אני חייבת לצאת עכשיו, כי יש לי פגישה חשובה בעיר.

Because חייבת is the feminine singular form. It tells you the speaker is female.

• אני חייבת = I am obligated / I have to... (female speaker)
• אני חייב = I am obligated / I have to... (male speaker)

This is very common in Hebrew: words like adjectives and participle-like forms often agree with the speaker’s gender.

Not exactly in the same way English must is.

In Modern Hebrew, חייב / חייבת is often used like an adjective or participle meaning obligated or must / have to in context. Hebrew does not usually use a single modal verb exactly like English must here. Instead, it commonly uses:

• חייב / חייבת + infinitive
• צריך / צריכה + infinitive

So אני חייבת לצאת literally feels like I am obligated to leave, but in natural English it is often translated as I have to leave or I must leave.

Because after חייבת, Hebrew uses the infinitive form of the next verb.

• לצאת = to leave / to go out

The ל־ at the beginning is the usual marker of the infinitive, similar to English to.

So:

• חייבת לצאת = have to leave

A learner may expect something more regular-looking from the verb יצא (he went out / left), but לצאת is simply the standard infinitive form and is worth memorizing.

Yes, sometimes you can, especially in conversation if the subject is already obvious.

• אני חייבת לצאת עכשיו
• חייבת לצאת עכשיו

Both can work.

But אני is very natural here and often helps with clarity. In present-tense-type Hebrew sentences, the form חייבת shows gender and number, but not person as clearly as an English verb would, so the pronoun is often included.

This is one of the most important Hebrew patterns to learn.

Hebrew usually expresses possession with:

• יש = there is / there are
• ל־ = to / for

So:

• יש לי literally = there is to me
• natural English = I have

In this sentence:

• יש לי פגישה = I have a meeting

Other examples:

• יש לי זמן = I have time
• אין לי זמן = I don’t have time

So יש לי is the standard way to say I have.

Because in Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun.

• פגישה = meeting
• חשובה = important

So:

• פגישה חשובה = an important meeting

Also, the adjective must agree with the noun in gender and number.

Here:

• פגישה is feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular: חשובה

Compare:

• ספר חשוב = an important book
• פגישה חשובה = an important meeting
• פגישות חשובות = important meetings

Because it is the feminine singular form of the adjective חשוב (important).

Hebrew adjectives change form to match the noun:

• חשוב = masculine singular
• חשובה = feminine singular
• חשובים = masculine plural
• חשובות = feminine plural

Since פגישה is feminine singular, Hebrew uses חשובה.

Here, כי means because.

It introduces the reason:

• אני חייבת לצאת עכשיו = I have to leave now
• כי יש לי פגישה חשובה בעיר = because I have an important meeting in the city

So כי is connecting the two clauses.

Important note: כי can also mean that in other contexts, depending on the sentence. But in this sentence, it clearly means because.

In unpointed Hebrew writing, בעיר can be ambiguous.

It can represent:

• בְּעיר = in a city
• בָּעיר = in the city

Both are written בעיר without vowel marks.

Why? Because the preposition ב־ (in) attaches directly to the noun, and when it combines with ה־ (the), the spelling still ends up looking the same in normal writing.

So context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence, many learners will understand it as in the city or in town, depending on context.

ב־ is a very common Hebrew prefix meaning in.

Instead of writing it as a separate word, Hebrew usually attaches it directly to the following noun:

• בית = house

• בבית = in a house / in the house

• עיר = city
• בעיר = in a city / in the city

This is one of several very common one-letter Hebrew prefixes, such as:

• ב־ = in
• ל־ = to
• כ־ = as / like
• ו־ = and

Yes. That is a very common alternative.

• אני חייבת לצאת = I must / I have to leave
• אני צריכה לצאת = I need to leave

Both can be natural, but חייבת often sounds a bit stronger, more like obligation or necessity. צריכה can sound slightly softer or more practical, depending on context.

So the choice depends on nuance:

• חייבת = stronger sense of obligation
• צריכה = need to

Yes, Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, but this sentence has a very natural neutral order:

• אני חייבת לצאת עכשיו = I have to leave now

You may also hear:

• עכשיו אני חייבת לצאת = Now I have to leave
• אני עכשיו חייבת לצאת = I now have to leave

These are all possible, but they can shift emphasis slightly. The version in your sentence is a normal, straightforward way to say it.

Only the gender-marked word would change:

• אני חייב לצאת עכשיו, כי יש לי פגישה חשובה בעיר.

Everything else stays the same.

So:

• חייבת = female speaker
• חייב = male speaker

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

ani kha-YE-vet la-TSET akh-SHAV, ki yesh li pgi-SHA kha-shu-VA ba-IR / be-IR

A few notes:

• ח is a throaty sound with no exact English equivalent.
• צ sounds like ts in cats.
• פגישה is pronounced roughly pgi-SHA.
• בעיר may be pronounced more like ba-IR if it means in the city, or be-IR if it means in a city.

You do not need perfect pronunciation immediately, but those are the main points learners usually notice.