אם אין לנו הרבה זמן, לא כדאי לבזבז שעה על ויכוח קטן.

Hebrew usually expresses to have with the structure יש ל... or אין ל..., literally there is / there isn’t to....

So:

• יש לנו זמן = we have time
  literally: there is to us time
• אין לנו הרבה זמן = we don’t have much time
  literally: there isn’t to us much time

This is a very common Hebrew pattern, and English speakers usually need a little time to get used to it.

Yes, אם here means if and introduces a condition:

• אם אין לנו הרבה זמן = if we don’t have much time

That is the normal Hebrew way to start an if-clause. It works very much like English if.

כדאי is an impersonal expression meaning something like:

• it is worthwhile
• it is advisable
• it makes sense
• it’s a good idea

So לא כדאי means:

• it’s not worthwhile
• it’s not advisable
• it’s not a good idea

In this sentence, it does not mean something as strong as forbidden, and it does not mean simple physical impossibility. It is more about judgment: this would be a poor use of time.

After כדאי, Hebrew normally uses an infinitive:

• כדאי ללכת = it’s worth going
• לא כדאי לחכות = it’s not worth waiting
• לא כדאי לבזבז שעה = it’s not worth wasting an hour

The ל־ at the beginning of לבזבז is the normal marker of the infinitive in Hebrew, often corresponding to English to:

• לבזבז = to waste

לבזבז comes from the root ב־ז־ב־ז, which carries the idea of wasting or squandering.

This verb is in the pi'el pattern, which is common for many active, often intensive verbs. In dictionary form, the past masculine singular is בִּזְבֵּז = he wasted, and the infinitive is לְבַזְבֵּז = to waste.

You do not need to master all verb patterns immediately, but it is useful to recognize that לבזבז is a normal infinitive form.

Hebrew has no indefinite article. So where English says an hour, Hebrew simply says hour:

• שעה = an hour / one hour / hour, depending on context

If Hebrew wants to be especially explicit about one hour, it can say שעה אחת, but very often just שעה is enough.

So לבזבז שעה naturally means to waste an hour.

The preposition על usually means on, about, or over, depending on context.

Here it goes with the idea of spending time on something:

• לבזבז שעה על... = to waste an hour on...

So על ויכוח קטן means on a small/minor argument.

This use is very natural in Hebrew. English speakers may expect a more literal preposition, but Hebrew often uses על in places where English uses on, over, or about.

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

So:

• ויכוח קטן = a small/minor argument
  • ויכוח = argument
  • קטן = small

This is the normal word order in Hebrew:

• בית גדול = a big house
• בעיה קטנה = a small problem
• ויכוח קטן = a small argument

That is different from English, where adjectives usually come before the noun.

Because ויכוח is a masculine singular noun, the adjective must agree with it in gender and number.

So:

• masculine singular: קטן
• feminine singular: קטנה
• masculine plural: קטנים
• feminine plural: קטנות

Since ויכוח is masculine singular, the correct form is ויכוח קטן.

Not usually. In this context, קטן is being used more like:

• minor
• petty
• small-scale
• not very important

So ויכוח קטן is best understood as a minor argument or a petty argument, not something physically small.

Yes. Hebrew word order is fairly flexible, especially with an if-clause.

For example, these are both natural:

• אם אין לנו הרבה זמן, לא כדאי לבזבז שעה על ויכוח קטן.
• לא כדאי לבזבז שעה על ויכוח קטן אם אין לנו הרבה זמן.

The first version sounds very natural because it gives the condition first and then the conclusion. That is also why the comma appears after the אם clause.

Because it says לנו = to us / for us, the sentence is specifically about us:

• אם אין לנו הרבה זמן = if we don’t have much time

But לא כדאי itself is impersonal. That means the judgment is stated in a general way:

• לא כדאי לבזבז... = it’s not worth wasting...

So the sentence combines a specific condition about us with a general evaluative expression.