Questions & Answers about אם יש לך כאב גרון, לכי לרופא ואל תלכי לעבודה היום.
Why is לכי in the feminine form? How do I know the sentence is speaking to a woman?
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.
How would this sentence change if I were speaking to a man, or to more than one person?
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.
Why is there no separate word for you in the commands?