לפני הטיסה אני תמיד בודקת אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.

Because בודקת is the feminine singular present-tense form.

Hebrew present-tense verbs change for gender and number:

• בודק = checking / checks, masculine singular
• בודקת = checking / checks, feminine singular
• בודקים = masculine plural
• בודקות = feminine plural

So this sentence is spoken by a female speaker.
If a man were saying it, it would be:

לפני הטיסה אני תמיד בודק אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.

Yes. In Modern Hebrew, forms like בודק / בודקת are the normal way to express the present tense.

They originally come from a participle-like form, but for learners it is simplest to treat them as the present tense:

• אני בודקת = I check / I am checking
• היא בודקת = she checks / she is checking

So in this sentence, אני תמיד בודקת means I always check.

Yes, Hebrew often can drop subject pronouns, because the verb form often already shows person, gender, and number.

So you could also say:

לפני הטיסה תמיד בודקת אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.

However, including אני is very natural and often helps with:

• clarity
• emphasis
• smoother rhythm

In this sentence, אני is completely normal.

תמיד means always, and its position here is very natural:

אני תמיד בודקת = I always check

This is similar to English adverbs of frequency:

• I always check
• I usually check

In Hebrew, adverbs like תמיד, בדרך כלל, לפעמים often come:

• after the subject and before the verb, or
• in other positions for emphasis

So these are all possible, though not equally neutral:

• אני תמיד בודקת... — very natural
• תמיד אני בודקת... — more emphasis on always
• אני בודקת תמיד... — possible, but less neutral here

לפני means before.

So:

• לפני הטיסה = before the flight

Starting with this phrase sets the time frame first:

• Before the flight, I always check...

This is a very common Hebrew sentence pattern:

• לפני השיעור אני שותה קפה. = Before class, I drink coffee.
• אחרי העבודה אני הולכת הביתה. = After work, I go home.

Because הטיסה means the flight.

• טיסה = a flight / flight
• הטיסה = the flight

The prefix ה־ is the definite article, like the in English.

Here, the speaker is probably referring to a specific flight, such as the one they are about to take. That is why הטיסה makes sense.

If you said לפני טיסה, that would sound more like:

• before a flight
• before flying

That is possible too, but it is slightly less specific.

Here, אם means whether, even though it is often translated as if.

Hebrew uses אם for both:

• conditional if
• indirect-question whether / if

In this sentence:

• אני תמיד בודקת אם הדרכון שלי בתיק
• literally: I always check if/whether my passport is in the bag

In natural English, whether may sound more precise, but Hebrew normally just uses אם.

Because in Hebrew, in the present tense, you usually do not use a separate word for is / am / are.

So:

• הדרכון שלי בתיק = my passport is in the bag
• literally: my passport in the bag

This is completely normal Hebrew.

Compare:

• אני בבית. = I am at home.
• הוא עייף. = He is tired.
• הספר על השולחן. = The book is on the table.

But in the past or future, Hebrew does use forms of to be:

• הדרכון שלי היה בתיק. = My passport was in the bag.
• הדרכון שלי יהיה בתיק. = My passport will be in the bag.

In Modern Hebrew, with the pattern noun + שלי / שלך / שלו etc., the noun is usually made definite with ה־.

So:

• הדרכון שלי = my passport
• הספר שלי = my book
• הבית שלה = her house

This is the normal modern pattern.

Without ה־, it may sound incomplete, nonstandard, or stylistically marked in many everyday contexts.

So for a learner, the safest rule is:

With שלי / שלך / שלו / שלה / שלנו / שלכם / שלהן, usually use ה־ on the noun.

Yes. דרכוני means my passport too.

This is a more compact, somewhat more formal or literary possessive form:

• דרכוני = my passport
• הדרכון שלי = my passport

In everyday spoken Hebrew, הדרכון שלי is much more common.

So this sentence could theoretically be phrased with דרכוני, but the version you were given sounds more natural in normal conversation.

Both are possible, but they are not exactly the same in feel.

• בתיק = in the bag
• בתוך התיק = inside the bag

בתיק is the more natural everyday wording here.
It simply means the passport is in the bag.

בתוך התיק is more explicit and can feel a bit more emphatic, as if stressing that it is actually inside the bag and not somewhere else.

So:

• הדרכון שלי בתיק = normal, natural
• הדרכון שלי בתוך התיק = also correct, but more explicit

The prefix ב־ means in / at / inside, depending on context.

So:

• תיק = bag
• בתיק = in the bag

This is a very common Hebrew preposition prefix:

• בבית = in the house / at home
• במכונית = in the car
• בספר = in the book

Notice that when ב־ is attached to a definite noun, forms can change a little:

• ב + ה + תיק historically becomes בתיק

For a learner, it is enough to recognize בתיק as in the bag.

Because Hebrew normally expresses the as a prefix: ה־.

Examples:

• טיסה = flight
• הטיסה = the flight
• תיק = bag
• התיק = the bag

When prepositions like ב־ attach to a definite noun, the form combines:

• ב + התיק becomes בתיק

So Hebrew often packs several ideas into one word:

• בתיק = in the bag not just in bag

This is very different from English, so it is a common thing for learners to notice.

The given order is very natural:

לפני הטיסה אני תמיד בודקת אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.

But Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible. For example, you could also hear:

• אני תמיד בודקת לפני הטיסה אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.
• תמיד אני בודקת לפני הטיסה אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.

These versions shift the emphasis a bit:

• starting with לפני הטיסה highlights the time
• starting with אני highlights the speaker
• starting with תמיד highlights the habitual nature

The original sentence is a very natural, neutral way to say it.

Not a direct question, but an embedded question.

The speaker is not directly asking:

• האם הדרכון שלי בתיק? = Is my passport in the bag?

Instead, they are saying they check whether that is true:

• אני בודקת אם הדרכון שלי בתיק.

So the clause after אם works like an indirect yes/no question.

Because after verbs like check, know, ask, see, Hebrew normally uses אם to mean whether.

• אני בודקת אם... = I check whether...
• אני לא יודעת אם... = I don’t know whether...
• הוא שאל אם... = He asked whether...

האם is more commonly used to introduce a direct yes/no question, especially in formal language:

• האם הדרכון שלי בתיק? = Is my passport in the bag?

So in your sentence, אם is the correct and natural choice.

Hebrew present tense often covers both ideas:

• I check
• I am checking

But because of תמיד and the context לפני הטיסה, the sentence is naturally understood as a habitual action:

Before the flight, I always check whether my passport is in the bag.

So here it clearly means a repeated routine, not an action happening right now.

תיק most often means:

• bag
• purse
• briefcase
• backpack, depending on context

So בתיק means in the bag or in my bag, depending on the situation.

The exact kind of bag is not specified in the Hebrew sentence. Context would tell you whether it is a handbag, travel bag, backpack, and so on.

The root is ב־ד־ק.

This root is connected with meanings like:

• check
• examine
• inspect

From the same root, you get forms like:

• לבדוק = to check
• בדקתי = I checked
• בודק / בודקת = checking / checks
• בדיקה = inspection, check, test

Recognizing roots can help a lot in Hebrew, because many related words come from the same three-consonant root.

It would not be a precise translation of the Hebrew form here.

לפני הטיסה literally means before the flight.
That points to a specific flight or flight event.

Before flying is more general in English and might correspond more closely to something like:

• לפני טיסה

So before the flight is the better match for this exact Hebrew sentence.