אני לא יודע אם האוטובוס יבוא בזמן.

I don't know if the bus will come on time.

Breakdown of אני לא יודע אם האוטובוס יבוא בזמן.

• אני: I
• לא: not
• לדעת: to know
• לבוא: to come
• אוטובוס: bus
• אם: if
• בזמן: on time

Questions & Answers about אני לא יודע אם האוטובוס יבוא בזמן.

How do you pronounce אני לא יודע אם האוטובוס יבוא בזמן?

A common transliteration is:

Ani lo yodea im ha-otobus yavo bazman.

Approximate stress:

• a-NI
• lo
• yo-DE-a
• im
• ha-o-to-BUS
• ya-VO
• baz-MAN

If the speaker is female, יודע changes, so you would hear Ani lo yoda'at...

Why is there no separate word for do in I do not know?

Hebrew does not use English-style do-support. In English, we say I do not know. In Hebrew, you simply say:

אני לא יודע = I not know

That is the normal way to make a present-tense negative sentence. So even though it looks shorter than the English structure, it is completely natural Hebrew.

Why is it יודע and not יודעת?

Because יודע is the masculine singular form.

So:

• אני לא יודע = said by a male speaker
• אני לא יודעת = said by a female speaker

Hebrew present-tense forms often agree with the subject in gender and number.

What exactly does אם mean here?

Here אם means whether / if in an indirect yes-no question:

• I don't know if/whether the bus will come on time

It is the same Hebrew word that can also mean conditional if, as in If it rains..., but the context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence, it clearly means whether.

Why is יבוא in the future tense?

יבוא is the future tense form of לבוא = to come.

It is used because the speaker is talking about something that has not happened yet: the bus coming on time.

So:

• יבוא = he/it will come

Since האוטובוס is singular and masculine in Hebrew, יבוא matches it.

What form is יבוא exactly?

יבוא is third person masculine singular future.

That means it matches a subject like:

• הוא = he
• האוטובוס = the bus
  because אוטובוס is treated as masculine singular

So the grammar is:

• האוטובוס יבוא = the bus will come

Why does האוטובוס have ה־ at the beginning?

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• אוטובוס = a bus / bus
• האוטובוס = the bus

Hebrew attaches the article directly to the noun, even with borrowed words like אוטובוס.

What does בזמן mean here, and why is it pronounced bazman?

In this sentence, בזמן means on time.

It is commonly pronounced bazman.

This is helpful to know because the spelling can look confusing at first. Historically, this form comes from ב + הזמן, so the article is absorbed into the word. That is why you get the ba- sound even though you do not see a separate ה.

So:

• יבוא בזמן = will come on time

Do not confuse this with other expressions such as בזמן ש־, which means while.

Where does לא usually go in a sentence like this?

לא normally comes before the word or clause it negates.

Here it negates יודע, so:

• אני לא יודע = I don't know

This placement is very standard in Hebrew:

• subject + לא
  • verb/form

So the order in this sentence is completely normal.

Can אני be omitted here?

Yes, especially in conversation.

A speaker might naturally say:

לא יודע אם האוטובוס יבוא בזמן

and mean:

I don't know if the bus will come on time

However, the full version with אני is clearer and more neutral, especially for learners.

One reason is that present-tense forms like יודע show gender and number, but not person as clearly as English pronouns do, so context matters more when the subject is omitted.

Could I use האם instead of אם?

Usually, after a verb like יודע, אם is the most natural everyday choice for whether:

• אני לא יודע אם...

You may sometimes see האם in more formal writing, but אם is the normal choice here.

So for this sentence, אם is exactly what most learners should use.