Breakdown of תזכירי לי לקחת את הספר ואת המפתח לפני שאני יוצאת.
Questions & Answers about תזכירי לי לקחת את הספר ואת המפתח לפני שאני יוצאת.
Why does the sentence start with תזכירי? Isn’t that a future-tense form?
Yes. תזכירי is formally the 2nd person feminine singular future of להזכיר (to remind).
In everyday Modern Hebrew, though, the future tense is very often used as a command/request, especially in speech. So here תזכירי לי means Remind me when speaking to one woman.
A more textbook-style imperative would be הזכירי לי, but in normal conversation תזכירי לי is usually more natural.
So in this sentence:
- תזכירי = you (female) remind / please remind
- it is directed to a female addressee
Why isn’t there a separate word for you before תזכירי?
Because Hebrew verbs usually already show the subject.
In תזכירי, the ending tells you:
- 2nd person
- feminine
- singular
So Hebrew normally does not need an extra pronoun here.
If you added את (you, feminine singular), it would usually be for emphasis:
- את תזכירי לי = you are the one who should remind me
But in a normal sentence, just תזכירי לי is enough.
What does לי mean here, and why is it used instead of a direct object form?
לי means to me / for me.
It is made of:
- ל־ = to
- ־י = me
With the verb להזכיר (to remind), Hebrew often uses the person being reminded with ל־:
- להזכיר לי = to remind me
- literally, something like to remind to me
So:
- תזכירי לי = remind me
This is just the normal Hebrew pattern, even though English uses a direct object.
Why is לקחת used after תזכירי לי?
Because לקחת is the infinitive form: to take.
Hebrew commonly uses this structure:
להזכיר למישהו + infinitive
= to remind someone to do something
So:
- תזכירי לי לקחת = remind me to take
This works very much like English:
- Remind me to take...
Other similar examples:
- תזכירי לי להתקשר = Remind me to call
- תזכירי לי לקנות חלב = Remind me to buy milk
What is את doing before הספר and המפתח?
Here את is the direct object marker. It does not mean you in this sentence.
Hebrew uses את before a definite direct object. Both nouns here are definite because they have ה־ (the):
- הספר = the book
- המפתח = the key
So:
- לקחת את הספר = to take the book
- לקחת את המפתח = to take the key
This את usually has no English translation. It is just a grammar marker.
A useful contrast:
- לקחת ספר = to take a book (indefinite, no את)
- לקחת את הספר = to take the book (definite, with את)
Why is את repeated in את הספר ואת המפתח?
Because there are two separate definite direct objects:
- the book
- the key
Hebrew very commonly repeats את before each definite noun in a list or pair:
- את הספר ואת המפתח
This is the most natural and clear phrasing.
Also, ואת is just:
- ו־ = and
- את = direct object marker
So:
- ואת המפתח = and the key (with the object marker included)
What does לפני שאני mean literally?
לפני means before.
When Hebrew wants to say before followed by a full clause, it often uses:
לפני ש־...
= before ...
So:
- לפני שאני יוצאת
contains:
- לפני = before
- שאני = that I / that I am, from ש־ + אני
Very literally, it is something like:
- before that I leave/go out
But in natural English, it is simply:
- before I leave
What does יוצאת tell me about gender?
יוצאת is the feminine singular form of יוצא / יוצאת (going out / leaving).
So it tells you that the speaker is female, because the subject is אני (I):
- אני יוצאת = I am leaving / I leave said by a woman
And earlier in the sentence, תזכירי tells you the person being addressed is also female.
So this sentence is spoken:
- by a woman
- to a woman
If a man were speaking, you would say:
- לפני שאני יוצא
If speaking to a man, you would say:
- תזכיר לי
Why is יוצאת in the present form instead of a future form like אצא?
This is a very common question.
יוצאת is formally a present participle form, but in Modern Hebrew it is often used for a near-future or planned action, especially in everyday speech.
So:
- לפני שאני יוצאת feels natural and conversational: before I leave / before I head out
A more explicitly future version would be:
- לפני שאצא
That also means before I leave.
Very roughly:
- לפני שאני יוצאת = more everyday, immediate, conversational
- לפני שאצא = a bit more explicitly future, sometimes slightly more formal or neutral
Both are good Hebrew.
How would the sentence change if the speaker or listener were male instead of female?
The forms that change are the ones that show gender.
Original sentence:
- תזכירי לי לקחת את הספר ואת המפתח לפני שאני יוצאת.
- female listener, female speaker
Common variants:
תזכיר לי לקחת את הספר ואת המפתח לפני שאני יוצא.
male listener, male speakerתזכיר לי לקחת את הספר ואת המפתח לפני שאני יוצאת.
male listener, female speakerתזכירי לי לקחת את הספר ואת המפתח לפני שאני יוצא.
female listener, male speaker
So:
- תזכירי / תזכיר changes with the person being addressed
- יוצאת / יוצא changes with the speaker
How is the whole sentence pronounced?
A simple transliteration is:
tazkiri li lakakhat et ha-sefer ve-et ha-mafte'ach lifnei she-ani yotzet
A few pronunciation notes:
- תזכירי = tazkiri
- לקחת = lakakhat (the ח is a throat sound)
- את = et
- ואת = ve-et
- לפני = lifnei
- שאני = she-ani
- יוצאת = yotzet
So you could read the whole thing aloud as:
tazkiri li lakakhat et ha-sefer ve-et ha-mafte'ach lifnei she-ani yotzet
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