אם אתם כבר בעיר, אתם יכולים לקנות קפה ולבוא למשרד.

If you (plural) are already in the city, you can buy coffee and come to the office.

Breakdown of אם אתם כבר בעיר, אתם יכולים לקנות קפה ולבוא למשרד.

• קפה: coffee
• ו: and
• ב: in
• עיר: city
• ל: to
• לקנות: to buy
• לבוא: to come
• להיות יכול: to be able
• כבר: already
• משרד: office
• אם: if
• אתם: you (plural)

Questions & Answers about אם אתם כבר בעיר, אתם יכולים לקנות קפה ולבוא למשרד.

What does אם mean here?

Here אם means if and introduces a condition:

אם אתם כבר בעיר... = If you’re already in town/the city...

A native English speaker may also see אם used to mean whether in other sentences, but in this sentence it is clearly if.

Why is there no Hebrew word for are in אם אתם כבר בעיר?

Because in present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted.

So:

• אתם בעיר literally looks like you in the city
• but it means you are in the city

This is completely normal in Hebrew. Compare:

• הוא עייף = He is tired
• הם בבית = They are at home

Hebrew usually uses an actual form of to be only in past or future, not in the present.

What does אתם mean, exactly?

אתם means you when speaking to:

• more than one person, and
• a masculine group or a mixed-gender group

So this sentence is addressed to you all / you guys / you plural.

If the speaker were talking to an all-female group, it would be אתן instead of אתם.

Why is אתם repeated twice?

Because the sentence has two parts:

1. אם אתם כבר בעיר = if you are already in town
2. אתם יכולים לקנות קפה ולבוא למשרד = you can buy coffee and come to the office

So the second אתם starts the main clause.

Also, יכולים by itself only tells you plural masculine, not specifically you versus they. So אתם יכולים makes the subject clear: you can.

In English, repeating you like this can feel unnecessary, but in Hebrew it is natural.

What does כבר add to the sentence?

כבר usually means already.

Here it gives the sense of:

• if you’re already in town
• since you’re already there anyway

So it adds a nuance of convenience: because you are already in that place, doing the next action makes sense.

Does בעיר mean in a city or in the city?

In everyday unpointed Hebrew writing, בעיר can represent either:

• בְּעִיר = in a city
• בָּעִיר = in the city

The spelling is the same without vowel marks, so context tells you which one is meant.

In this sentence, it most naturally means in town / in the city, not just in some city.

How does יכולים work here?

יכולים means can / are able to for a masculine plural or mixed group.

So:

• אתם יכולים = you can

Grammatically, יכול / יכולה / יכולים / יכולות behaves a bit like an adjective in Hebrew, which is one reason the subject pronoun is helpful.

Forms:

• אני יכול / יכולה = I can
• אתה יכול = you can (masc. singular)
• אתם יכולים = you can (masc./mixed plural)
• הם יכולים = they can

Why do לקנות and לבוא both start with ל־?

Because they are infinitives.

• לקנות = to buy
• לבוא = to come

After יכול / יכולים, Hebrew normally uses an infinitive:

• אתם יכולים לקנות = you can buy
• אתם יכולים לבוא = you can come

This is a place where English and Hebrew differ a bit. In English, after can we say can buy, not can to buy. In Hebrew, after יכול, the next verb still appears in the infinitive ל־ form.

Why is there only one יכולים for both actions?

Because one יכולים can govern both infinitives:

• לקנות קפה
• ולבוא למשרד

So the structure is:

אתם יכולים [לקנות קפה] ו[לבוא למשרד]

In English we do the same thing:

You can buy coffee and come to the office.

Hebrew does not need to repeat יכולים before the second verb.

What does למשרד literally mean, and how is it built?

למשרד means to the office here.

It is built from:

• ל־ = to
• משרד = office

When a preposition like ל־ combines with ה־ (the), Hebrew merges them in writing and pronunciation.

So:

• ל + ה + משרד = למשרד = to the office

Just like with בעיר, unpointed Hebrew can also look ambiguous sometimes, but in this sentence the natural reading is to the office.

Is this sentence giving permission, stating ability, or making a suggestion?

Most likely it is making a practical suggestion.

Literally, אתם יכולים means you can, which could express:

• ability
• permission
• suggestion

But in this context, it sounds like:

• If you’re already in town, you can buy coffee and come to the office
• in other words, that would be a convenient thing to do

So it is not as strong as a command. If the speaker wanted to sound more direct, Hebrew could use a different structure.

Why does Hebrew say לבוא למשרד for come to the office?

Hebrew often uses לבוא exactly where English uses come:

• לבוא הביתה = to come home
• לבוא למשרד = to come to the office

So ולבוא למשרד simply means and come to the office.

A learner may wonder why it is not a verb meaning arrive, but לבוא is very natural here and works just like English come in many everyday situations.