Хоча часник маленький, він свіжий.

Хоча means although, though, or even though.

It introduces a subordinate clause that gives a contrast:

Хоча часник маленький = Although the garlic is small
він свіжий = it is fresh

So the whole sentence has a concessive meaning: one fact is true despite another fact.

Because Хоча часник маленький is a subordinate clause, and Ukrainian normally separates that clause from the main clause with a comma.

So the structure is:

Хоча часник маленький, + він свіжий

This is very similar to English punctuation in a sentence like Although it is small, it is fresh.

In Ukrainian, the present-tense form of to be is usually omitted in simple sentences like this.

So:

він свіжий literally looks like it fresh, but it means it is fresh
часник маленький literally looks like garlic small, but it means the garlic is small

This is completely normal in Ukrainian.

If you wanted past or future, then forms of бути would appear:

він був свіжий = it was fresh
він буде свіжий = it will be fresh

Because Ukrainian pronouns agree with the grammatical gender of the noun.

часник is a masculine noun, so the matching pronoun is він.

That does not mean garlic is male in any real-world sense. It is just grammatical gender.

For inanimate nouns, Ukrainian still uses:

• він for masculine nouns
• вона for feminine nouns
• воно for neuter nouns

So here він means it, not he in the natural-gender sense.

Because both adjectives agree with часник.

часник is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjectives also appear in the masculine singular nominative form:

• маленький
• свіжий

If the noun were feminine, the forms would change. For example:

цибуля маленька, вона свіжа = the onion is small, it is fresh

In this sentence, він is normally needed.

Because Ukrainian omits the present-tense is, the pronoun helps make the second clause complete:

він свіжий = it is fresh

Without він, the sentence would usually sound incomplete or unnatural in neutral speech.

If you want to avoid repeating the subject, a more natural restructuring would be:

Часник маленький, але свіжий = The garlic is small but fresh

The basic meaning of часник is garlic.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• garlic as a food in general
• a garlic bulb/head
• garlic being discussed as a particular item

Because the sentence says маленький, it often feels like we are talking about a particular piece or bulb of garlic.

If you specifically mean a clove of garlic, Ukrainian often says зубчик часнику.

Yes, you can.

Adding але gives:

Хоча часник маленький, але він свіжий

This is understandable and used by many speakers, especially for extra emphasis. But very often але is omitted, because хоча already expresses the contrast.

So the version in your sentence is neat and fully natural:

Хоча часник маленький, він свіжий.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English word order.

For example, you could also say:

Він свіжий, хоча часник маленький.

That still means basically the same thing, but the emphasis changes. Your original sentence puts the concessive idea first, so it highlights the contrast from the start.

Because Ukrainian does not have articles.

So часник can mean:

• garlic
• the garlic
• sometimes a garlic bulb/head

The exact interpretation depends on context, not on an article.

That is why Ukrainian learners of English have to learn when to use a and the, and English speakers learning Ukrainian have to get used to not seeing them at all.