אל תשפכי את כל החלב לסיר; תשפכי רק קצת.

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Breakdown of אל תשפכי את כל החלב לסיר; תשפכי רק קצת.

• את: direct object marker
• כל: all
• רק: only

Questions & Answers about אל תשפכי את כל החלב לסיר; תשפכי רק קצת.

Why does the sentence use אל and not לא for don’t pour?

In Hebrew, negative commands are usually formed with אל + a future-tense verb.

So:

• אל תשפכי = Don’t pour
• לא תשפכי would normally sound more like you will not pour or you don’t pour, not a direct command.

So אל is the normal word for telling someone don’t do that.

Why is תשפכי used in both parts of the sentence, even though one part is negative and the other is positive?

Great question. The same verb form can be used in two slightly different ways here:

• אל תשפכי = negative command: don’t pour
• תשפכי רק קצת = a positive command in a common modern spoken style: pour only a little

In other words, the second תשפכי is formally a future form, but in Modern Hebrew future forms are often used like commands, especially in everyday speech.

A more traditional textbook imperative would be:

• שפכי רק קצת

So the sentence is using a very common modern pattern:

• אל + future for don’t...
• sometimes just future for do...

What does the ending -י in תשפכי tell me?