שאלתי את הקופאית אם אפשר לשלם מחר, והיא חייכה ואמרה שלא.

I asked the cashier if it is possible to pay tomorrow, and she smiled and said no.

Breakdown of שאלתי את הקופאית אם אפשר לשלם מחר, והיא חייכה ואמרה שלא.

• היא: she
• ו: and
• לא: not
• מחר: tomorrow

Questions & Answers about שאלתי את הקופאית אם אפשר לשלם מחר, והיא חייכה ואמרה שלא.

Why does שאלתי mean I asked? What does the ending -תי do?

In the past tense, Hebrew often adds endings to show the subject.

• שאל = asked / the basic past stem
• שאלתי = I asked

So -תי is the regular 1st person singular past ending, meaning I.

The verb comes from the root ש־א־ל, connected with asking.
So:

• שאלתי = I asked
• שאלת = you asked (to one person, depending on gender)
• שאלה = she asked
• שאל = he asked

Why is there an את before הקופאית?

את is the direct object marker. It appears before a definite direct object.

Here, the thing/person being asked is the cashier, and that noun is definite because it has ה־:

• הקופאית = the cashier

So Hebrew says:

• שאלתי את הקופאית = I asked the cashier

Important: this את usually does not translate into English. It is a grammar marker, not a word with meaning like to or with.

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