אם את עייפה, אז לכי לישון מוקדם.

If you are tired, then go to sleep early.

Breakdown of אם את עייפה, אז לכי לישון מוקדם.

• את: you
• ללכת: to go
• מוקדם: early
• אם: if
• עייף: tired
• אז: then
• לישון: to sleep

Questions & Answers about אם את עייפה, אז לכי לישון מוקדם.

Why does the sentence use את and עייפה?

Because the sentence is addressed to a female singular person.

• את = you (to one female)
• עייפה = tired in the feminine singular
• לכי = go in the feminine singular imperative

Hebrew marks gender much more often than English does, so several words in the sentence change to match the person being spoken to.

If you were speaking to a man, you would say:

אם אתה עייף, אז לך לישון מוקדם.

Where is the word are in the part אם את עייפה?

Hebrew usually does not use a present-tense form of to be in simple sentences like this.

So:

• את עייפה literally looks like you tired
• but it means you are tired

This is completely normal in Hebrew. In the present tense, the verb to be is usually omitted.

What does אם mean, and how is it used here?

אם means if.

It introduces a condition:

• אם את עייפה = if you are tired

This works much like English if at the start of a conditional sentence.

Do I need the word אז here?

Not always. אז means then, and in this sentence it helps make the conditional relationship clearer:

• אם את עייפה, אז לכי לישון מוקדם. = If you’re tired, then go to sleep early.

But in natural Hebrew, אז is often optional. You can also say:

אם את עייפה, לכי לישון מוקדם.

That is also perfectly natural.

Why is לכי used? What form is it?

לכי is the imperative form, meaning go!, addressed to one female.

It comes from the verb ללכת = to go.

Imperative forms in Hebrew change according to gender and number:

• לך = go! (to one male)
• לכי = go! (to one female)
• לכו = go! (to more than one person)

So לכי matches the feminine singular את earlier in the sentence.

Why does Hebrew say לכי לישון instead of just one verb meaning sleep?

Hebrew often uses go + infinitive in expressions like this, just like English can say go to sleep.

• לכי = go
• לישון = to sleep

Together, לכי לישון means go to sleep.

This is a very common and natural expression in Hebrew.

What is לישון exactly?

לישון is the infinitive form of the verb ישן / לישון, meaning to sleep.

The prefix ל־ often marks the infinitive in Hebrew, similar to English to in to sleep.

So:

• לישון = to sleep

In this sentence, it follows לכי:

• לכי לישון = go to sleep

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

Here מוקדם means early.

In this sentence it functions like an adverb, describing when to go to sleep:

• לכי לישון מוקדם = go to sleep early

When words like this are used adverbially, they often stay in a single common form instead of changing for gender the way adjectives do.

So even though the sentence is addressed to a woman, מוקדם stays מוקדם.

Is the word order fixed?

The basic order here is very natural:

• אם את עייפה, אז לכי לישון מוקדם.

But Hebrew does allow some flexibility.

For example, without אז:

• אם את עייפה, לכי לישון מוקדם.

That is probably the most common everyday version.

You generally would not want to move the words around randomly, though. The conditional part אם את עייפה naturally comes first, and the result/advice part follows.

Could Hebrew use a future form instead of the imperative here?

Yes, sometimes spoken Hebrew uses the future tense where English might use an imperative.

For example, people may say:

• אם את עייפה, תלכי לישון מוקדם.

This can sound like advice: If you’re tired, you should go to sleep early or go to sleep early.

However, לכי is the clearer direct command/advice form. In learning materials, the imperative is often taught explicitly, even though everyday spoken Hebrew sometimes prefers future forms.

How would I say this to a man or to a group?

You need to change the gender/number on the relevant words.

To one man:

• אם אתה עייף, אז לך לישון מוקדם.

To one woman:

• אם את עייפה, אז לכי לישון מוקדם.

To a mixed group or a group of men:

• אם אתם עייפים, אז לכו לישון מוקדם.

To a group of women:

• אם אתן עייפות, אז לכו לישון מוקדם.

Notice:

• pronoun changes
• tired changes
• the imperative changes too

Is this sentence natural Hebrew?

Yes, it is grammatical and understandable. A very natural everyday version would often be:

אם את עייפה, לכי לישון מוקדם.

That version simply leaves out אז, which many speakers do.

So the original sentence is fine, but the slightly shorter version may sound more conversational.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Im at ayefa, az lechi lishon mukdam.

Approximate breakdown:

• אם = im
• את = at
• עייפה = a-ye-FA
• אז = az
• לכי = le-KHI
  
  • the kh is the throaty Hebrew sound, like the ch in German Bach
• לישון = li-SHON
• מוקדם = muk-DAM

Stress is usually near the end in several of these words, especially עייפה, לישון, and מוקדם.