בכל פעם שיש לנו ישיבה ארוכה, אני מביאה איתי מים ומחברת.

בכל פעם ש־ means every time that... / whenever...

It is made of:

• בכל = in every / each
• פעם = time, occasion
• ש־ = that / when

So בכל פעם שיש לנו... literally means every time that we have..., and naturally in English that is often whenever we have...

A shorter version you may also hear is כל פעם ש־, which also means every time / whenever.

Here שיש is really ש־ + יש:

• ש־ = that / when
• יש = there is / there are / have

So:

• שיש לנו ישיבה ארוכה = that we have a long meeting
• literally: that there is to us a long meeting

This is a very common Hebrew structure. Hebrew often expresses to have with יש ל־:

• יש לי = I have
• יש לך = you have
• יש לנו = we have

So שיש לנו means that we have.

In modern Hebrew, possession is usually expressed with יש ל־ rather than with a separate verb to have.

So:

• יש לי ספר = I have a book
• יש לה זמן = she has time
• יש לנו ישיבה = we have a meeting

Literally, this is something like there is a meeting to us, but you should think of it simply as the normal Hebrew way to say we have a meeting.

This is one of the first major structural differences English speakers notice in Hebrew.

Because ישיבה is a feminine noun, and adjectives in Hebrew must agree with the noun in gender and number.

• ישיבה = feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular: ארוכה

Compare:

• ספר ארוך = a long book
• ישיבה ארוכה = a long meeting

The feminine ending here is ־ה in ארוכה.

Not always. ישיבה can mean several related things depending on context, including:

• meeting
• session
• sitting
• in some contexts, yeshiva (a Jewish religious school)

In this sentence, because of ישיבה ארוכה and the overall context, it clearly means a long meeting.

So this is a good example of a Hebrew word whose exact meaning depends on context.

Because the speaker is female.

Hebrew verbs in the present tense agree with the subject in gender and number:

• אני מביא = I bring / am bringing (male speaker)
• אני מביאה = I bring / am bringing (female speaker)

So this sentence tells us the speaker is a woman or girl.

If a man were speaking, the sentence would be:

• אני מביא איתי מים ומחברת.

It is present tense, but in Hebrew the present tense can often correspond to several English possibilities depending on context:

• I bring
• I am bringing
• sometimes even a habitual sense like I usually bring

In this sentence, because it begins with בכל פעם (every time / whenever), the meaning is habitual:

• Whenever we have a long meeting, I bring water and a notebook.

So מביאה here means something like bring / usually bring.

איתי means with me.

It comes from the preposition עם (with) plus the pronoun ending for me:

• איתי = with me
• איתך = with you
• איתו = with him
• איתה = with her
• איתנו = with us

So:

• אני מביאה איתי מים ומחברת = I bring water and a notebook with me

Is it necessary? Not always.

You could say:

• אני מביאה מים ומחברת

and it would still mean I bring water and a notebook.

Adding איתי makes the idea a bit more explicit, like I bring ... along with me.

Because את marks a definite direct object, and מים and מחברת here are indefinite.

Compare:

• אני מביאה מים ומחברת. = I bring water and a notebook.
  No את, because these are not definite.

• אני מביאה את המים ואת המחברת. = I bring the water and the notebook.
  Here את is needed because the objects are definite: המים, המחברת.

So the absence of את tells you something about definiteness.

מים is one of those Hebrew nouns that is grammatically plural in form but often refers to something English treats as an uncountable mass noun: water.

So even though it ends like a plural word, it usually just means water.

A few important points:

• You normally say מים for water
• It does not mean waters in ordinary everyday usage here
• It behaves somewhat unusually because it is a very common substance noun

So in this sentence:

• מים = water

In everyday modern Hebrew, מחברת normally means notebook or exercise book.

It is true that many Hebrew words come from roots with broader meanings, and מחברת is related historically to the root ח־ב־ר, which has to do with joining or connecting. But as a vocabulary item, learners should simply know:

• מחברת = notebook

So in this sentence, it is just the ordinary word for something you write notes in.

Hebrew word order is fairly flexible, but this order is very natural.

The basic structure is:

• אני = subject
• מביאה = verb
• איתי = with me
• מים ומחברת = objects

So literally:

• I bring with me water and a notebook

English usually prefers:

• I bring water and a notebook with me

Hebrew often places a phrase like איתי earlier than English would. It sounds normal and idiomatic.

Yes, מים ומחברת is perfectly normal Hebrew coordination:

• מים = water
• ו־ = and
• מחברת = notebook

So it simply means:

• water and a notebook

You do not need וגם here.
וגם would mean and also, which adds emphasis rather than basic coordination.

Compare:

• אני מביאה מים ומחברת. = I bring water and a notebook.
• אני מביאה מים וגם מחברת. = I bring water and also a notebook.

The first version is more neutral.

The comma is natural because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause:

• בכל פעם שיש לנו ישיבה ארוכה, ...
• Whenever we have a long meeting, ...

After that opening clause, Hebrew often uses a comma before the main clause:

• אני מביאה איתי מים ומחברת.

So the punctuation here works much like in English.

Without the comma, people would probably still understand the sentence, but the comma is the standard, clearer choice.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• בכל פעם שיש לנו ישיבה ארוכה = every time / whenever we have a long meeting
• כשיש לנו ישיבה ארוכה = when we have a long meeting

In many contexts they can be very close, but בכל פעם emphasizes repetition more clearly. It strongly suggests a habitual pattern.

So if you want the idea of every time this happens, I do this, then בכל פעם ש־ is an excellent choice.