אם is the ordinary Hebrew word for if, and it opens an open condition — one that may or may not come true. Conditions the speaker knows are false ("if I were rich", "if I had known") are a different construction with different particles — אילו, לו, לולא — and belong entirely to unreal conditionals and לולא and negative counterfactuals; nothing here applies to them. The separate question of when versus if is decided on כש־ or אם?.
The tense rule is the whole page
For a condition about the future, both verbs go into the future.
אם ירד גשם, נישאר בבית ונזמין משהו.
im yeréd géshem, nisha'ér babáyit venazmín máshehu
If it rains, we'll stay in and order something.
אם המחירים ימשיכו לעלות, נחפש דירה בעיר אחרת.
im hamekhirím yamshíkhu la'alót, nekhapés dirá be'ír akhéret
If prices keep climbing, we'll look for a flat in another city.
Naming why this is hard is what fixes it. Hebrew has no rule to learn here. English is the language with the extra rule: it forbids will inside an if-clause and substitutes a present — if it *rains tomorrow, never *if it will rain tomorrow. That prohibition is a quirk of English syntax, not a fact about conditions, and Hebrew does not have it. Your job is to switch an English rule off, not to learn a Hebrew one — and once it is off, the Hebrew is obvious: the rain is in the future, so the verb is in the future.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language states the same thing from the Hebrew side, in its answer מיליות התנאי הבטל (published 31 October 2019): אם opens the conditional clause "and after it there will usually come a verb in the future".
אם ירד גשם יבוטל הטיול.
im yeréd géshem yevutál hatiyúl
If it rains the trip will be called off. (the Academy's own illustration — future in both halves)
Three kinds of real condition
The rule above is a special case of something simpler: each verb takes the tense its own event actually has. That gives three shapes.
| Kind | Condition | Main clause | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a future possibility | future | future | אם ירד גשם, נישאר בבית |
| a habit or a general truth | present | present | אם שותים קפה אחרי שבע, לא נרדמים |
| a fact I am unsure of | past | past | אם ראית אותה אתמול, למה לא אמרת? |
אם שותים קפה אחרי שבע, לא נרדמים בלילה.
im shotím kafé akharéi shéva, lo nirdamím baláyla
If you drink coffee after seven you don't fall asleep at night. (a standing generalisation — present in both halves, with the impersonal plural for English's generic 'you')
אם היא לא עונה, היא בדרך כלל בשיעור.
im hi lo oná, hi bedérekh klal beshi'úr
If she's not picking up, she's usually in class.
אם ראית אותה אתמול, למה לא אמרת לי כלום?
im ra'íta otá etmól, láma lo amárta li klum?
If you saw her yesterday, why didn't you say anything? (to a man — the condition is about a past fact I am not sure of, not about the future)
The two halves do not have to match. They match in the table because in each row both events happen to sit in the same time; when they do not, each verb still follows its own event.
אם הוא כבר שילם, אני מחזיר לו את הכסף מחר.
im hu kvar shilém, aní makhzír lo et hakésef makhár
If he's already paid, I'll give him the money back tomorrow. (m. speaker — past condition, present-for-future main clause)
אז at the front of the main clause
In speech the main clause is very often introduced by אז — literally then, and doing the same job as English then in "if you're free, then come".
אם אתה כבר בעיר, אז בוא לקפה.
im atá kvar ba'ír, az bo lekafé
If you're in town anyway, then come for a coffee. (to a man)
It is optional and spoken. Leaving it out changes nothing; writing it into a formal letter or an exam essay makes the sentence sound like talk. Its other jobs are on אז.
Clause order and the comma
Either half can come first, and the meaning does not change. What changes is the punctuation, and the Academy's punctuation rules cover it directly — §10, a clause that is not a relative clause: a comma may follow such a clause, unless it is very short; a comma does not normally precede it. A fronted condition therefore takes a comma after it, and a trailing one takes no comma in front.
