היא תבוא רק אחרי העבודה, כי עכשיו היא במשרד.

She will come only after work, because she is in the office now.

Breakdown of היא תבוא רק אחרי העבודה, כי עכשיו היא במשרד.

• היא: she
• עכשיו: now
• ב: in
• לבוא: to come
• כי: because
• אחרי: after
• רק: only
• עבודה: work
• משרד: office

Questions & Answers about היא תבוא רק אחרי העבודה, כי עכשיו היא במשרד.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence?

A common pronunciation is:

Hi tavo rak acharei ha-avoda, ki achshav hi ba-misrad.

A few notes:

• ח in אחרי and עכשיו is the throaty kh/ch sound, like in Bach.
• במשרד is pronounced ba-misrad here, not be-misrad, because it includes the definite article the.
• Stress is usually:
  • hi taVO
  • raK
  • achaREI
  • ha-avoDA
  • ki achSHAV
  • hi ba-misRAD

What does תבוא mean, and why does it start with ת?

תבוא is the future tense form of the verb לבוא (to come).

Here it means she will come.

Why ת-?

In Hebrew future tense, prefixes are added to the verb. For this verb:

• אבוא = I will come
• תבוא = you will come (masculine singular), or you will come (feminine singular), or she will come
• יבוא = he will come
• נבוא = we will come

So תבוא can have more than one meaning by itself, but the subject היא tells you clearly that here it means she will come.

Why is the subject היא used at the beginning if the verb already shows the person?

Hebrew often uses an explicit subject pronoun even when the verb already gives enough information.

So:

• היא תבוא = she will come
• just תבוא can also mean she will come, depending on context

Including היא makes the sentence clearer and more natural in many contexts, especially for emphasis or when introducing who is being talked about.

Why is היא repeated in the second clause: כי עכשיו היא במשרד?

Because this is a new clause, and Hebrew often states the subject again.

Also, in the second clause there is no present-tense verb for to be. So:

• היא במשרד literally looks like she in-the-office
• but it means she is in the office

Since there is no word like is, the pronoun היא becomes especially useful for making the clause complete and clear.

Why is there no word for is in היא במשרד?

In present tense, Hebrew usually does not use a separate word for am / is / are.

So:

• אני בבית = I am at home
• הוא עייף = he is tired
• היא במשרד = she is in the office

But in past and future, Hebrew does use forms of to be:

• היא הייתה במשרד = she was in the office
• היא תהיה במשרד = she will be in the office

What does רק mean here? Is it only or just?

Here רק means only or just, depending on how you translate it naturally in English.

In this sentence, היא תבוא רק אחרי העבודה means:

• She will come only after work
• or She’ll come just after work

The main idea is that after work is the earliest time when she will come.

In Hebrew, רק often comes right before the part it modifies. Here it comes before אחרי העבודה, so it mainly limits that time phrase.

Why is it אחרי העבודה and not just אחרי עבודה?

אחרי means after.

The phrase אחרי העבודה literally means after the work, but in natural Hebrew it often corresponds to English after work.

Why the ה on העבודה?

• עבודה = work
• העבודה = the work

Hebrew often uses the definite form in places where English might prefer no article. So אחרי העבודה is a very natural way to say after work.

Without the article, אחרי עבודה can sound more general or less idiomatic in many contexts.

Why does במשרד mean in the office and not just in office?

Because במשרד includes both:

• ב־ = in / at
• ה־ = the
• משרד = office

So historically it is:

ב + המשרד

These combine into במשרד.

That is why it is understood as in the office or at the office, not just in office.

This kind of contraction is very common in Hebrew:

• בבית = in the house / at home
• בספר = in the book
• במשרד = in the office

What exactly does כי mean here?

Here כי means because.

So:

• כי עכשיו היא במשרד = because she is in the office now

Be aware that כי can also mean that in other sentences, depending on context.

For example:

• אני חושב כי... can mean I think that... in formal/literary Hebrew

But in your sentence, because is the right meaning.

Can עכשיו go in a different place in the sentence?

Yes. Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible.

Your sentence has:

• כי עכשיו היא במשרד

But you may also hear:

• כי היא עכשיו במשרד
• כי היא במשרד עכשיו

These are all possible, though the emphasis can shift slightly.

The original version is very natural. Putting עכשיו early often highlights the right now / at the moment idea.

Why is there a comma before כי?

The comma separates the main clause from the reason clause:

• היא תבוא רק אחרי העבודה
• כי עכשיו היא במשרד

So the comma works much like in English before because in some sentences.

In modern Hebrew punctuation, commas are often used to make the structure clearer, especially when one clause explains another. In very short informal writing, punctuation may vary, but the comma here is completely normal.

How would this sentence change if the subject were masculine?

You would change both the pronoun and the future verb form:

• הוא יבוא רק אחרי העבודה, כי עכשיו הוא במשרד.

Changes:

• היא → הוא = she → he
• תבוא → יבוא = she will come → he will come

The rest of the sentence stays the same.

Is לבוא a regular verb?

It is a very common verb, but learners often experience it as somewhat tricky because its forms are not as transparent as the most regular verb patterns.

Its dictionary form is לבוא = to come, and its root is usually given as ב־ו־א.

Some useful forms are:

• בא = he comes / is coming
• באה = she comes / is coming
• באתי = I came
• יבוא = he will come
• תבוא = she will come

So even if you do not study all the grammar details yet, it is worth memorizing לבוא as a very high-frequency verb with forms you will see all the time.