הוא נשבע לומר את האמת.

Often, הוא is not strictly necessary.

In the past tense, Hebrew verbs already show the subject. נשבע by itself already means he swore. So:

• נשבע לומר את האמת = He swore to tell the truth
• הוא נשבע לומר את האמת = also He swore to tell the truth

Adding הוא can make the sentence clearer, more natural in context, or slightly more emphatic, especially if you are contrasting him with someone else.

נשבע is a past tense, 3rd person masculine singular form, meaning he swore.

It comes from the root ש-ב-ע in the Nifal pattern. In this pattern, a נ is often added at the beginning, which is why the word looks different from the bare root.

So:

• root: ש-ב-ע
• basic dictionary form / past 3ms: נשבע
• meaning: swore, took an oath

A useful comparison:

• נשבע = he swore
• השביע = he made someone swear

So the pattern matters a lot.

Because Hebrew commonly uses ל + infinitive after verbs like want, can, begin, promise, or swear.

Here:

• נשבע = swore
• לומר = to say / to tell

So נשבע לומר literally means swore to say, which in natural English is usually swore to tell.

This is very similar to English to + verb:

• He wanted to go
• He swore to tell the truth

Because אמר has an irregular infinitive.

The verb אמר means said / to say, but its infinitive is לומר, not a fully predictable form for beginners.

So you should learn it as a set:

• אמר = he said
• לומר = to say

Hebrew has a few common verbs with infinitives that are not completely obvious at first, so this is a normal thing to memorize.

את marks a definite direct object.

In this sentence, the direct object is האמת = the truth, and because it is definite, Hebrew uses את before it:

• את האמת = the truth as a direct object

Important: את usually does not have its own meaning in English. It is a grammar marker.

Compare:

• הוא אמר אמת = He said a truth / truth (unnatural in most contexts)
• הוא אמר את האמת = He told the truth

So here את is required in standard Hebrew because האמת is definite.

Because the sentence is talking about the truth, not just truth in a general sense.

• אמת = truth
• האמת = the truth

Since English also usually says tell the truth, Hebrew uses the definite form האמת.

And because it is definite, it also triggers את:

• את האמת

Yes — very good question.

The basic meaning of לומר is to say, but in some contexts English uses tell where Hebrew still uses say.

So:

• לומר את האמת literally = to say the truth
• natural English = to tell the truth

This is a translation difference, not a grammar mistake. Hebrew often uses אמר / לומר in places where English prefers tell.

Yes, in everyday Hebrew, להגיד is very common.

So you may also hear:

• הוא נשבע להגיד את האמת

This is natural in speech.

Very roughly:

• לומר can sound a bit more neutral or slightly more formal
• להגיד is very common and conversational

Both are correct here.

Modern Hebrew often uses subject + verb + rest of sentence, especially in simple statements:

• הוא נשבע לומר את האמת

That is very natural.

But Hebrew is somewhat flexible, and you may also see:

• נשבע לומר את האמת

That can sound more literary, more compact, or depend on context.

So the sentence starts with הוא because that is a very common and straightforward word order in modern Hebrew.

The verb would change to match the subject.

Examples:

• היא נשבעה לומר את האמת = She swore to tell the truth
• הם נשבעו לומר את האמת = They swore to tell the truth
• הן נשבעו לומר את האמת = They swore to tell the truth (feminine)

So the infinitive part לומר את האמת stays the same, but נשבע changes according to the subject.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• הוא = hu
• נשבע = nish-BA
• לומר = lo-MAR
• את = et
• האמת = ha-e-MET

So the whole sentence is approximately:

hu nish-BA lo-MAR et ha-e-MET

In natural speech, את is often very short and unstressed.