אם עד יום חמישי לא נקבל תשובה, נבטל את ההזמנה.
im ad yom khamishí lo nekabél tshuvá, nevatél et hahazmaná
If we haven't heard back by Thursday, we'll cancel the booking. (fronted condition — comma after it)
אני אשלים את זה בבית אם לא נספיק היום.
aní ashlím et ze babáyit im lo naspík hayóm
I'll finish it at home if we don't get through it today. (main clause first — no comma before the אם)
The "very short" carve-out is real, and the Academy's own example of it is כשנכנסתי השתררה שתיקה בחדר — subordinate clause, main clause, no comma anywhere. Its conditional illustration אם ירד גשם יבוטל הטיול behaves the same way. How a comma behaves when it sits between two right-to-left runs is a separate, purely mechanical problem, handled on punctuation in a right-to-left line.
במידה ש and היה ו: what contracts say instead
You will meet two other conditional openers, almost only in contracts, official letters and public-administration prose. Both are worth recognising and neither is worth copying.
במידה שתחליטו לבטל, יש להודיע שבעה ימים מראש.
bemidá shetakhlítu levatél, yesh lehodía shiv'á yamím merósh
Should you decide to cancel, notice must be given seven days in advance. (contract Hebrew)
אם תחליטו לבטל, תודיעו לנו שבוע מראש.
im takhlítu levatél, todí'u lánu shavúa merósh
If you decide to cancel, let us know a week in advance. (the same instruction in ordinary Hebrew)
The Academy's position is specific rather than vague. On היה ו־ (its answer היה ו־, היות ש־, היות ו־ וביטויים קרובים, 12 May 2019): היה ו־, like במידה ו־ and similar phrases, is considered non-standard, and the word most suited to opening a conditional clause is אם. On במידה (10 January 2019) it identifies two separate faults: במידה ו־ is "not standard at all", because a subordinating ש־ has been replaced by a connecting ו־; and even במידה ש־ belongs to sentences that genuinely measure something — the more you study, the larger your vocabulary — not to conditions, where nothing is being measured. Recognise them in the register they belong to, legal and official Hebrew, and write אם.
Five worked items
| English | Hebrew | Why that tense |
|---|---|---|
| If it rains tomorrow, we'll stay home. | אם ירד גשם מחר, נישאר בבית | Both events are tomorrow's, so both verbs are future. The present in if it rains is the English ban, not a tense. |
| If you see her, tell her I called. | אם תראה אותה, תגיד לה שהתקשרתי | Seeing and telling are both future. The calling already happened, so התקשרתי stays past. |
| If you're tired, go to bed. | אם אתה עייף, לך לישון | The tiredness is happening now, so the condition is present. Reference chooses the tense, not the conjunction. |
| If he's already left, there's no point calling. | אם הוא כבר יצא, אין טעם להתקשר | An uncertain past event, so past — and a verbless main clause with אין. |
| If I don't finish by five, I'll carry on tomorrow. | אם לא אסיים עד חמש, אמשיך מחר | Both future. Note לא, not אין: a future verb is negated with לא. |
Common Mistakes
1. A present tense in the if-clause for one specific future event. The English will-ban carried straight across. The Hebrew you get is perfectly grammatical — it just says something else.
❌ אם המטוס מתאחר, אני מפספס את החתונה
if my flight is delayed I'll miss the wedding
Incorrect as a statement about tomorrow's flight — the present in both halves reads as a standing rule, 'whenever my flight is late I miss the wedding'. For one specific flight both verbs go into the future.
✅ אם המטוס יתאחר, אפספס את החתונה של אחותי.
im hamatós yit'akhér, afaspés et hakhatuná shel akhotí
If my flight is delayed I'll miss my sister's wedding.
2. Putting ש after אם. A reasonable over-generalisation: כש־, אחרי ש־, לפני ש־ and עד ש־ all carry a ש, so it gets copied onto אם. אם does not take one. On Hebrew Wikipedia, insource:/ אם שיהיה / returns 1 against 309 for insource:/ אם יהיה / (regex form, checked 17 August 2026).
