אני לא יכולה להגיע לפגישה, כי אני עוד במשרד.

I can't get to the meeting, because I am still at the office.

Breakdown of אני לא יכולה להגיע לפגישה, כי אני עוד במשרד.

• אני: I
• לא: not
• ל: to
• להיות יכול: to be able
• כי: because
• ב: at
• עוד: still
• משרד: office
• פגישה: meeting
• להגיע: to get there

Questions & Answers about אני לא יכולה להגיע לפגישה, כי אני עוד במשרד.

Why is it יכולה and not יכול?

Because the speaker is female.

In Hebrew, the present-tense form of יכול (can / be able to) changes for gender:

• יכול = masculine singular
• יכולה = feminine singular

So:

• a man would say: אני לא יכול להגיע לפגישה
• a woman says: אני לא יכולה להגיע לפגישה

English does not show this difference, but Hebrew usually does.

Why does Hebrew use לא יכולה to mean can’t?

Hebrew often expresses can / can’t with the adjective-like form יכול/יכולה plus an infinitive.

So:

• אני יכולה להגיע = I can get to / I am able to arrive
• אני לא יכולה להגיע = I can’t get to / I’m not able to arrive

Literally, it is something like I am not able to arrive, but in normal English we translate it as I can’t come / I can’t make it.

What does להגיע mean here?

להגיע means to arrive, to get to, or to reach, depending on context.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• to get to the meeting
• to make it to the meeting
• to arrive at the meeting

So לא יכולה להגיע is a very natural way to say can’t make it.

Why is there a ל־ at the beginning of לפגישה?

The prefix ל־ usually means to.

So:

• פגישה = meeting
• לפגישה = to a meeting / to the meeting

After להגיע, Hebrew commonly uses ל־ to mark the destination:

• להגיע לבית = to get to the house
• להגיע לעבודה = to get to work
• להגיע לפגישה = to get to the meeting

Does לפגישה mean to a meeting or to the meeting?

In everyday unpointed Hebrew writing, it can look the same.

So לפגישה may mean:

• to a meeting
• to the meeting

Usually, context tells you which one is meant. Since the meaning has already been given to the learner, here it is understood as to the meeting.

This is very common in Hebrew: prepositions attached to nouns can hide whether the noun is definite or not in unpointed spelling.

What does כי mean here?

Here כי means because.

So the sentence structure is:

• אני לא יכולה להגיע לפגישה = I can’t make it to the meeting
• כי אני עוד במשרד = because I’m still at the office

In other contexts, כי can sometimes mean that, especially in more formal or literary Hebrew, but here it clearly means because.

Why is there no word for am in כי אני עוד במשרד?

Because in present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted.

So Hebrew says:

• אני במשרד = I am at the office
• literally: I at the office

And:

• אני עוד במשרד = I am still at the office
• literally: I still at the office

This is one of the biggest differences from English. In the present tense, Hebrew normally does not say a separate word for am / is / are.

What does עוד mean in this sentence?

Here עוד means still.

So:

• אני עוד במשרד = I’m still at the office

But עוד is a very flexible word in Hebrew. In other contexts it can also mean:

• more
• another
• else
• yet

That can be confusing at first, but in this sentence the meaning is clearly still.

A similar word is עדיין, which also means still.
So אני עדיין במשרד would also be natural.

Why is אני repeated after כי?

Because Hebrew often states the subject again in a new clause, especially when it sounds more complete and natural that way.

So:

• אני לא יכולה להגיע לפגישה, כי אני עוד במשרד

is very natural.

In English, we also usually repeat the subject:

• I can’t make it to the meeting, because I’m still at the office.

If you removed the second אני, the clause would sound incomplete in standard Hebrew, especially since there is no present-tense verb like am to carry the sentence.

What does במשרד mean, and why is the ב־ attached to the word?

The prefix ב־ means in or at.

So:

• משרד = office
• במשרד = in the office / at the office / in an office

Hebrew very often attaches short prepositions directly to the following word:

• בבית = in the house / at home
• בעיר = in the city
• במשרד = in the office / at the office

So instead of writing a separate word for in/at, Hebrew usually adds it as a prefix.

Is במשרד definite here? How do you know it means the office?

In everyday Hebrew spelling, במשרד can represent either:

• in an office
• in the office

Without vowel marks, the spelling is the same.

So how do you know? Usually from context.

Here, the natural meaning is at the office or in the office, which English often translates with the. Hebrew leaves that to context much more often than English does.

Why is לא placed before יכולה?

Because לא normally comes before the thing it negates.

Here it negates יכולה:

• אני יכולה להגיע = I can get there
• אני לא יכולה להגיע = I can’t get there

This is important, because changing the position can change the meaning. For example:

• אני לא יכולה להגיע = I can’t come
• אני יכולה לא להגיע = I can choose not to come / I am able not to come

So the word order in the original sentence is exactly what you would expect for I can’t make it.