In short

Hebrew has one article and it means “the”. You make any noun definite by gluing the prefix ה־ (ha-) onto its front, with no space: בית (bayit, “a house”) becomes הבית (ha-bayit, “the house”). There is no word for “a/an” — a bare noun already carries the indefinite meaning, so ספר (sefer) on its own is “a book”.

The one twist is that the little prepositions ב־ (be-, “in”), כ־ (ke-, “as/like”) and ל־ (le-, “to/for”) swallow the article when they meet it: they keep their letter but take over the article’s a-vowel, and the ה disappears in writing. So “in the house” is not בהבית but בבית (ba-bayit). The preposition מ־ (me-, “from”) is the exception that does not fuse.

The rule

• Definite = prefix ה־, attached with no space. ה־ is never a stand-alone word. Write הילדה (ha-yalda, “the girl”), הספר (ha-sefer, “the book”) — one unbroken word. A space (ה ילדה) is a spelling error.
• There is no indefinite article. Hebrew has nothing for English “a/an”. The bare noun does that job: בית (bayit) = “a house”, ילד (yeled) = “a boy”. You only ever add something (ה־) to go from “a N” to “the N”; you never add anything to get “a”.
• The reading is “ha” almost everywhere. Before an ordinary consonant it is ha- with a doubling of that consonant (הבית ha-bayit, הספר ha-sefer). Before the gutturals א ע ה ח ר the vowel just lengthens — הארץ (ha’aretz, “the land”), העיר (ha-ir, “the city”) — but in everyday speech you still simply say “ha”. Careful/literary Hebrew shifts a handful of guttural words to a he- reading (ההרים, literary he-harim, “the mountains”), yet Israelis normally read ha throughout; learn ha as your default.
• ב / כ / ל fuse with the article. When one of these one-letter prepositions is put in front of a definite noun, the ה is absorbed: the preposition keeps its letter, takes the a-vowel, and the ה is dropped from the spelling. ב + הבית → בבית (ba-bayit, “in the house”); ל + הילד → לילד (la-yeled, “to the boy”); כ + הרגיל → כרגיל (ka-ragil, “as usual”). You write one prefix letter plus the noun without its ה.
• מ does NOT fuse. The preposition מ־ (“from”) keeps the ה visible: מ + הבית → מהבית (me-ha-bayit, “from the house”). Do not drop the ה here.
• Unvocalized forms can be ambiguous. Because Modern Hebrew is written without vowels, בבית can be read be-vayit (“in a house”, indefinite) or ba-bayit (“in the house”, definite) — the a-vowel that marks “the” is invisible. Context decides which one is meant.

Forms & patterns

Indefinite → definite (just prefix ה־):

Before gutturals (א ע ה ח ר) — still read “ha” in speech:

Fusion into ב / כ / ל — the ה is absorbed, its a-vowel jumps onto the preposition:

Indefinite vs. definite after a preposition (same spelling, different vowel):

Examples

Common mistakes

• ה בית -> הבית - ה־ is a prefix, not a word; attach it with no space (ha-bayit).
• אני רוצה א קפה -> אני רוצה קפה - Hebrew has no article “a”; the bare noun קפה already means “a coffee”. Don’t invent a word for “a/an”.
• בהבית -> בבית - after ב the article is absorbed; never write both ב and ה. It reads ba-bayit (“in the house”).
• להילד -> לילד - same fusion with ל: ל + הילד → לילד (la-yeled), the ה drops.
• כהרגיל -> כרגיל - כ also swallows the article: ka-ragil (“as usual”).
• מבית (for “from the house”) -> מהבית - מ does not fuse; keep the ה. מבית = mi-bayit (“from a house”), מהבית = me-ha-bayit (“from the house”).

Tips

• Reflex to build: to say “the N”, glue ה־ on the front; to say “a N”, change nothing — the noun is already indefinite.
• Say “ha” by default, in speech, even before gutturals (הארץ ha’aretz, העיר ha-ir). The literary he- reading (ההרים he-harim) is optional polish, not the everyday form.
• With ב / כ / ל, write one prefix letter + the noun without ה, and pronounce the a-vowel: בבית (ba-bayit), לילד (la-yeled), כרגיל (ka-ragil).
• Remember the odd one out: מ keeps the ה — מהבית (me-ha-bayit), not מבית.
• Since nothing is vocalized, treat בבית / לעיר as two-way: context tells you “in a house / in the house”. If you must be unambiguous, rephrase or rely on the surrounding words.
• The wrong-letter traps still apply: keep א vs ע and ח vs כ distinct — הארץ (ha’aretz) with א, not with ע.
• Definiteness later spreads onto adjectives (הבית הגדול, ha-bayit ha-gadol) and triggers the object-marker את (et) — but that comes in lessons 7 and 15. Here, just master the ה־ itself and its fusion.