Time adverbs are among the first words you need and among the last you stop getting wrong, because several of them are not really adverbs at all — they are nouns wearing a definite article. This page covers the core inventory and the article trap. How often something happens is on frequency; the already / still / yet system, including כבר, has its own page at כבר, עדיין, עוד.
The inventory, in three groups
| Days around today | Points in time | Vaguer |
|---|---|---|
| הַיּוֹם — today | עַכְשָׁיו — now | בְּקָרוֹב — soon |
| אֶתְמוֹל — yesterday | כָּרֶגַע — right now, at the moment | לָאַחֲרוֹנָה — lately |
| מָחָר — tomorrow | מִיָּד — immediately | פַּעַם — once, formerly |
| שִׁלְשׁוֹם — the day before yesterday | תֵּכֶף — in a moment | בֵּינְתַיִים — meanwhile |
| מָחֳרָתַיִים — the day after tomorrow | אָז — then | עוֹד מְעַט — shortly |
היום אני עובד מהבית, מחר אני במשרד.
hayóm aní ovéd mehabáyit, makhár aní bamisrád
Today I'm working from home; tomorrow I'm in the office. (m. speaker)
אתמול חיכיתי לך שעה, ושלשום לא הגעת בכלל.
etmól khikíti lekhá sha'á, veshilshóm lo higáta bikhlál
Yesterday I waited an hour for you, and the day before you didn't turn up at all. (to a man)
מחרתיים יש לי בחינה, אז אני לא זז מהבית.
makhoratáyim yesh li bkhiná, az aní lo zaz mehabáyit
The day after tomorrow I've got an exam, so I'm not moving from the house. (m. speaker)
insource:/…/ regex, 15 August 2026). This page prints what you will actually meet.עכשיו אני לא יכול לדבר, אני מתקשר בעוד רבע שעה.
akhsháv aní lo yakhól ledabér, aní mitkashér be'ód réva sha'á
I can't talk right now — I'll ring you in a quarter of an hour. (m. speaker)
תכף אנחנו יוצאים, תתארגני.
tékhef anákhnu yots'ím, titargení
We're leaving in a minute — get yourself sorted. (to a woman)
תתקשר אליי מיד כשתנחת.
titkashér elái miyád kshetinkhát
Call me the moment you land. (to a man)
לאחרונה הוא לא עונה לטלפונים, אני קצת דואגת.
la'akharoná hu lo oné latelefoním, aní ktsat do'éget
He hasn't been answering his phone lately; I'm a bit worried. (f. speaker)
פעם היה כאן בית קפה, עכשיו זה בנק.
pá'am hayá kan beit kafé, akhsháv ze bank
There used to be a café here; now it's a bank.
Half of them are nouns with an article
Look at היום again: it is the article הַ־ sitting on יוֹם, "the day". הערב is "the evening", הלילה is "the night", השבוע is "the week", הקיץ is "the summer". Hebrew is doing with the article exactly what English does with this: this morning, this week, this summer. The whole pattern is worked through on ה־ in time expressions.
Once you see that, the split falls out. ה־ gives you this one; ב־ gives you in one, habitually — and because ב־ swallows the article (בְּ plus הַ comes out as בַּ), the two forms are one letter apart.
| With ה־ — this one | With ב־ — in / at, generally |
|---|---|
| הַבּוֹקֶר — this morning | בַּבּוֹקֶר — in the morning |
| הָעֶרֶב — this evening, tonight | בָּעֶרֶב — in the evening |
| הַלַּיְלָה — tonight | בַּלַּיְלָה — at night |
| הַשָּׁבוּעַ — this week | בַּשָּׁבוּעַ שֶׁעָבַר — last week |
| הַקַּיִץ — this summer | בַּקַּיִץ — in summer |
הבוקר קמתי בשש, ואני בדרך כלל לא קם בבוקר לפני שמונה.
habóker kámti beshésh, va'aní bedérekh klal lo kam babóker lifnéi shmóne
This morning I got up at six, and I don't usually get up before eight. (m. speaker; both words in one sentence)
הערב יש משחק, אבל אני בדרך כלל עייף מדי בערב.
ha'érev yesh miskhák, avál aní bedérekh klal ayéf midáy ba'érev
There's a match on tonight, but I'm usually too tired in the evening.
Why you cannot read the article off English
This is the point at which learners want a rule of the form "English in → Hebrew ב־ with no article". There isn't one, because Hebrew puts a permanent article on a class of nouns English leaves bare.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language sets this out in its answer מה ידוע על היידוע (retrieved from a Wayback snapshot of 23 June 2025). Listing the nouns that are definite as a matter of course — unique national institutions, world-spanning entities, the media — it adds the seasons: כך הן גם עונות השנה (קר בַּחורף וחם בַּקיץ וכדומה), "so are the seasons of the year (it's cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and so on)". Earlier in the same answer it makes the comparison explicit: Hebrew says בַּחורף and בַּקיץ, "the ה of definiteness being swallowed by the preposition ב", where English says in winter, in summer.
So the article is there in Hebrew and absent in English, and you cannot see it in the spelling either, because it has fused into the ב. בקיץ is not "in summer" plus nothing; it is ba- — "in the summer".
