השבב קטן.

The microchip is small.

Breakdown of השבב קטן.

• קטן: small
• שבב: microchip

Questions & Answers about השבב קטן.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not written in the present tense.

So השבב קטן is literally something like the chip small, but it means the chip is small.

This is very normal Hebrew:

• הילד עייף = The boy is tired
• הבית גדול = The house is big

In the past or future, Hebrew does use forms of to be.

What does the ה at the beginning of השבב mean?

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

So:

• שבב = a chip / chip
• השבב = the chip

It is attached directly to the front of the noun, instead of being written as a separate word.

How do I pronounce השבב קטן?

A rough pronunciation is:

ha-shevAV kaTAN

A few helpful points:

• השבב = roughly ha-shevav
• קטן = roughly katan
• In both words, the stress is on the last syllable

Since the sentence is written without vowel marks, learners usually have to know the pronunciation from vocabulary or context.