הפרעוש קטן.

small

Breakdown of הפרעוש קטן.

• פרעוש: flea

Questions & Answers about הפרעוש קטן.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because Hebrew usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be.

So הפרעוש קטן literally looks like the flea small, but it means The flea is small.

This is very normal in Hebrew:

• הילד גבוה = The boy is tall
• הספר מעניין = The book is interesting

If you wanted past or future, Hebrew would usually use a form of היה:

• הפרעוש היה קטן = The flea was small
• הפרעוש יהיה קטן = The flea will be small

What does the ה־ at the beginning of הפרעוש mean?

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• פרעוש = a flea / flea
• הפרעוש = the flea

Hebrew usually attaches the directly to the noun instead of writing it as a separate word.

Why is קטן not written with ה־ too? Shouldn’t it be definite as well?