל = but
• לפני = before
• זה = this / that

Together, לפני זה is a very common spoken way to say before that.

A slightly more formal alternative is:

• לפני כן = before that / beforehand

So:

• אבל לפני זה = natural, common, conversational
• אבל לפני כן = also correct, a bit more formal or written

In the sentence, we get:

• הוא ניחש נכון
• אבל לפני זה הוא היסס...

Hebrew often repeats the subject after a phrase like אבל לפני זה to restart the clause clearly.

English does this too sometimes:

• He guessed right, but before that, he hesitated...

Technically, Hebrew could sometimes omit the second הוא, but keeping it sounds clearer and more natural here.

So the repeated הוא is not strange—it helps structure the sentence.

היסס means hesitated.

It is the past tense, 3rd person masculine singular form of להסס (to hesitate).

So:

• הוא היסס = he hesitated

Other examples:

• היא היססה = she hesitated
• הם היססו = they hesitated

This is a useful verb for situations where someone pauses because they are unsure.

In English, you say he hesitated for a few seconds.
In Hebrew, the duration often appears without a preposition.

So:

• היסס כמה שניות = hesitated for a few seconds

Literally, it looks like:

• hesitated a few seconds

This is a normal Hebrew way to express duration.

Other similar examples:

• חיכיתי שעה = I waited an hour
• ישן שתי דקות = he slept two minutes

So the missing for is completely normal.

Here כמה שניות means a few seconds / several seconds.

The word כמה can mean different things depending on context:

• כמה שניות? = how many seconds?
• הוא חיכה כמה שניות = he waited a few seconds

In a statement like this one, it usually means a few / several.

So in this sentence it is not a question—it is just giving an approximate amount of time.

שניות is the plural of שנייה (second).

• singular: שנייה
• plural: שניות

שנייה is a feminine noun, which is why the plural ending is -ות.

That said, after כמה, Hebrew often does not show gender agreement as clearly as with numbers, so learners mainly need to recognize that שניות is simply the plural noun seconds.

Here עוד רמז means another hint or one more hint.

עוד is a very flexible word. It can mean:

• more
• another
• still
• yet

In this sentence, the meaning is:

• ביקש עוד רמז = he asked for another hint / one more hint

So עוד here is not still. It means an additional one.

The verb לבקש means to ask for / request.

So:

• ביקש רמז = asked for a hint
• ביקש עוד רמז = asked for another hint

English often needs ask for, but Hebrew usually just uses לבקש directly with the thing requested.

Compare:

• ביקש מים = asked for water
• ביקש עזרה = asked for help
• ביקש עוד רמז = asked for another hint

So there is no extra word needed for for.

Yes. The ו at the start of וביקש is the conjunction and.

So:

• היסס כמה שניות וביקש עוד רמז
• he hesitated for a few seconds and asked for another hint

In Hebrew, attaching ו directly to the next word is standard:

• ו+ביקש = וביקש

It simply links the two past actions:

1. he hesitated
2. he asked for another hint

It is fairly similar to English, though Hebrew word order is more flexible.

This sentence goes roughly like this:

• הוא ניחש נכון
• אבל לפני זה
• הוא היסס כמה שניות
• וביקש עוד רמז

That is very natural Hebrew narrative style: subject + verb + details.

Hebrew can sometimes move elements around more freely than English, but this sentence uses a straightforward order that is easy for learners to follow.

You would change the verb forms to feminine singular where needed:

• היא ניחשה נכון, אבל לפני זה היא היססה כמה שניות וביקשה עוד רמז.

Changes:

• הוא → היא
• ניחש → ניחשה
• היסס → היססה
• ביקש → ביקשה

The rest stays the same.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Hu nichesh nakhon, aval lifnei ze hu hisses kama shniyot u-vikesh od remez.

A few notes:

• הוא = hu
• ניחש = ni-khesh (the ch is like the sound in German Bach)
• נכון = na-khon
• לפני = lif-nei
• היסס = hi-ses
• שניות = shni-yot
• ביקש = vi-kesh or bi-kesh depending on speech rhythm, because the ו here is and
• רמז = re-mez

If you want, I can also break the whole sentence down word by word with stress marks.