EnglishGrade 4ages 9–10
🐱 a big cat
In Hebrew the describing word comes after the thing it describes, so a child applying that same order to English naturally says 'cat big' where English wants 'a big cat.'
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Download on the App StoreWhat your child learns
- In Hebrew the describing word comes after the thing.
- In English it comes before it, which is exactly the other way round.
- a big cat, a small cup, a hot drink. Always in that order.
- The word a comes first, before the describing word and before the noun.
The mistake most kids make here
Putting the describing word after the noun, following Hebrew word order.
Try one question
A big cat. Which order is right in English?
A big cat
- cat big
- a big cat
- big a cat the
Answer
a big cat — Yes. a, then big, then cat.
How Maya teaches it
Your child tells Maya what they did in class. She teaches this topic at her desk, asks questions with tappable answers, and when the answer is wrong she explains why that answer was tempting instead of saying “try again”. She remembers what did not land and comes back to it.
Your child has it when they can: Where does the describing word go in English, and why is it the other way round from Hebrew?
How to help at home
In English, the describing word (adjective) always comes before the noun it describes: a big cat, a small cup, a hot drink — never the other way round.
This is the reverse of Hebrew, where the describing word follows the noun, so the reversal itself is the whole mistake, not a random slip.
Practice with a simple pattern: 'a' plus describing word plus thing — a big cat, a red ball, a small dog. Say a few out loud and have your child repeat the order.
A good sign they've got it: they naturally put the describing word first without needing to stop and think about which order sounds right.
Questions parents ask
- Why does my child say 'cat big' instead of 'a big cat'?
- In Hebrew, describing words come after the noun. English reverses that order, so a child applying the Hebrew pattern lands on the opposite of what's correct in English.
- Is this mistake common for Hebrew-speaking kids specifically?
- Yes — it comes directly from the word order difference between the two languages, not from not knowing the words themselves.
- What's a simple way to practice the right order?
- Use the pattern a + describing word + noun: a big cat, a small cup. Repeating a handful of examples out loud helps the order become automatic.
- How does Maya teach this?
- Maya shows a real picture, like a big cat, and asks the child to choose the correctly ordered phrase from options, so they practice the English order directly rather than just being told the rule.
No card needed. The first lesson is free.
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Sources: English Curriculum 2020 for elementary school – Israeli Ministry of Education