זה היה פיקניק פשוט, אבל כולנו אמרנו שכדאי לעשות את זה שוב בשבוע הבא.

זה היה means it was.

In this sentence, זה works like it/this, and היה is the past form of to be for masculine singular. Hebrew often uses זה in a very natural, general way at the start of sentences like this:

• זה היה טוב = It was good
• זה היה מצחיק = It was funny

Here, it introduces the situation: It was a simple picnic.

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• פיקניק פשוט = a simple picnic
• בית גדול = a big house
• ילדה נחמדה = a nice girl

Also, the adjective has to agree with the noun in gender and number. פיקניק is treated as masculine singular, so the adjective is פשוט.

If the noun were feminine, you would change the adjective too:

• מסיבה פשוטה = a simple party

Yes—it's a borrowed word, but it is completely normal in modern Hebrew.

Hebrew uses many loanwords, especially for modern everyday things. פיקניק is one of them. Even though it comes from English, it behaves like a Hebrew noun in the sentence.

So you can say things like:

• עשינו פיקניק = we had a picnic
• פיקניק גדול = a big picnic

כולנו means all of us.

It comes from כול / כל meaning all, plus the suffix -נו meaning us / our.

So:

• כולנו = all of us
• כולכם = all of you (masculine plural / mixed group)
• כולכן = all of you (feminine plural)
• כולם = all of them (masculine / mixed)
• כולן = all of them (feminine)

This is much more natural in Hebrew than saying something like כל אנחנו, which would not be correct.

אמרנו means we said.

It is the past tense, first person plural, of the verb אמר = to say.

A few past tense forms of this verb are:

• אמרתי = I said
• אמרת = you said
• אמר = he said
• אמרה = she said
• אמרנו = we said
• אמרו = they said

So כולנו אמרנו literally means all of us said.

The ש is a shortened form of that.

So:

• שכדאי = that it is worth it / that כדאי
• literally: ש
  • כדאי

This ש is extremely common in Hebrew and often attaches directly to the next word:

• אמרתי שאני עייף = I said that I am tired
• אני חושב שזה נכון = I think that it is correct

In your sentence, אמרנו שכדאי... means we said that it’s a good idea / worth it to...

כדאי is a very useful word, but it does not match one single English word perfectly.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• it’s worth it
• it’s worthwhile
• it’s a good idea
• should

In this sentence, שכדאי לעשות את זה שוב means something like:

• that it would be a good idea to do it again
• that we should do it again
• that it would be worth doing again

So כדאי often expresses recommendation or value, not strict obligation.

Because כדאי is commonly followed by an infinitive.

So:

• כדאי לעשות = it’s worth doing / it’s a good idea to do
• כדאי ללכת = it’s worth going / one should go
• כדאי לנסות = it’s worth trying

That is why you get לעשות and not a past or present form here.

There is also another common pattern:

• כדאי שנעשה את זה שוב = it’s a good idea that we do it again / we should do it again

That version uses ש + a finite verb. Both patterns are common, but כדאי + infinitive is very standard.

את marks a definite direct object.

In this sentence, זה = it/this, which is definite, so Hebrew uses את before it:

• לעשות את זה = to do it
• ראיתי את הספר = I saw the book
• פגשנו את דני = we met Danny

Important: את usually has no direct English translation. It is just a grammar marker.

You would not use את before an indefinite object:

• קניתי ספר = I bought a book
• but קניתי את הספר = I bought the book

Here זה means it.

So the sentence first says what the event was:

• זה היה פיקניק פשוט = It was a simple picnic

Then later:

• לעשות את זה שוב = to do it again

That second זה refers back to the experience or activity. In natural English, you might say do it again, and Hebrew does the same.

If you wanted, you could sometimes make it more specific, for example:

• לעשות פיקניק שוב is less natural
• לעשות עוד פיקניק = to have another picnic
• לעשות את זה שוב = to do it again

So the sentence uses a general it.

שוב means again.

So:

• לעשות את זה שוב = to do it again

Its position here is very natural in Hebrew: after the object.

Other examples:

• אני רוצה לראות את זה שוב = I want to see it again
• היא שאלה שוב = she asked again

Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, but לעשות את זה שוב is the most straightforward and natural version here.

בשבוע הבא literally means something like in the coming week.

It breaks down as:

• ב־ = in / on
• שבוע = week
• הבא = the coming / next

Together:

• בשבוע הבא = next week

This is a very common time expression in Hebrew. Similar ones are:

• בשנה הבאה = next year
• בחודש הבא = next month

Even though English just says next week, Hebrew often uses a structure that is closer to in the coming week.

Yes, אבל means but, and it works very much like English but.

Here it contrasts the two ideas:

• זה היה פיקניק פשוט = It was a simple picnic
• אבל כולנו אמרנו... = but we all said...

So the meaning is something like: it was not fancy or special, but everyone still thought it was worth repeating.

It is natural and understandable Hebrew.

A native speaker might also say similar alternatives, for example:

• זה היה פיקניק פשוט, אבל כולנו אמרנו שכדאי לחזור על זה בשבוע הבא
• זה היה פיקניק פשוט, אבל כולנו רצינו לעשות את זה שוב בשבוע הבא
• זה היה פיקניק פשוט, אבל אמרנו שצריך לעשות את זה שוב בשבוע הבא

But the original sentence is absolutely normal. It uses very common Hebrew structures:

• זה היה...
• כולנו אמרנו...
• שכדאי...
• לעשות את זה שוב...
• בשבוע הבא