לתחתית ולדופן יש אותו עובי.

there is

Breakdown of לתחתית ולדופן יש אותו עובי.

• אותו: same
• דופן: wall of a vessel
• תחתית: base; bottom

Questions & Answers about לתחתית ולדופן יש אותו עובי.

Why does Hebrew use יש here instead of a normal verb meaning have?

Because Hebrew usually expresses possession with the pattern:

ל־ + possessor + יש + thing possessed

So the sentence is literally structured like:

To the bottom and to the side, there is the same thickness.

That is how Hebrew normally says the bottom and the side have the same thickness.

This is very common in Hebrew:

• יש לי ספר = I have a book
• literally: There is a book to me

So in your sentence, יש is not strange at all; it is the standard way to say have.

What does the prefix ל־ mean in לתחתית and לדופן?

Here ל־ marks the possessor, not direction.

In many contexts, ל־ can mean to or for, but with יש it often means something like has when translated into English.

So:

• לתחתית יש... = the bottom has...
• לדופן יש... = the side has...

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice: Hebrew does not usually say X has Y with a special verb like English does.

Why is the ל־ repeated before both nouns? Why not just one ל־?