לא הכיבוד חשוב לה, אלא הזמן עם החברות שלה.

This is a very common Hebrew contrast pattern.

It means:

not X, but rather Y
or
it isn’t X that matters, but Y

So in this sentence:

לא הכיבוד חשוב לה, אלא הזמן עם החברות שלה.

the speaker is contrasting two things:

• הכיבוד = the refreshments / snacks
• הזמן עם החברות שלה = the time with her friends

A natural English equivalent is:

It’s not the refreshments that are important to her, but the time with her friends.

אלא is stronger and more corrective than אבל. It does not just mean but in a general sense; it means rather / instead after a negation.

Because the sentence is correcting the first idea, not just adding a contrast.

• אבל = but in a general sense
• אלא = but rather / instead, usually after a negative statement

So:

• לא הכיבוד חשוב לה, אלא הזמן...
  = It’s not the refreshments that matter to her, but rather the time...

If you used אבל, it would sound less precise here, because the structure is specifically:

• not this
• but rather that

That is exactly what לא ... אלא ... is for.

Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So:

• הכיבוד חשוב לה literally looks like the refreshments important to her
• but it means the refreshments are important to her

Likewise:

• הזמן עם החברות שלה is just a noun phrase, and the full idea is understood from the contrast structure.

Hebrew commonly leaves out is / are in present-tense sentences like this.

Compare:

• הוא עייף = He is tired
• הספר מעניין = The book is interesting
• הכיבוד חשוב לה = The refreshments are important to her

Both are possible, but they emphasize slightly different things.

הכיבוד לא חשוב לה

This is the more neutral order:

• The refreshments are not important to her.

לא הכיבוד חשוב לה, אלא...

This puts stronger focus on הכיבוד as the thing being rejected in contrast to something else. It feels like:

• It’s not the refreshments that are important to her, but...

So the sentence is built for emphasis and contrast. The fronting of הכיבוד helps set up the correction with אלא.

כיבוד usually refers to refreshments, light food, or snacks served to guests.

It is often used for things like:

• cake
• cookies
• fruit
• coffee/tea
• light treats at a meeting or gathering

So in this sentence, הכיבוד does not mean a full meal. It suggests the food or refreshments offered socially.

This is a useful cultural vocabulary word, because it appears a lot in invitations, meetings, schools, offices, and events.

Because הכיבוד means the refreshments.

The prefix ה־ is the definite article in Hebrew, like the in English.

So:

• כיבוד = refreshments / snacks
• הכיבוד = the refreshments

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific understood thing, such as the refreshments at a particular event or gathering.

חשוב means important.

לה means to her.

So חשוב לה literally means:

• important to her

This is a very common Hebrew structure. Hebrew often expresses ideas like important to me, clear to him, hard for them, etc. with an adjective plus a preposition.

Examples:

• חשוב לי = important to me
• חשוב לך = important to you
• חשוב לה = important to her

So the sentence is not using a verb like she values; instead it uses the pattern:

X חשוב ל־someone
= X is important to someone

They both refer to her, but they do different jobs.

לה

This means to her.

In חשוב לה, it shows who something is important to.

שלה

This means hers / her own.

In החברות שלה, it means her friends.

So:

• חשוב לה = important to her
• החברות שלה = her friends

This is a very common distinction in Hebrew:

• לי / לך / לו / לה = to me / to you / to him / to her
• שלי / שלך / שלו / שלה = mine / yours / his / hers

Here it means female friends.

That is because חברה can mean two different things depending on context:

• חברה = female friend
• חברה = company

The plural חברות can therefore mean:

• female friends
• companies

But in this sentence, because of הזמן עם... and the overall meaning, it clearly means friends.

Also, חברות שלה specifically suggests her female friends.

If the sentence meant mixed or male friends, you would usually expect חברים.

החברות שלה is the normal modern way to say her friends.

It is made of:

• החברות = the female friends
• שלה = hers / her

Together:

• החברות שלה = her female friends

There is also a more formal/literary possessive form:

• חברותיה = her female friends

So both can mean the same thing, but:

• החברות שלה = common in everyday modern Hebrew
• חברותיה = more formal, literary, or elevated

In spoken Hebrew, החברות שלה is much more natural.

Because חשוב agrees with the noun it describes, and in each half of the contrast the main noun is singular masculine:

• הכיבוד is masculine singular
• הזמן is also masculine singular

So חשוב is the correct form.

Compare:

• המתנה חשובה לה = The gift is important to her.
  (מתנה is feminine singular, so חשובה)

• הדברים חשובים לה = The things are important to her.
  (plural masculine, so חשובים)

• המטרות חשובות לה = The goals are important to her.
  (plural feminine, so חשובות)

In your sentence, masculine singular is exactly right.

Yes. Hebrew often leaves out repeated material when it is easy to understand.

The full expanded idea would be something like:

• לא הכיבוד חשוב לה, אלא הזמן עם החברות שלה חשוב לה.

But repeating חשוב לה would sound unnecessary, so Hebrew omits it.

This kind of omission is very common in both Hebrew and English:

• Not the food, but the company.
• Not the snacks, but the time with her friends.

The listener automatically understands the missing part from the first clause.

Yes, absolutely.

That is a very natural English rendering, and it captures the emphasis well.

Possible English versions include:

• It’s not the refreshments that are important to her, but the time with her friends.
• What matters to her is not the refreshments, but the time with her friends.
• For her, it’s not about the refreshments, but about the time with her friends.

These are slightly different in style, but they all match the Hebrew structure and meaning well.