אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם?

Can you see the store there?

Breakdown of אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם?

• אתה: you
• שם: there
• חנות: store
• לראות: to see
• את: direct object marker
• להיות יכול: to be able

Questions & Answers about אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם?

How do I pronounce this sentence?

A common transliteration is Ata yakhol lir'ot et ha-khanut sham?

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Ata = ah-TA
• yakhol = ya-KHOL
• lir'ot = leer-OT
• et = et
• ha-khanut = ha-kha-NOOT
• sham = sham

The kh/ch sound in yakhol and khanut is the throaty sound heard in German Bach or Scottish loch.

Why is אתה used? Could Hebrew leave out you here?

אתה means you when speaking to one male.

Hebrew can sometimes leave out subject pronouns, but here אתה is very helpful because יכול by itself does not show person in the present tense.
So יכול could mean:

• I can if the speaker is male
• you can to one male
• he can

Because of that, Hebrew often keeps the pronoun in sentences like this to make the subject clear.

What exactly is יכול?

יכול literally means able and is the word Hebrew uses in this kind of sentence for can.

So:

• אתה יכול = you can / you are able to

It changes for gender and number:

• אתה יכול = to one male
• את יכולה = to one female
• אתם יכולים = to a group of males or a mixed group
• אתן יכולות = to a group of females

Why is לראות in that form?

After יכול, Hebrew uses the infinitive form of the next verb.

So:

• יכול לראות = can see
• literally: able to see

The ל- at the start of לראות is part of the infinitive form, similar to English to see.

What is את doing here? Does it mean you?

Here, את does not mean you.

In this sentence, את is the direct object marker. It is pronounced et, and it appears before a definite direct object.

So:

• את החנות = the store as the direct object of see

It usually is not translated into English.

Compare:

• אני רואה את החנות = I see the store
• אני רואה חנות = I see a store

In the second sentence, there is no את because חנות is indefinite.

Why is it החנות and not a separate word for the store?

Hebrew usually adds the as a prefix, ה-, attached directly to the noun.

So:

• חנות = store / a store
• החנות = the store

Because החנות is definite, it takes the direct object marker את before it in this sentence.

What does שם mean here? Doesn’t שם also mean name?

Yes, שם can mean either there or name.

Here it means there or over there. Context makes that clear.

So in this sentence:

• החנות שם = the store there / the store over there

If someone said:

• מה השם שלך? that שם would mean name.

How does Hebrew turn this into a question?

Hebrew usually makes a yes/no question by using intonation or a question mark, not by adding a word like English do.

So the statement:

• אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם.

becomes the question:

• אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם?

The word order stays the same.

A more formal style can add האם at the beginning:

• האם אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם?

Is the word order fixed?

The sentence uses a very normal, neutral word order:

subject + יכול + infinitive + object + place word

So:

• אתה | יכול | לראות | את החנות | שם

Hebrew does allow some flexibility, but changing the order can change the emphasis. For example:

• אתה יכול לראות שם את החנות? puts there a bit earlier
• את החנות שם אתה יכול לראות? sounds more marked or emphatic

For a learner, the original order is the safest and most natural one to use.

Would the sentence change if I were speaking to a woman or to several people?

Yes. Hebrew changes the forms to match the person you are speaking to.

• to one man: אתה יכול לראות את החנות שם?
• to one woman: את יכולה לראות את החנות שם?
• to several men or a mixed group: אתם יכולים לראות את החנות שם?
• to several women: אתן יכולות לראות את החנות שם?

The main changes are in the pronoun and in יכול.

Is אתה יכול לראות... always about ability, or can it sound like a request?

In this sentence, it most naturally asks about ability or possibility:
Can you see the store there?

That fits especially well with a verb like see.

With other verbs, אתה יכול... can sometimes sound like a polite request, similar to English can you... For example:

• אתה יכול לעזור לי? = Can you help me?

But with לראות, it usually sounds like a real question about whether the person is able to see something.