אני שמה את חומר הניקוי במזווה, כדי שהילדים לא ייקחו אותו.

Because the speaker is female.

In the present tense, Hebrew verbs agree with gender and number. With the verb לשים (to put):

• אני שם = I put / I am putting if the speaker is male
• אני שמה = I put / I am putting if the speaker is female

So שמה tells you that the person speaking is a woman or girl.

In other contexts, yes, שמה can mean there / to there. But in this sentence it is clearly the verb puts.

Why?

Because it comes right after אני and is followed by a direct object:

• אני שמה את חומר הניקוי... = I put the cleaning product...

If it meant there, the sentence structure would be different.

Sometimes Hebrew can drop subject pronouns, but in the present tense it often keeps them, because the present-tense form usually does not show person clearly.

For example, שמה can mean:

• I am putting if the subject is אני
• she is putting if the subject is understood as היא

So אני is helpful here because it makes it clear that the meaning is I put / I’m putting, not she puts.

את marks a definite direct object. It does not have a direct English translation.

Here, חומר הניקוי is the thing being put somewhere, so it is the direct object. Since it is definite, Hebrew uses את before it.

Compare:

• אני שמה חומר ניקוי = I put cleaning product / a cleaning product
• אני שמה את חומר הניקוי = I put the cleaning product

So את is a grammar marker, not a word you usually translate separately.

Because this is a construct chain in Hebrew.

חומר הניקוי literally works like the material of the cleaning, but naturally it means the cleaning product / cleaning agent / detergent.

In a construct chain:

• the first noun usually does not take ה
• the second noun can carry the definiteness for the whole phrase

So:

• חומר ניקוי = cleaning material / a cleaning product
• חומר הניקוי = the cleaning material / the cleaning product

That is why you do not say החומר הניקוי here.

Literally, it means something like the cleaning substance/material.

In normal English, depending on context, you might translate it as:

• the cleaning product
• the detergent
• the cleaning supplies (in some contexts, though this phrase is singular in Hebrew)

So even though the Hebrew is built from חומר (material/substance) + ניקוי (cleaning), the natural meaning is simply a cleaning product.

The ב preposition (in) attaches directly to the noun, so it is written as one word:

• ב + מזווה = במזווה

In unpointed modern Hebrew writing, במזווה can represent either:

• in a pantry
• in the pantry

If the noun is definite, Hebrew often merges the preposition with ה:

• ב + המזווה becomes במזווה in normal spelling

So the exact English choice, a pantry or the pantry, depends on context. In this sentence, in the pantry is probably the most natural translation.

כדי ש־ means so that or in order that. It introduces a purpose clause.

So:

• כדי שהילדים לא ייקחו אותו = so that the children won’t take it

This tells you the reason for the action in the first part of the sentence:

• I put the cleaning product in the pantry
• so that the children won’t take it

It is more specifically about purpose than a simple word like because would be.

After כדי ש־, Hebrew normally uses the future form.

So even though English says:

• so that the children don’t take it
• or so that the children won’t take it

Hebrew uses the future:

• שהילדים לא ייקחו אותו

Also, ייקחו agrees with הילדים because the subject is plural.

The verb comes from לקחת (to take), and ייקחו means they will take or, in this kind of sentence, they might take / would take depending on the context.

אותו means him or it, and here it means it.

It refers back to חומר הניקוי, which is a masculine singular noun. That is why the pronoun is also masculine singular:

• חומר = masculine singular
• אותו = it/him for a masculine singular noun

So:

• לא ייקחו אותו = they won’t take it

If the noun were feminine singular, you would use אותה instead.