❌ אם שיהיה לך זמן, תתקשר אליי
Incorrect — אם takes its clause directly, with no subordinating ש־: אם יהיה לך זמן, תתקשר אליי.
✅ אם יהיה לך זמן בסוף השבוע, תתקשר אליי.
im yihyé lekhá zman besóf hashavúa, titkashér elái
If you've got time at the weekend, give me a call. (to a man)
3. הייתי in the main clause of a real condition. English hedges plans with would — if he asks me, I would tell him — and הייתי + participle is not a hedge in Hebrew. It is the counterfactual, and it flips the sentence into a situation you are saying did not happen.
❌ אם הוא ישאל אותי, הייתי אומר לו את האמת
if he asks me I'll tell him the truth
Incorrect as a plan — הייתי + participle is the counterfactual, so this reads 'I would have told him the truth'. A real condition takes a plain future: אם הוא ישאל אותי, אגיד לו את האמת.
✅ אם הוא ישאל אותי, אגיד לו את האמת בלי להתחמק.
im hu yish'ál otí, agíd lo et ha'emét bli lehitkhamék
If he asks me, I'll tell him the truth and not dodge it. (m. speaker)
4. One masculine slip showing up twice. A conditional has two verbs in it, so addressing a woman with masculine forms goes wrong in both halves at once — and in the future tense, unlike the past, the gender is visible on the page. More on this on the two words for "you".
❌ אם את תגיע מוקדם, תחכה לי בכניסה
Incorrect — את takes the ־י ending on both verbs: אם את תגיעי מוקדם, תחכי לי בכניסה.
✅ אם את תגיעי מוקדם, תחכי לי בכניסה ליד הקופה.
im at tagí'i mukdám, tekhakí li baknisá leyád hakupá
If you get there early, wait for me at the entrance by the ticket desk. (to a woman)
Key Takeaways
- אם opens an open condition. The closed, known-false kind takes אילו, לו and לולא and is a separate construction — see unreal conditionals.
- Future reference puts a future verb in both halves: אם ירד גשם, נישאר בבית. This is an English rule to switch off, not a Hebrew rule to learn.
- The general principle behind all three types: each verb takes the tense its own event has. Habit → present in both (אם שותים קפה אחרי שבע, לא נרדמים); an uncertain past fact → past in both (אם ראית אותה אתמול); and mixed pairs are normal (אם הוא כבר שילם, אני מחזיר לו את הכסף מחר).
- אז may open the main clause and is spoken: אם אתה כבר בעיר, אז בוא לקפה. Optional, and out of place in formal writing.
- Comma after a fronted condition, none before a trailing one (Academy punctuation §10) — and §10 exempts a very short clause from the comma altogether (its own example is כשנכנסתי השתררה שתיקה בחדר), which is why אם ירד גשם יבוטל הטיול carries none either.
- במידה ש־ / במידה ו־ / היה ו־ belong to contracts. The Academy holds היה ו־ and במידה ו־ non-standard and names אם as the word properly suited to opening a conditional clause.
- אם never takes a ש: אם יהיה לך זמן, not אם שיהיה.
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- אם: If and WhetherA2 — אם does two unrelated jobs with the same three letters: it opens a real condition, אם תבוא בשמונה נספיק לאכול, and it embeds a yes-no question, שאלתי אותו אם הוא מכיר מישהו. English merges the same two jobs into if, which is why the split is invisible rather than difficult — and why האם, which looks like a stronger אם, does neither of them the same way.
- Basic Conditionals with אםA2 — Make open, real conditions with אם, using natural Hebrew tense choices, imperatives, אז, negation, and flexible clause order.
- Using the Future: Prediction, Intention, RequestA2 — One prefix conjugation covers everything English splits between will, shall, going to and the polite question — and it supplies the everyday command on top. Nothing in the form separates those readings, so this page is about what does.
- כש־ or אם?A2 — The choice is not about time, it is about what you are taking for granted: כש־ treats the event as certain and only the timing as open, אם leaves the event itself open. And both clauses take a future verb where English forces a present — which is the one thing on this page you have to unlearn rather than learn.