הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו; הוא אצל אבא שלה באוטו.

אצל means something like at someone’s place / with someone / in someone’s possession, depending on context.

In this sentence:

• לא אצלה עכשיו = not with her now
• אצל אבא שלה = with her father

So אצל is often used when something is physically in a person’s possession, not just located somewhere abstractly.

A very literal way to understand the sentence is:

• Her passport is not at-her now; it is at her father in the car.

But natural English is:

• Her passport isn’t with her now; it’s with her father in the car.

They are related, but they do different jobs.

• שלה = hers / her
• אצלה = with her / at her place / in her possession

In the sentence:

• הדרכון שלה = her passport
• לא אצלה עכשיו = not with her now

So:

• שלה shows possession/ownership
• אצלה shows location or possession in the sense of “being with someone”

This is a very common distinction in Hebrew.

Because the sentence needs to say two different things:

• הדרכון שלה = her passport
• אבא שלה = her father

English also repeats her:

• Her passport isn’t with her now; it’s with her father in the car.

Hebrew does not normally replace the second שלה with something like the father unless the context is already very clear and the speaker wants a more compressed style.

הוא means he/it, and here it means it, referring back to הדרכון (the passport).

Since דרכון is a grammatically masculine noun, Hebrew uses the masculine pronoun:

• הוא = it (masculine)

So:

• הוא אצל אבא שלה באוטו = It is with her father in the car

Hebrew pronouns agree with the grammatical gender of the noun, not with natural gender. A passport is not male, of course, but דרכון is grammatically masculine.

Yes, especially in natural spoken Hebrew.

Hebrew often drops a pronoun like הוא when the meaning is obvious from context. So all of these are possible:

• הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו; הוא אצל אבא שלה באוטו.
• הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו; אצל אבא שלה באוטו.

The version with הוא is a bit fuller and sometimes clearer, especially for learners or in more careful speech.

In the present tense, Hebrew often has no separate word for “is/are”.

So instead of saying something literally like The passport is not with her now, Hebrew says:

• הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו

There is no present-tense form of to be used here.

This is normal in Hebrew:

• הוא בבית = He is at home
• הספר על השולחן = The book is on the table
• הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו = Her passport isn’t with her now

לא is the regular Hebrew word for not.

Here it negates the phrase אצלה עכשיו:

• לא אצלה עכשיו = not with her now

Hebrew uses לא to negate present-tense sentences like this one.

באוטו means in the car.

It is made of:

• ב־ = in
• האוטו = the car

These combine into:

• ב + האוטו = באוטו

So this is the normal Hebrew contraction meaning in the car.

Because ב־ is attached to אוטו here, not to אבא שלה.

The structure is:

• הוא אצל אבא שלה באוטו
• It is with her father in the car

So the passport is with her father, and the father is in the car.

In other words:

• אצל אבא שלה = with her father
• באוטו = in the car

In most natural readings, it describes the whole situation: the passport is with her father, and that is happening in the car.

Practically speaking, it most naturally means:

• Her father has it, and he is in the car
  or
• The passport is with her father in the car

Hebrew can sometimes leave this kind of attachment slightly flexible, just like English can. In normal context, this sentence is understood without difficulty.

Both are possible, but they belong to different styles.

• אבא שלה = her dad / her father — common, everyday, spoken style
• אביה = her father — more formal, literary, or written style

So this sentence sounds natural and conversational because it uses אבא שלה.

Also, אבא is more like dad or a warm everyday father, while אב is more formal.

Hebrew word order is fairly flexible, but this placement is very natural:

• לא אצלה עכשיו = not with her now

It keeps the key idea not with her together, and then adds the time word now.

You may also hear:

• הדרכון שלה עכשיו לא אצלה

but לא אצלה עכשיו sounds very normal and straightforward.

The semicolon connects two closely related clauses:

• הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו
• הוא אצל אבא שלה באוטו

The second clause explains the first one. The passport is not with her; it is with her father.

A period would also be possible:

• הדרכון שלה לא אצלה עכשיו. הוא אצל אבא שלה באוטו.

The semicolon just makes the connection feel a little tighter.

Yes, אוטו is very common in everyday Hebrew.

Other words exist, such as:

• מכונית = car (more formal or neutral dictionary word)

But in ordinary speech, אוטו is extremely common, so באוטו sounds very natural.

A more formal version might be something like:

• הדרכון שלה אינו אצלה כעת; הוא אצל אביה במכונית.

Changes:

• אינו instead of לא
• כעת instead of עכשיו
• אביה instead of אבא שלה
• במכונית instead of באוטו

But the original sentence is much more natural for everyday spoken Hebrew.

אצל is roughly etzel.
אצלה is roughly etzla or etzlá depending on accent and pacing.

The ־ה at the end is a suffix meaning her.

So:

• אצל = with / at
• אצלה = with her / at her place

Similarly, Hebrew can form other versions:

• אצלי = with me
• אצלך = with you
• אצלו = with him
• אצלנו = with us

This is a very useful pattern to learn.