רק אחרי שקראתי את ההודעה גיליתי שהפגישה היא מחר, לא היום.

רק אחרי ש- means only after.

So:

• אחרי ש = after
  • a full clause
• רק = only

Together, רק אחרי שקראתי את ההודעה... means only after I read the message...

This structure is very common in Hebrew:

• אחרי שראיתי אותו, הלכתי הביתה = After I saw him, I went home
• רק אחרי שסיימתי, נחתי = Only after I finished did I rest

Yes. שקראתי is exactly ש + קראתי.

• ש- = that / when / after / because, depending on context
• קראתי = I read

After אחרי, Hebrew often uses ש- before a full clause:

• אחרי שקראתי = after I read
• אחרי שראיתי = after I saw
• אחרי שהגעתי = after I arrived

In writing, the prefix ש- is attached directly to the next word.

את marks a definite direct object.

Here:

• קראתי = I read
• ההודעה = the message

Since the message is definite, Hebrew uses את:

• קראתי את ההודעה = I read the message

Compare:

• קראתי הודעה = I read a message
• קראתי את ההודעה = I read the message

So את does not mean to here. It is a grammar marker.

Because the word already begins with ה, and then the definite article ה- is added.

• הודעה = message
• ההודעה = the message

So the spelling naturally becomes ה + הודעה = ההודעה.

This happens with some other words too when the noun itself begins with ה.

קראתי is the 1st person singular past tense of לקרוא (to read).

It means I read or I did read, depending on context.

Breakdown:

• dictionary form: לקרוא
• past, I: קראתי

Examples:

• קראתי ספר = I read a book
• קראתי את המכתב = I read the letter

A useful point: in the past tense, קראתי is the same for both a male speaker and a female speaker.

It can mean both, but in this sentence it is best understood as found out or realized/discovered.

• גיליתי שהפגישה היא מחר = I found out that the meeting is tomorrow

The verb is לגלות:

• literally: to discover
• in everyday use: often to find out

So here it is not physical discovery, but learning new information.

Here ש- means that.

So:

• גיליתי שהפגישה היא מחר = I discovered/found out that the meeting is tomorrow

This is a very common Hebrew structure after verbs like:

• ידעתי ש... = I knew that...
• חשבתי ש... = I thought that...
• אמרתי ש... = I said that...
• גיליתי ש... = I found out that...

Again, the ש- is attached directly to the following word.

היא here is the pronoun she/it, but in this sentence it functions as the equivalent of is in a nominal sentence.

Hebrew often leaves out is/are in the present tense, so you could also hear:

• הפגישה מחר = The meeting is tomorrow

But הפגישה היא מחר is also natural. Adding היא can make the sentence sound a bit clearer, fuller, or slightly more emphatic.

So both are possible:

• הפגישה מחר
• הפגישה היא מחר

In this sentence, the version with היא is completely normal.

Because Hebrew nouns have grammatical gender.

• פגישה (meeting) is a feminine noun
• so the pronoun used with it is היא

This does not mean the meeting is literally female in a real-world sense. It is just grammatical agreement.

Compare:

• הספר הוא חדש = The book is new
  (ספר is masculine, so הוא)
• הפגישה היא מחר = The meeting is tomorrow
  (פגישה is feminine, so היא)

Hebrew often omits repeated words when they are obvious.

So:

• שהפגישה היא מחר, לא היום literally means:
• that the meeting is tomorrow, not today

The second part is shortened. Hebrew does not need to repeat everything:

• not הפגישה היא היום
• just לא היום

This is very natural and common.

English does the same:

• It’s tomorrow, not today
• not necessarily It’s tomorrow, it’s not today

Because in Hebrew, words like today, tomorrow, yesterday often stand on their own as time expressions.

• מחר = tomorrow
• היום = today

So:

• הפגישה היא מחר = The meeting is tomorrow
• לא היום = not today

You do not need a preposition like on here.

Compare:

• הוא מגיע מחר = He is arriving tomorrow
• אני עובד היום = I’m working today

The sentence is built like this:

1. רק אחרי שקראתי את ההודעה
   = Only after I read the message
2. גיליתי
   = I found out
3. שהפגישה היא מחר, לא היום
   = that the meeting is tomorrow, not today

So the full structure is:

Only after [something happened] did I find out [something else].

Hebrew often allows this kind of fronted time clause at the beginning of the sentence.

A more neutral order could also be:

• גיליתי שהפגישה היא מחר רק אחרי שקראתי את ההודעה

But the original puts the time clause first for emphasis.

No. In this sentence, the two verbs:

• קראתי
• גיליתי

are the same whether the speaker is male or female.

That is normal for 1st person singular past in Hebrew.

So this sentence could be said by either:

• a male speaker
• a female speaker

The gender of the speaker is not shown here.

You could understand it that way, but in natural English it usually becomes:

• Only after I read the message did I discover...
• I only found out after I read the message...

The Hebrew structure with רק אחרי... גיליתי is very natural, but when translating to English, you often adjust the word order.

So the Hebrew is straightforward, but the best English wording may be a little different from a word-for-word translation.

Native speakers would absolutely say this. It sounds natural and standard.

It is neither especially formal nor especially slangy. It works well in:

• conversation
• text messages
• emails
• storytelling

A slightly more conversational version might drop היא:

• רק אחרי שקראתי את ההודעה גיליתי שהפגישה מחר, לא היום

But the original sentence is perfectly normal Hebrew.