הפרעוש קטן.

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

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.

Not in this kind of sentence.

In הפרעוש קטן, קטן is a predicate adjective. It describes the subject after it, like small in The flea is small. Predicate adjectives in Hebrew do not usually take ה־.

Compare:

• הפרעוש קטן = The flea is small
  Here קטן is the predicate.

• הפרעוש הקטן = the small flea
  Here הקטן directly modifies the noun, so it does take ה־.

This is an important difference:

• noun + adjective with no verb idea: the small flea
• noun + predicate adjective: the flea is small

Because it has to agree with פרעוש in gender and number.

פרעוש is masculine singular, so the adjective is also masculine singular:

• קטן = masculine singular

Other forms would be:

• קטנה = feminine singular
• קטנים = masculine plural
• קטנות = feminine plural

So if the noun were feminine, you would need a different form:

• הנמלה קטנה = The ant is small

In Hebrew, grammatical gender is part of each noun and often just has to be learned along with the word.

There are patterns that help, but they are not perfect. For פרעוש, the correct gender is masculine, and that is why the adjective is קטן.

A good habit is to learn new Hebrew nouns together with:

• their meaning
• their gender
• maybe one example sentence

For example:

• פרעוש — flea — masculine

The sentence uses a very common Hebrew pattern:

definite noun + adjective/predicate

So:

• הפרעוש = the subject
• קטן = what is being said about the subject

This is the normal way to say The flea is small.

Hebrew can sometimes change word order for style, emphasis, or literary effect, but for a basic sentence, הפרעוש קטן is straightforward and natural.

A common modern Israeli pronunciation is roughly:

ha-par-OSH ka-TAN

More carefully:

• הפרעוש ≈ ha-par-osh
• קטן ≈ ka-tan

The stress is usually on the last syllable of each word:

• parOSH
• kaTAN

If you want a more detailed transliteration, you might write:

• ha-par'osh katan

The letter ע in פרעוש is often very weak or silent in modern Israeli Hebrew, though historically it was a consonant.

With niqqud (vowel marks), it would typically be written:

הַפַּרְעוֹשׁ קָטָן

In everyday modern Hebrew, vowel marks are usually omitted, so you normally see:

הפרעוש קטן

Learners often find the unpointed version harder at first, but this is the standard way real Hebrew texts are written.

Usually here, yes.

קטן often means:

• small
• little
• sometimes young or minor, depending on context

In this sentence, the natural meaning is small:

• הפרעוש קטן = The flea is small

So although Hebrew words can have a range of meanings, small is the right choice here.

No. It means something different.

• הפרעוש קטן = The flea is small
• הפרעוש הקטן = the small flea

The first is a complete sentence.
The second is just a noun phrase.

So if you are describing the flea with a full statement, use:

• הפרעוש קטן

If you are naming or referring to a particular flea that is small, use:

• הפרעוש הקטן