Breakdown of אלמלא מדד האופטומטריסט את המרחק בין האישונים, העדשות לא היו מתאימות.
לא
not
את
direct object marker
להיות
to be
למדוד
to measure
Questions & Answers about אלמלא מדד האופטומטריסט את המרחק בין האישונים, העדשות לא היו מתאימות.
What does אלמלא mean here?
אלמלא means had it not been for... / if ... had not.... It introduces a counterfactual condition: something did happen, and the sentence says what the result would have been if it had not happened.
So:
אלמלא מדד האופטומטריסט...
= Had the optometrist not measured...
This is a fairly formal/literary word in modern Hebrew.
Why is מדד in the past tense?
Because the sentence is talking about a completed action in the past: the optometrist measured the distance.
מדד = he measured
In Hebrew past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number:
- מדד = he measured
- מדדה = she measured
- מדדו = they measured
Since האופטומטריסט is treated as masculine singular, מדד is the correct form.
Why is there את before המרחק?