מנעול הצירופים הוא לא מנעול תלייה.

he

Breakdown of מנעול הצירופים הוא לא מנעול תלייה.

• לא: not
• מנעול צירופים: combination lock
• מנעול תלייה: padlock

Questions & Answers about מנעול הצירופים הוא לא מנעול תלייה.

Why is מנעול הצירופים translated as the combination lock and not lock of the combinations?

Because this is a construct chain in Hebrew, called סמיכות.

• מנעול = lock
• הצירופים = the combinations

When two nouns are put together this way, the first noun is understood as belonging to or being defined by the second noun. So:

• מנעול הצירופים literally looks like lock of the combinations
• but in natural English it means the combination lock

This is very common in Hebrew. English often uses X of Y, Y X, or a special compound noun, depending on what sounds natural.

Examples:

• בית ספר = school, literally house of book
• כרטיס אשראי = credit card, literally card of credit

So here, מנעול הצירופים is just the normal Hebrew way to say combination lock.

Why does מנעול not have ה־ if the phrase means the combination lock?

Because in a construct chain, the first noun usually does not take the definite article directly.

So even though the whole phrase is definite, the definiteness is shown on the second noun:

• מנעול הצירופים = the combination lock
• not המנעול הצירופים

In other words, when the second noun is definite, the whole chain becomes definite.

Compare:

• מנעול צירופים = a combination lock
• מנעול הצירופים = the combination lock

This is a very important pattern in Hebrew grammar.