Breakdown of חברת החשמל דחתה את מועד התשלום.
את
direct object marker
לדחות
to postpone
מועד התשלוםmo'ed hatashlum
payment due date
חברת החשמלkhevrat hakhashmal
electricity utility
Questions & Answers about חברת החשמל דחתה את מועד התשלום.
Why is the first word חברת and not חברה?
Because חברת is the construct form of חברה, which means company.
In Hebrew, when two nouns are linked as X of Y, the first noun often changes form. Here:
- חברה = a company
- חברת = company of ...
So חברת החשמל literally means the company of the electricity, which is the normal Hebrew way to say the electric company or the electricity company.
This change from -ה to -ת is very common with feminine nouns in construct.
Why is there no ה on חברת if the phrase means the electric company?
Because in a Hebrew construct chain, the definiteness usually appears only on the last noun.
So:
- חברת חשמל = an electricity company
- חברת החשמל = the electricity company
Even though חברת itself does not have ה, the whole phrase becomes definite because החשמל is definite.
The same thing happens later in the sentence with מועד התשלום.
Is חברת החשמל just a description, or is it also a specific company name?