העולם גדול.

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Breakdown of העולם גדול.

• עולם: world

Questions & Answers about העולם גדול.

How do you pronounce העולם גדול?

It is usually pronounced ha-olam gadol.

A rough breakdown:

• העולם = ha-olam
• גדול = gadol

Stress:

• ha-o-LAM
• ga-DOL

In modern Hebrew, the letter ע in העולם is often not strongly pronounced by many speakers, so the word sounds close to ha-olam.

Why is there a ה at the beginning of העולם?

The ה is the Hebrew definite article, equivalent to English the.

So:

• עולם = world
• העולם = the world

Unlike English, Hebrew usually attaches the directly to the beginning of the word instead of writing it as a separate word.

Where is the word is?

In Hebrew, the present tense usually does not use a separate word for is / am / are.

So:

• העולם גדול literally looks like the world big
• but it means the world is big

This is completely normal Hebrew grammar.

In other tenses, Hebrew does use other forms:

• העולם היה גדול = the world was big
• העולם יהיה גדול = the world will be big