אם המגהץ לא יעבוד, אני לא אגהץ את החולצה מחר.

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Breakdown of אם המגהץ לא יעבוד, אני לא אגהץ את החולצה מחר.

• לא: not
• לעבוד: to work
• מחר: tomorrow

Questions & Answers about אם המגהץ לא יעבוד, אני לא אגהץ את החולצה מחר.

What does אם mean in this sentence?

אם means if.

It introduces a condition:

אם המגהץ לא יעבוד = if the iron doesn’t work / if the iron won’t work

So the whole sentence is a standard if ... then ... structure, even though Hebrew does not always need a separate word for then.

Why does Hebrew use future tense after אם? In English we usually say if it doesn’t work, not if it won’t work.

That is a very common question.

In Hebrew, when you talk about a real future condition, it is very normal to use the future tense in both parts of the sentence:

• אם המגהץ לא יעבוד
• אני לא אגהץ

Literally, that is close to:

• if the iron will not work, I will not iron

But in natural English, we usually translate it as:

• if the iron doesn’t work, I won’t iron

So the Hebrew grammar is normal; it just does not match English word-for-word here.

Why is it יעבוד and not תעבוד or some other form?