בבוקר השמיים היו מעוננים, אבל עכשיו יש שמש ונוצה לבנה על המרפסת.

Because one ב is the preposition ב־ meaning in, and the other is the first letter of בוקר (morning).

Also, in phrases like in the morning, Hebrew often combines ב־ with the definite article ה־. So historically/grammatically this is like:

• ב־ + הבוקר → בבוקר

In fully pointed Hebrew, בבוקר could represent either:

• בַּבֹּקֶר = in the morning
• בְּבֹקֶר = in morning / in a morning

Without vowel marks, both are written the same way.

Hebrew often uses a real noun as the subject where English uses dummy it.

So instead of saying:

• It was cloudy

Hebrew commonly says:

• The sky was cloudy
• literally here: השמיים היו מעוננים

That is very natural Hebrew. English also allows The sky was cloudy, but English more often uses It was cloudy.

Because השמיים (the sky / the heavens) is grammatically plural-looking in Hebrew, and it normally takes plural agreement.

So:

• השמיים = subject
• היו = were (plural past form)
• מעוננים = cloudy / overcast (plural adjective)

Literally, the structure is:

• the skies were cloudy

Even though English usually says the sky in the singular, Hebrew uses שמיים and treats it as plural for agreement.

It means cloudy or overcast, and it is related to ענן, meaning cloud.

So you can think of מעוננים as something like:

• cloud-covered
• cloudy

In this sentence it is masculine plural, because it agrees with השמיים.

יש means there is / there are.

So:

• עכשיו יש שמש = Now there is sun / sunshine

Hebrew uses יש to express existence or presence. This is very common.

A key point for learners: Hebrew usually does not use a normal present-tense verb for to be. So instead of a word meaning is here, Hebrew uses יש to say that something is present or available.

That is why this part feels more like:

• Now there’s sunshine than
• Now it is sunny

Both are fine as English translations, but the Hebrew structure is the first one.

Because Hebrew has no indefinite article. There is no separate word for a/an.

So:

• שמש can mean sun or sunshine
• נוצה לבנה means a white feather

If something is definite, Hebrew adds ה־:

• המרפסת = the balcony
• השמיים = the sky

But for an indefinite noun, Hebrew usually just uses the bare noun.

In this sentence, שמש is best understood as sunshine or sun in the sense of sunny weather.

So:

• עכשיו יש שמש usually means now it’s sunny or now there’s sunshine

It does not mainly mean there exists a sun, because that would sound strange in context.

A useful contrast:

• השמש = the sun (the actual sun)
• יש שמש = there is sun/sunshine

In standard modern Hebrew, שמש is usually treated as feminine when it refers to the sun.

For example:

• השמש חמה = the sun is hot

But in this sentence, you do not actually see gender agreement, because יש שמש has no adjective or past-tense verb agreeing with שמש.

So for understanding this sentence, the important point is simply that יש שמש means there is sunshine / it’s sunny.

Because Hebrew adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

• נוצה = feather (feminine singular)
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular
• לבנה = white (feminine singular)

So:

• נוצה לבנה = a white feather

If the noun were masculine singular, you would use לבן instead.

Because not all prepositions behave the same way.

The short prepositions:

• ב־ = in
• כ־ = as/like
• ל־ = to/for

often attach directly to the noun and merge with the definite article ה־.

That is why:

• ב + הבוקר → בבוקר

But על is a separate full word, not one of those attached prepositions. So the article stays visible:

• על המרפסת = on the balcony

So this difference is normal:

• בבוקר
• על המרפסת

The most natural reading is that it describes נוצה לבנה:

• a white feather on the balcony

So the sentence is understood as:

• Now there is sunshine, and there is a white feather on the balcony

In theory, prepositional phrases can sometimes be ambiguous, but here most readers will naturally connect על המרפסת with the feather.