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יש לנו מספיק תפוזים, אבל אין לנו מספיק עגבניות וירקות לסלט.

יש לנו מספיק תפוזים, אבל אין לנו מספיק עגבניות וירקות לסלט.
We have enough oranges, but we do not have enough tomatoes and vegetables for the salad.

Breakdown of יש לנו מספיק תפוזים, אבל אין לנו מספיק עגבניות וירקות לסלט.

יש
there is
אין
there is no
ו
and
אבל
but
ל
for
סלט
salad
ירק
vegetable
תפוז
orange
עגבנייה
tomato
מספיק
enough
לנו
to us
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Questions & Answers about יש לנו מספיק תפוזים, אבל אין לנו מספיק עגבניות וירקות לסלט.

How does יש לנו mean we have?

Hebrew often expresses possession with an existential structure rather than a verb meaning to have.

  • יש = there is / there are
  • לנו = to us / for us

So יש לנו מספיק תפוזים literally means something like:

  • There are to us enough oranges

In natural English, that becomes we have enough oranges.

Why is it יש even though תפוזים is plural?

Because יש does not change for singular or plural in this kind of sentence. It is an existential particle, not a normal verb that agrees with the noun.

So Hebrew says:

  • יש תפוז = there is an orange
  • יש תפוזים = there are oranges

The same is true here:

  • יש לנו מספיק תפוזים = we have enough oranges

Even though תפוזים is plural, יש stays the same.

Why does the negative use אין לנו instead of something like לא יש לנו?

In Hebrew, the usual negative of יש is אין.

So:

  • יש לנו... = we have...
  • אין לנו... = we do not have...

This is a fixed pair:

  • יש = there is / there are
  • אין = there is not / there are not

So אין לנו מספיק עגבניות literally means there are not to us enough tomatoes, which in natural English is we do not have enough tomatoes.

What exactly does לנו do here?

לנו means to us or for us.

It is made from:

  • ל־ = to / for
  • נו = us

In possession sentences with יש and אין, Hebrew uses this ל־ form to show who possesses something.

Examples:

  • יש לי = I have
  • יש לך = you have
  • יש לו = he has
  • יש לנו = we have

So the sentence does not need a separate word for we. The idea of us/we is already built into לנו.

What does מספיק mean here, and why doesn’t it change?

Here מספיק means enough.

In this sentence it works as a quantity word:

  • מספיק תפוזים = enough oranges
  • מספיק עגבניות = enough tomatoes

In this use, מספיק usually stays the same and does not change for gender or number.

That is why the sentence has:

  • מספיק תפוזים
  • מספיק עגבניות
  • מספיק ירקות

not different forms for each noun.

Why is מספיק placed before the noun?

In Hebrew, מספיק commonly comes before the noun it modifies:

  • מספיק תפוזים = enough oranges
  • מספיק כסף = enough money
  • מספיק זמן = enough time

So יש לנו מספיק תפוזים is the normal word order.

For an English speaker, this is straightforward because English also says enough oranges, with enough before the noun.

What are the singular forms of תפוזים, עגבניות, and ירקות?

The singular forms are:

  • תפוזים → תפוז = orange
  • עגבניות → עגבנייה = tomato
  • ירקות → ירק = vegetable

So the sentence uses three plural nouns:

  • תפוזים = oranges
  • עגבניות = tomatoes
  • ירקות = vegetables
Why does ירקות end with ־ות even though ירק is masculine?

This is a very common Hebrew question.

Although many feminine plurals end in ־ות and many masculine plurals end in ־ים, the endings are not perfectly reliable indicators of gender. Some nouns have irregular plural patterns.

Here:

  • ירק is masculine singular
  • ירקות is its plural

So even though ־ות often looks feminine, ירקות is just the accepted plural form of ירק.

By contrast:

  • עגבנייה is feminine singular
  • עגבניות is a regular feminine plural

So in this sentence you have:

  • תפוזים — masculine plural in ־ים
  • עגבניות — feminine plural in ־ות
  • ירקות — masculine noun with a plural in ־ות
Does מספיק apply to both עגבניות and ירקות, or only to עגבניות?

It applies to both.

So:

  • אין לנו מספיק עגבניות וירקות לסלט

means:

  • We don’t have enough tomatoes and vegetables for the salad / for salad

In other words, there is not enough of either category for the intended salad.

Hebrew often lets one quantity word cover two coordinated nouns:

  • מספיק עגבניות וירקות = enough tomatoes and vegetables
Why are there no the words before תפוזים, עגבניות, and ירקות?

Because the nouns are being used in an indefinite/general sense here, not as specific previously identified items.

So Hebrew says:

  • מספיק תפוזים = enough oranges
  • מספיק עגבניות = enough tomatoes
  • ירקות = vegetables

If the speaker meant specific known items, Hebrew could use the definite article ה־.

But in a sentence about whether there are enough ingredients, indefinite nouns are very natural.

What does אבל do in the sentence?

אבל means but.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

  • יש לנו מספיק תפוזים = we have enough oranges
  • אבל = but
  • אין לנו מספיק עגבניות וירקות לסלט = we do not have enough tomatoes and vegetables for the salad

So the sentence contrasts two facts:

  • enough oranges
  • not enough tomatoes and vegetables
What exactly does לסלט mean?

לסלט contains the preposition ל־, which often means for or to.

So here it means:

  • for salad
  • or for the salad

An important detail: in unpointed Hebrew spelling, לסלט can be read in two ways:

  • לְסָלָט = for salad
  • לַסָּלָט = for the salad

They look the same without vowel marks.

So the exact English wording depends on context. Both are possible from the spelling alone.

How would a learner roughly pronounce the whole sentence?

A rough pronunciation is:

yesh LA-nu mas-PEEK t'pu-ZIM, a-VAL eyn LA-nu mas-PEEK ag-va-NI-yot ve-ye-ra-KOT le-sa-LAT / la-sa-LAT

A few helpful notes:

  • יש sounds like yesh
  • אין sounds like eyn
  • stress is often near the end:
    • תפוזים → t'pu-ZIM
    • עגבניות → ag-va-NI-yot
    • ירקות → ye-ra-KOT
    • לסלט → le-sa-LAT or la-sa-LAT

The exact pronunciation of לסלט depends on whether the meaning is for salad or for the salad.