בקיץ אי אפשר לישון בלי מזגן, ובחורף אי אפשר לצאת בלי מעיל.
bakáyits i efshár lishón bli mazgán, uvakhóref i efshár latsét bli me'íl
In summer you can't sleep without air conditioning, and in winter you can't go out without a coat. (bakáyits, uvakhóref — the article is inside the preposition)
Where a time adverb sits
Two positions, both completely ordinary. Front it and you set the frame for the sentence; put it at the end and it is one more piece of information.
מחר אני נוסע לחיפה, אז בוא ניפגש היום.
makhár aní noséa lekhéifa, az bo nipagésh hayóm
Tomorrow I'm off to Haifa, so let's meet today. (to a man; fronted מחר sets the topic)
אני נוסע לחיפה מחר, אם זה מסתדר לך.
aní noséa lekhéifa makhár, im ze mistadér lekhá
I'm going to Haifa tomorrow, if that works for you. (to a man; same sentence, information order)
Common Mistakes
1. Adding a preposition Hebrew does not want. Your textbook drilled בבוקר and בערב first, so ב־ starts to feel like the mark of a time expression. On מחר, היום and אתמול it is not.
❌ אני נוסע לחיפה במחר
Incorrect as 'tomorrow' — מחר takes no preposition: אני נוסע לחיפה מחר.
❌ אני עסוק בהיום
Incorrect as 'today' — היום already contains its article and needs nothing in front of it: אני עסוק היום.
✅ אני עסוק היום, אבל מחר אני פנוי כל אחר הצהריים.
aní asúk hayóm, avál makhár aní panúy kol akhár hatsohoráyim
I'm busy today, but tomorrow I'm free all afternoon. (m. speaker)
2. Using בבוקר for "this morning". The commonest single error on this page, and it produces a perfectly good sentence about your habits instead of about today.
❌ בבוקר קמתי מאוחר ואיחרתי לעבודה
Incorrect as 'this morning' — בבוקר means 'in the mornings'. This morning is הבוקר: הבוקר קמתי מאוחר ואיחרתי לעבודה.
✅ הבוקר קמתי מאוחר ואיחרתי לעבודה.
habóker kámti me'ukhár ve'ikhárti la'avodá
I got up late this morning and was late for work.
3. Writing the article out beside ב־. Once you know הערב contains an article, the temptation is to keep it visible when the preposition arrives. ב־ has already absorbed it.
❌ נדבר בהערב
Incorrect — ב־ and הַ־ fuse: the spelling is בערב, pronounced ba'érev.
✅ נדבר בערב, עכשיו אני באמצע משהו.
nedabér ba'érev, akhsháv aní be'emtsá máshehu
We'll talk this evening — I'm in the middle of something right now.
4. Building "the day before yesterday" out of parts. English needs four words; Hebrew has one, and the assembled version does not work.
❌ הגעתי לפני אתמול
Incorrect as 'the day before yesterday' — that is a single word, שלשום: הגעתי שלשום.
✅ הגעתי שלשום, ועוד לא הספקתי לפרוק את המזוודה.
higáti shilshóm, ve'ód lo hispákti lifrók et hamizvadá
I got in the day before yesterday and haven't managed to unpack yet.
Key Takeaways
- Core inventory: היום, אתמול, מחר, שלשום, מחרתיים for days; עכשיו, כרגע, מיד, תכף, אז for points; בקרוב, לאחרונה, פעם, בינתיים for the vaguer end.
- Several are nouns carrying the definite article — היום, הערב, הלילה, השבוע, הקיץ — where English uses this.
- That creates the split you must learn: הבוקר = this morning, בבוקר = in the morning, and the same split runs through הערב and בערב, הלילה and בלילה, הקיץ and בקיץ.
- The article distribution cannot be read off English. The Academy lists the seasons among the permanently definite nouns: קר בַּחורף וחם בַּקיץ against in winter, in summer.
- Time adverbs front the sentence to set a frame (מחר אני נוסע לחיפה) or sit at the end as ordinary information (אני נוסע לחיפה מחר). Both are natural.
- מחר, היום and אתמול take no preposition at all.
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- כבר, עדיין, עוד: Already, Still, YetA2 — English needs four words here — already, still, yet, any more — and Hebrew needs three plus לא. The Hebrew word does not change when the polarity flips: כבר is already and כבר לא is not any more, עדיין is still and עדיין לא is not yet.
- ה־ in Time Expressions (השבוע, היום, בבוקר)B1 — A whole set of everyday Hebrew adverbs is just a noun with ה־ on it: היום is literally 'this day'. Put ב in front and the article fuses invisibly, which is why הבוקר and בבוקר are one letter and one whole meaning apart — and why the seasons carry an article English speakers never see.
- Time Expressions and Frequency PhrasesA2 — לפני שנתיים is two years ago and בעוד שנתיים is two years from now — the single most useful minimal pair in Hebrew time vocabulary, and the one English speakers get wrong with a grammatical sentence. Plus תוך against במשך, the מדי family, and how elastic תכף really is.
- Frequency: תמיד, בדרך כלל, לפעמים, אף פעםA2 — A ladder from always to never, plus the two things that trip English speakers on it: אף פעם is not 'never' but 'ever', so it cannot stand without לא, and פעם is feminine, so 'three times' is שלוש פעמים with the bare numeral.
- Where an Adverb Goes in a Hebrew SentenceB2 — Hebrew has a neutral order — subject, verb, object, manner, place, time — and then lets you break it far more freely than English does. What the freedom costs you is that every departure from the neutral order signals something, so position is information structure rather than decoration.