אסור להם לנסוע על אופניים בלי קסדה.

on

Breakdown of אסור להם לנסוע על אופניים בלי קסדה.

• אסור: forbidden
• בלי: without
• אופניים: bicycle

Questions & Answers about אסור להם לנסוע על אופניים בלי קסדה.

What does אסור mean here?

Here אסור means forbidden / not allowed.

A very common Hebrew pattern is:

אסור ל־... + infinitive

So:

אסור להם לנסוע = It is forbidden for them to ride / They are not allowed to ride

Literally, it is closer to forbidden to them to ride than to the English wording.

Also, אסור is grammatically an adjective, but in this kind of impersonal expression it often stays in the default masculine singular form.

Why is it להם and not הם?

Because Hebrew uses the pattern אסור ל־מישהו = it is forbidden for someone.

So:

• להם = to them / for them
• not הם = they

English turns this into a normal subject:

• They are not allowed...

But Hebrew keeps the person inside the ל־ phrase:

• אסור להם...

If you want extra emphasis, you can also say:

להם אסור לנסוע... = They, specifically, are not allowed to ride...

Why do we use לנסוע after אסור?