בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה.

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.

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.

Because the definite article ה־ is absorbed into the preposition ב־.

Here is what is happening:

• ב־ = in
• הסמטה = the alley

When they combine, Hebrew writes: בסמטה

So בסמטה here really means in the alley, not just in an alley.

In fully pointed Hebrew, you would see the effect more clearly, but in normal unpointed writing it simply appears as בסמטה.

Because in Hebrew, when a noun is definite, its adjective also becomes definite.

So:

• סמטה קטנה = a small alley
• הסמטה הקטנה = the small alley
• בסמטה הקטנה = in the small alley

Even though the ה־ of the is absorbed into ב־ on the noun, the adjective still shows definiteness normally, so you get הקטנה.

This is a very important Hebrew pattern: definite noun + definite adjective

ליד is a preposition meaning next to / beside / near.

So:

• ליד = next to / beside
• הבית = the house
• ליד הבית = next to the house

A common learner mistake is to want another preposition before הבית, but you do not add one here. ליד already functions as the preposition.

So it is:

• ליד הבית = correct
• not ליד לבית

Because in Hebrew, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• מזרקה ישנה = an old fountain
• מזרקה שקטה = a quiet fountain
• מזרקה ישנה ושקטה = an old and quiet fountain

This is the normal order in Hebrew, unlike English, where adjectives usually come before the noun.

Because מזרקה is a feminine singular noun, and the adjectives must agree with it.

So:

• מזרקה = feminine singular
• ישנה = feminine singular adjective
• שקטה = feminine singular adjective

This is called agreement.

If the noun were masculine singular, the adjectives would usually look different, for example:

• בית ישן ושקט = an old, quiet house

If it were feminine singular, as in your sentence:

• מזרקה ישנה ושקטה

Because this noun phrase is indefinite: it means a fountain, not the fountain.

So:

• מזרקה ישנה ושקטה = an old, quiet fountain
• המזרקה הישנה והשקטה = the old, quiet fountain

In Hebrew, if the noun is definite, the adjectives also become definite. If the noun is indefinite, the adjectives stay indefinite too.

That is why you see:

• בסמטה הקטנה = definite
• מזרקה ישנה ושקטה = indefinite

It can mean either one in unpointed Hebrew spelling, depending on context.

• יְשָׁנָה = old (feminine singular)
• יְשֵׁנָה = sleeping / asleep (feminine singular)

Without vowel marks, both are written ישנה.

In your sentence, because it describes מזרקה and is paired with ושקטה, the meaning is clearly old, not sleeping.

This kind of ambiguity is normal in unpointed Hebrew, and context usually makes the meaning clear.

Because the Hebrew word for and is usually a prefix attached directly to the following word.

So:

• ו = and
• ושקטה = and quiet

This is completely normal in Hebrew. The conjunction is not usually written as a separate word the way English writes and.

Yes. That version is also grammatical.

The difference is mostly about focus and style:

• בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה
  starts with the location, so it feels like the speaker is first setting the scene.

• יש מזרקה ישנה ושקטה בסמטה הקטנה ליד הבית
  starts with the existence of the fountain, so it feels a bit more direct.

Both are natural, but the original version gives slightly more emphasis to where the fountain is.

Yes, it works together as one larger location phrase.

You can break it down like this:

• בסמטה = in the alley
• הקטנה = small
• ליד הבית = near the house

So the whole phrase means: in the small alley near the house

Inside that phrase:

• הקטנה describes סמטה
• ליד הבית gives extra information about where that alley is

So the structure is:

[in the small alley near the house] [there is] [an old, quiet fountain]