Breakdown of אם יש לך כאב גרון, לכי לרופא ואל תלכי לעבודה היום.
Questions & Answers about אם יש לך כאב גרון, לכי לרופא ואל תלכי לעבודה היום.
Because לכי is the singular feminine imperative form of ללכת (to go).
In Hebrew, verbs often show the gender and number of the person being addressed. Here:
- לכי = go! when speaking to one female
- תלכי = you will go / you go (feminine singular), and after אל it means don’t go
So this sentence is addressed to one woman or girl.
If speaking to one man:
- אם יש לך כאב גרון, לך לרופא ואל תלך לעבודה היום.
If speaking to more than one person:
- mixed or masculine plural: אם יש לכם כאב גרון, לכו לרופא ואל תלכו לעבודה היום.
- feminine plural: אם יש לכן כאב גרון, לכו לרופאה/לרופא ואל תלכנה לעבודה היום — though in everyday modern Hebrew, people often use אל תלכו for plural in general.
So the original sentence is specifically singular feminine.
Hebrew usually does not need an explicit subject pronoun when the verb already shows who the subject is.
In English, you must say go or don’t go, and the word you is understood but not marked on the verb. In Hebrew, the verb itself carries that information:
- לכי already means you (feminine singular), go
- תלכי already means you (feminine singular) will go / go
So adding את would usually be unnecessary unless you want special emphasis.
Literally, אם יש לך means something like if there is to you.
Hebrew often expresses possession with יש (there is / there are) plus ל־ (to):
- יש לי = I have / there is to me
- יש לך = you have / there is to you
- יש לו = he has / there is to him
So:
- אם יש לך כאב גרון = if you have a sore throat
This is very normal Hebrew. It is not translated word-for-word from English structure.
כאב גרון is a common Hebrew noun combination called a construct chain (סמיכות).
It literally means:
- כאב = pain
- גרון = throat
Together: throat pain, meaning a sore throat.
Hebrew often joins two nouns this way instead of using של (of) or an adjective. English learners often expect something more like pain of throat, but Hebrew prefers the compact noun+noun structure here.
Other similar examples:
- בית ספר = school, literally house of book
- כאב ראש = headache, literally head pain
Yes. Hebrew has more than one natural way to express this idea.
For example:
- יש לך כאב גרון = you have a sore throat
- כואב לך הגרון = your throat hurts
- הגרון כואב לך = your throat hurts
These are different structures, but all are natural. The sentence you were given uses the noun phrase כאב גרון, which is very common.
This is a very common Hebrew pattern.
- Positive command: use the imperative
- לכי = go!
- Negative command: use אל
- a future-form verb
- אל תלכי = don’t go
- a future-form verb
So Hebrew does not usually say the negative command by simply putting אל before the imperative. Instead it switches to the future-form verb.
That is why you get:
- לכי לרופא = go to the doctor
- אל תלכי לעבודה = don’t go to work
אל is the usual word for don’t in a direct prohibition or command.
- אל תלכי = don’t go
By contrast, לא is the ordinary negation word for statements:
- את לא הולכת לעבודה = you are not going to work
- לא תלכי לעבודה = you will not go to work
So:
- אל תלכי sounds like a command: don’t go
- לא תלכי sounds more like a statement or prediction: you won’t go
For direct instructions, אל is the normal choice.
Yes. After ללכת (to go), Hebrew commonly uses ל־ to mark the destination:
- לכי לרופא = go to the doctor
So ל־ here is basically to.
Also, in unpointed Hebrew spelling, לרופא can represent either:
- לְרופא = to a doctor
- לָרופא = to the doctor
Without vowel marks, the spelling looks the same. In context, people often understand it naturally.
Grammatically, רופא is masculine singular, and רופאה is feminine singular.
So if you specifically mean a female doctor, you can say:
- לכי לרופאה
However, in many contexts, masculine forms can be used generically in Hebrew, especially in less formal everyday language. Still, if you know the doctor is female or want to be precise, רופאה is the clearer form.
Hebrew commonly says ללכת לעבודה for to go to work.
So:
- אל תלכי לעבודה היום = don’t go to work today
This is very idiomatic and natural.
Like לרופא, the written form לעבודה can hide vowel differences because Hebrew usually leaves out vowel marks. In normal speech here, it is understood as to work / to the workplace.
Yes, ללכת (to go) is somewhat irregular and very common.
Some useful forms are:
- ללכת = to go
- הולך / הולכת = going
- ילך / תלך = he will go / she will go
- תלכי = you (feminine singular) will go
- לכי = go! (to one female)
Because it is such a common verb, it is worth memorizing its main forms early rather than trying to guess all of them from one pattern.
Yes, Hebrew word order is fairly flexible, and היום (today) can appear in different places.
The original:
- ואל תלכי לעבודה היום
is completely natural.
You could also hear:
- והיום אל תלכי לעבודה
- ואל תלכי היום לעבודה
The version with היום at the end is simple and neutral. It clearly modifies the instruction don’t go to work.
Because the sentence begins with a condition:
- אם יש לך כאב גרון = if you have a sore throat
Then the main instruction follows:
- לכי לרופא ואל תלכי לעבודה היום
So the comma separates the if-clause from the main clause, just as in English:
- If you have a sore throat, go to the doctor and don’t go to work today.
This punctuation is very natural in both languages.