זה תינוק קטן, והוא מחזיק צעצוע כחול.

Hebrew usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be.

So where English says This is a small baby, Hebrew naturally says זה תינוק קטן without a separate word for is.

This is very normal in simple present-tense sentences:

• הוא ילד = he is a boy
• היא עייפה = she is tired

Here זה is the masculine singular form of this.

In a sentence like זה תינוק קטן, it functions like this is when English would use a present-tense form of to be.

Because תינוק is masculine, זה is the natural form here. With a feminine noun, you would usually use זאת or זו:

• זאת תינוקת קטנה

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• תינוק קטן = baby small
• צעצוע כחול = toy blue

The adjective also has to agree with the noun in gender, number, and definiteness.

In this sentence, both nouns are masculine singular, so the adjectives are masculine singular too:

• קטן
• כחול

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:

• תינוקת קטנה
• בובה כחולה

תינוק is grammatically masculine. It is often used as the general word for baby, but if you want to make it clearly feminine, Hebrew commonly uses תינוקת.

So for a baby girl, you would normally say:

• זאת תינוקת קטנה, והיא מחזיקה צעצוע כחול.

Notice that the pronoun and adjective also change:

• זאת
• קטנה
• היא מחזיקה

ו־ means and, so והוא means and he.

The pronoun הוא is included because Hebrew present-tense verb forms do not clearly show person the way English verbs do. The form מחזיק tells you masculine singular, but by itself it does not always tell you whether the subject is he, you, or I in context.

So והוא מחזיק clearly means:

• and he is holding

מחזיק is the masculine singular present-tense form of להחזיק, which means to hold or to keep.

Present-tense forms change for gender and number:

• מחזיק = masculine singular
• מחזיקה = feminine singular
• מחזיקים = masculine plural
• מחזיקות = feminine plural

Because the subject here is הוא, מחזיק is the correct form.

Because את is used only before a definite direct object.

Here, צעצוע כחול means a blue toy, not the blue toy, so it is indefinite. That is why there is no את.

Compare:

• הוא מחזיק צעצוע כחול = he is holding a blue toy
• הוא מחזיק את הצעצוע הכחול = he is holding the blue toy

Hebrew does not have an indefinite article like English a or an.

So:

• תינוק can mean a baby
• צעצוע can mean a toy

If something is definite, Hebrew usually adds ה־:

• התינוק = the baby
• הצעצוע = the toy

It would be:

זה התינוק הקטן, והוא מחזיק את הצעצוע הכחול.

There are two important changes:

• The definite article ה־ appears on both the noun and the adjective:

  • התינוק הקטן
  • הצעצוע הכחול

• Because the blue toy is now a definite direct object, Hebrew also uses את:

  • מחזיק את הצעצוע הכחול

A rough pronunciation is:

• צעצוע ≈ tsa-a-tsu-a
• כחול ≈ ka-KHOL

Two common learner points:

• In צעצוע, the letter ע is often very weak in modern Israeli Hebrew, so the word can sound like several vowels in a row.
• In כחול, the strong kh sound comes from ח, not from the first letter כ.

Because the first clause is identifying someone, while the second clause is referring back to him.

• זה תינוק קטן = this is a small baby
• והוא מחזיק צעצוע כחול = and he is holding a blue toy

So זה points something out, while הוא is the normal pronoun he. This switch is very natural in Hebrew.