היא ביקשה ממני לבוא איתה לבית המרקחת, כי הרופא עוד לא ענה לה.

Breakdown of היא ביקשה ממני לבוא איתה לבית המרקחת, כי הרופא עוד לא ענה לה.

היא
she
לא
not
ל
to
לבוא
to come
כי
because
לענות
to answer
עוד
yet
לה
to her
רופא
male doctor
לבקש
to ask
ממני
from me
בית מרקחת
pharmacy
איתה
with her

Questions & Answers about היא ביקשה ממני לבוא איתה לבית המרקחת, כי הרופא עוד לא ענה לה.

Why is ביקשה in the feminine form?

Because the subject is היא (she). In the past tense, Hebrew verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

  • היא ביקשה = she asked/requested
  • הוא ביקש = he asked/requested

So ביקשה is the 3rd person singular feminine past form of לבקש.

What exactly does ממני mean, and why is it literally from me?

ממני means from me.

It comes from the preposition מ־ / מן (from) plus the pronoun אני (I / me), but in Hebrew this combination becomes the fixed form ממני.

In this sentence, Hebrew uses לבקש מ... for to ask/request from someone:

  • היא ביקשה ממני = she asked me / she requested from me

This is one of those places where Hebrew and English structure things differently. English says ask someone, but Hebrew often says ask from someone.

Why do we have לבוא after ביקשה?

Because Hebrew commonly uses an infinitive after לבקש when you ask someone to do something.

The pattern is:

לבקש ממישהו + infinitive

So:

  • היא ביקשה ממני לבוא = she asked me to come

Here לבוא is the infinitive to come. This works very much like English asked me to come.

Why does Hebrew use לבוא (to come) here? In English I might expect to go with her.

That is a very common question. Hebrew often uses לבוא in places where English would naturally say go.

So לבוא איתה לבית המרקחת can be perfectly natural Hebrew even if the most natural English translation is go with her to the pharmacy.

The choice between לבוא and ללכת depends on perspective. Hebrew may frame the movement as coming along with someone toward a destination, where English would frame it as going. So this is not a word-for-word match between the two languages.

What is איתה, and how is it formed?

איתה means with her.

It comes from the preposition עם (with) plus a pronoun suffix. Hebrew has special attached forms for prepositions:

  • איתי = with me
  • איתך = with you
  • איתו = with him
  • איתה = with her
  • איתנו = with us

So לבוא איתה means to come/go with her.

Why is it לבית המרקחת and not something like להבית המרקחת?

Because בית המרקחת is a construct phrase, and construct phrases work differently from ordinary noun + adjective phrases.

בית המרקחת literally looks like house of the pharmacy-mixture, but as a fixed expression it means pharmacy.

In a construct phrase:

  • the first noun usually does not take ה־
  • the definiteness is shown on the last word

So:

  • בית מרקחת = a pharmacy
  • בית המרקחת = the pharmacy

Then the preposition ל־ (to) attaches to the first word:

  • לבית המרקחת = to the pharmacy

So the form is normal and correct.

Is בית המרקחת the normal modern word for pharmacy?

Yes. בית מרקחת is the standard Hebrew word for pharmacy / drugstore.

In everyday life, Israelis also say brand names or commercial terms in some contexts, but בית מרקחת is the normal standard word and is very common.

What does כי mean here?

Here כי means because.

So the second part of the sentence gives the reason:

  • כי הרופא עוד לא ענה לה = because the doctor hasn’t answered her yet

A useful thing to know is that כי can also mean that in other sentences, depending on context. But in this sentence it clearly means because.

What does עוד לא mean exactly?

עוד לא means not yet or still hasn’t.

So:

  • הרופא עוד לא ענה לה = the doctor has not answered her yet

The word עוד often means still / more / yet, depending on context. Together with לא, it often gives the sense of not yet.

You may also see עדיין לא, which is very close in meaning:

  • עוד לא ענה
  • עדיין לא ענה

Both are natural. In this sentence, עוד לא is completely normal.

Why is it ענה לה and not something like ענה אותה?

Because the verb לענות (to answer) takes the preposition ל־ when referring to the person being answered.

So in Hebrew you answer to someone:

  • לענות למישהו = to answer someone
  • ענה לה = he answered her / he answered to her

This is another place where Hebrew and English do not match word for word. English uses a direct object (answer her), but Hebrew uses ל־.

Why is the doctor ענה and not ענהה or some other form?

Because הרופא is masculine singular: the doctor.

So the verb must match it:

  • הרופא ענה = the doctor answered
  • הרופאה ענתה = the female doctor answered

Hebrew past tense verbs agree with the subject in gender and number, so the form changes depending on who did the action.

Is the word order in this sentence normal?

Yes, very normal.

The sentence is built in a straightforward way:

  • היא ביקשה ממני = she asked me
  • לבוא איתה לבית המרקחת = to come/go with her to the pharmacy
  • כי הרופא עוד לא ענה לה = because the doctor had not answered her yet

This is a natural, standard word order in Hebrew. Hebrew can be flexible, but this version sounds neutral and everyday.

Why is there a comma before כי?

Because the sentence has a main clause and then a reason clause introduced by כי (because):

  • היא ביקשה ממני לבוא איתה לבית המרקחת
  • כי הרופא עוד לא ענה לה

In normal written Hebrew, putting a comma before this kind of כי clause is very common. In casual writing, punctuation can vary, but the comma here is standard and helpful.

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