המועמדת השנייה חייכה ואמרה שהראיון הזה קצר יותר ממה שחשבה.

המועמדת means the female candidate.

Two useful parts are packed into this one word:

• ה- = the
• -ת often marks a feminine singular noun

So:

• מועמד = a male candidate / candidate (masculine form)
• מועמדת = a female candidate
• המועמדת = the female candidate

In this sentence, the subject is specifically a woman, so the feminine form is used.

השנייה means the second and it must agree with המועמדת in:

• gender: feminine
• number: singular
• definiteness: definite

Since מועמדת is feminine singular and definite, the adjective/ordinal must match it:

• שני / שניים = two / two (masculine forms in other contexts)
• שני is not the right form here
• שני/שנייה as an ordinal gives second
• השנייה = the second (feminine singular definite)

Also note that in Hebrew, adjectives and ordinal numbers usually come after the noun:

• המועמדת השנייה = the second candidate

Because in Hebrew, when a noun is definite and it is followed by an adjective, the adjective is usually definite too.

So:

• מועמדת שנייה = a second candidate
• המועמדת השנייה = the second candidate

This is different from English, where only the appears once. In Hebrew, definiteness is typically shown on both the noun and its adjective.

חייכה is the past tense, feminine singular form of the verb לחייך (to smile).

So:

• הוא חייך = he smiled
• היא חייכה = she smiled

Since the subject is המועמדת (female candidate), the verb must match that feminine singular subject.

ו- means and, so:

• אמרה = she said
• ואמרה = and she said

Again, אמרה is the past feminine singular form, matching המועמדת.

So the sequence is:

• חייכה = she smiled
• ואמרה = and said / and she said

Hebrew often does not repeat the subject pronoun היא (she) if the verb form already makes it clear.

Here ש- means that.

So:

• אמרה שהראיון... = she said that the interview...

This ש- is a very common Hebrew connector meaning that, which, or that/when depending on context.

In this sentence, it introduces what she said:

• she said that the interview is shorter...

In Hebrew, demonstratives like this usually come after the noun.

So:

• הראיון הזה = this interview

Not:

• הזה הראיון ✗

Also notice:

• ראיון is a masculine singular noun
• so the demonstrative is הזה / actually in this phrase just הזה? Wait carefully: the sentence has הראיון הזה, where הזה is the masculine singular form of this
• for a feminine noun, you would use הזאת or זו in many contexts

Examples:

• הספר הזה = this book
• הילדה הזאת = this girl

So הראיון הזה is the normal Hebrew word order for this interview.

קצר יותר means shorter.

Hebrew often makes comparisons with:

• יותר = more
• adjective + יותר = more + adjective / adjective-er in English

So:

• קצר = short
• קצר יותר = shorter / more short

Then Hebrew adds מ- for than:

• קצר יותר מ... = shorter than...

So the structure is:

• הראיון הזה קצר יותר... = this interview is shorter...

A key point: קצר is masculine singular because it describes הראיון (the interview), which is masculine singular.

Because קצר describes הראיון (the interview), not המועמדת (the candidate).

Hebrew adjectives agree with the noun they describe, not necessarily with the main subject of the whole sentence.

Here:

• המועמדת = feminine singular
• הראיון = masculine singular

So:

• verbs referring to the candidate are feminine:
  • חייכה
  • אמרה
  • חשבה
• the adjective referring to the interview is masculine:
  • קצר

ממה שחשבה means something like than what she thought or than she thought.

This part can be broken down as:

• מ- = than / from
• מה = what
• ש- = that / which
• חשבה = she thought

Together:

• יותר ממה שחשבה = more/shorter than what she thought

In smoother English, we usually just say:

• shorter than she thought

This is a very common Hebrew comparison pattern:

• יותר ממה ש...
• פחות ממה ש...
• adjective/comparative + ממה ש...

Examples:

• זה קל יותר ממה שחשבתי = It’s easier than I thought.
• החדר גדול יותר ממה שציפינו = The room is bigger than we expected.

Because Hebrew often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb form already shows who the subject is.

חשבה by itself already means she thought.

So Hebrew does not need:

• שהיא חשבה in this sentence

although in some contexts Hebrew can include היא for emphasis or clarity.

Here, the feminine singular verb ending makes the subject clear, so שחשבה is perfectly natural.

חשבה is the past tense, feminine singular form of לחשוב (to think).

So:

• הוא חשב = he thought
• היא חשבה = she thought

It matches the same female subject, המועמדת.

This is one nice feature of the sentence: you can clearly see feminine singular agreement across several verbs:

• חייכה = she smiled
• אמרה = she said
• חשבה = she thought

It is a very standard and natural way.

The pattern יותר ממה ש... is extremely common in modern Hebrew for comparisons such as:

• bigger than I expected
• easier than we thought
• shorter than she imagined

Hebrew speakers sometimes use slightly different phrasing in different registers, but for learners, this structure is one of the most useful and natural to know:

• [adjective] יותר ממה ש...

So this sentence is a very good model to learn from.