אם יש לי כאב בטן, אני לא יכול לעבוד היום.

If I have a stomachache, I can't work today.

Breakdown of אם יש לי כאב בטן, אני לא יכול לעבוד היום.

• אני: I
• יש: there is
• לי: to me
• לא: not

Questions & Answers about אם יש לי כאב בטן, אני לא יכול לעבוד היום.

Why does the sentence start with אם?

אם means if here. It introduces the condition:

אם יש לי כאב בטן = if I have a stomachache

So the sentence has two parts:

• the if-clause: אם יש לי כאב בטן
• the main clause: אני לא יכול לעבוד היום

Hebrew uses אם very much like English if in this kind of sentence.

Why does Hebrew use יש לי for I have?

This is one of the biggest differences from English.

Hebrew often expresses possession with:

• יש = there is / there are
• ל־ = to
• לי = to me

So:

יש לי כאב בטן
literally = there is to me a stomach pain

But in natural English, that means I have a stomachache.

So Hebrew does not usually use a separate present-tense verb meaning to have the way English does.

What exactly does כאב בטן mean?