המפתחות לא אצלי; אולי הם אצלה.

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

So:

• המפתחות לא אצלי literally looks like the keys not with me
• but it means the keys are not with me

This is completely normal Hebrew.

If you wanted past or future, you would usually use forms of היה:

• המפתחות לא היו אצלי = the keys were not with me
• המפתחות לא יהיו אצלי = the keys will not be with me

So the missing are is not a mistake; it is standard grammar.

They come from the preposition אצל, which often means something like:

• with
• at someone’s place
• in someone’s possession

So in this sentence:

• אצלי = with me / at my place
• אצלה = with her / at her place

With objects like keys, אצל often suggests where the item currently is, or who has it.

So המפתחות לא אצלי; אולי הם אצלה means the keys are not with me, and maybe she has them.

Hebrew often adds pronoun endings directly to prepositions.

So אצל combines with personal endings:

• אצלי = with me
• אצלך = with you
• אצלו = with him
• אצלה = with her
• אצלנו = with us
• אצלם / אצלן = with them

This is very common in Hebrew. English usually uses a separate pronoun, but Hebrew often builds it into the word itself.

Yes, that ending can be confusing.

The singular noun is מפתח, and it is masculine. Its plural is מפתחות, which is an irregular masculine plural ending in ־ות.

So even though מפתחות looks like a feminine plural form, it is still grammatically masculine plural.

That is why the sentence uses:

• הם = they, masculine plural

and not:

• הן = they, feminine plural

This is a very common thing for learners to notice. In Hebrew, grammatical gender is based on the word itself, not only on how the ending looks.

The ה is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• מפתחות = keys
• המפתחות = the keys

Hebrew attaches the directly to the noun instead of writing it as a separate word.

They are often similar, but not always exactly the same.

• המפתחות לא אצלי focuses on where the keys are not or who does not have them with them
• אין לי את המפתחות focuses more directly on I do not have the keys

In many real-life situations, these can overlap. But לא אצלי often has a stronger sense of they are not with me / not in my possession right now / not at my place.

That is why it fits very naturally with the next part:

• אולי הם אצלה = maybe they are with her

Usually, not in this sentence.

• איתי / איתה mean with me / with her in the sense of together with
• אצלי / אצלה mean with me / with her in the sense of in my possession / at my place

So for keys, אצלי / אצלה is the natural choice.

Compare:

• היא איתי = she is with me
• המפתחות אצלי = the keys are with me / I have the keys

Using איתי for keys would sound unnatural in most contexts.

אולי means maybe / perhaps.

It shows uncertainty:

• אולי הם אצלה = maybe they’re with her

It is very common in both spoken and written Hebrew.

You can think of it as introducing a guess or possibility.

Yes. Hebrew uses grammatical gender for all nouns, including objects.

So even for inanimate things, pronouns and adjectives still have to agree in gender and number.

Because מפתחות is grammatically masculine plural, Hebrew uses:

• הם

This may feel unusual to an English speaker, because English normally uses they without grammatical gender for objects. Hebrew does not work that way.

לא is the normal word for not.

Since there is no present-tense to be here, לא comes directly before the phrase being negated:

• המפתחות לא אצלי = the keys are not with me

This is the standard way to make a present-tense nominal sentence negative in Hebrew.