יש דבק בקלמר הכחול?

יש is the Hebrew existential word meaning there is / there are.

Hebrew usually does not use a present-tense word for to be the way English does. So instead of literally saying something like glue is in the blue pencil case, Hebrew uses יש to express existence or presence:

• יש דבק = there is glue
• יש ספרים = there are books

So in this sentence, יש is doing the job of there is.

No. יש stays the same for both singular and plural.

For example:

• יש דבק = there is glue
• יש עיפרון = there is a pencil
• יש עפרונות = there are pencils

So you do not need a different form of יש for there is versus there are.

In Hebrew, a yes/no question often has the same word order as a statement. The main clues are:

• the question mark in writing
• rising intonation in speech

So יש דבק בקלמר הכחול? is a normal way to ask a question.

Hebrew can also use האם at the beginning for a more formal yes/no question:

• האם יש דבק בקלמר הכחול?

But in everyday speech, האם is often omitted.

Because ב־ is a prefix preposition meaning in, and in Hebrew it attaches directly to the following word.

So:

• ב־ = in
• קלמר = pencil case
• בקלמר = in a / in the pencil case

This is very normal in Hebrew. Other common one-letter prefixes work the same way, such as:

• ל־ = to / for
• כ־ = as / like

After certain prefix prepositions, including ב־, the definite article ה־ is usually absorbed.

So the underlying idea is:

• הקלמר = the pencil case
• ב + הקלמר = in the pencil case

But in normal Hebrew spelling this becomes בקלמר.

In other words, the the is still there grammatically, but it is merged into the preposition.

By itself, unpointed בקלמר can be ambiguous in writing. It could mean either:

• in a pencil case
• in the pencil case

What makes it clear here is the adjective הכחול.

In Hebrew, if the noun is definite, the adjective must also be definite. So:

• קלמר כחול = a blue pencil case
• הקלמר הכחול = the blue pencil case

Since the sentence has הכחול, the noun phrase must be definite, so בקלמר הכחול means in the blue pencil case.

Because Hebrew adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So Hebrew says:

• קלמר כחול = literally pencil case blue
• הקלמר הכחול = literally the pencil case the-blue

That is the normal Hebrew pattern, even though English puts the adjective first.

In Hebrew, adjectives must match the noun in definiteness.

So:

• קלמר כחול = a blue pencil case
• הקלמר הכחול = the blue pencil case

You cannot normally mix them like this:

• הקלמר כחול for the blue pencil case ✘

In your sentence, the noun is definite, so the adjective also has to be definite: הכחול.

Because קלמר is a masculine singular noun, and the adjective has to agree with it in gender and number.

So the masculine singular form is:

• כחול = blue

If the noun were feminine singular, the adjective would usually be:

• כחולה

For example:

• המחברת הכחולה = the blue notebook

So הכחול is used because קלמר is masculine singular.

Here דבק is being used as an indefinite mass noun, just like glue in English.

English usually says:

• Is there glue...?
• or Is there any glue...?

not usually Is there the glue...? unless you mean a specific glue already known to both speakers.

Hebrew works the same way:

• יש דבק...? = Is there glue? / Is there any glue?
• יש הדבק...? would mean something more like Is the glue there...? or Is there the glue...?, referring to specific glue already identified.

So the bare form דבק is the natural choice here.