בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה.

In the small alley near the house there is an old and quiet fountain.

Breakdown of בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה.

• בית: house
• קטן: small
• יש: there is
• ו: and

Questions & Answers about בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה.

What does יש mean here, and why isn’t there a separate word for is?

יש means there is / there are. It is used to show that something exists somewhere.

So יש מזרקה means there is a fountain.

Hebrew usually does not use a present-tense verb meaning is/am/are the way English does. In this kind of sentence, יש does the job of expressing existence.

So the structure is basically:

[place] + יש + [thing]

In this sentence: בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה = In the small alley near the house, there is an old, quiet fountain.

Why does the sentence begin with בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית instead of starting with יש?

Hebrew often puts the location first when setting the scene.

So both of these are possible in Hebrew:

• בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה
• יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית

They are both grammatical, but the first one sounds a bit more like: In the small alley near the house, there is...

Putting the place first makes the setting feel more immediate or more emphasized.

Why is בסמטה translated as in the alley even though I don’t see ה on סמטה?