אם נשאר הרבה אוכל, אפשר להקפיא אותו היום ולהפשיר אותו מחר.

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Breakdown of אם נשאר הרבה אוכל, אפשר להקפיא אותו היום ולהפשיר אותו מחר.

• היום: today
• מחר: tomorrow
• אם: if

Questions & Answers about אם נשאר הרבה אוכל, אפשר להקפיא אותו היום ולהפשיר אותו מחר.

Is נשאר present tense or past tense here?

Here נשאר means is left / remains. In this verb, the masculine singular present form and the 3rd-person masculine singular past form look the same: נשאר. The context tells you how to understand it.

In this sentence, because it starts with אם and then talks about today and tomorrow, the natural meaning is if a lot of food is left over.

You could also hear אם יישאר הרבה אוכל, which makes the future meaning more explicit.

Why is it נשאר and not נשארים?

Because the subject is אוכל (food), and אוכל is grammatically masculine singular in Hebrew.

So the verb agrees with אוכל, not with הרבה.

• נשאר הרבה אוכל = a lot of food is left
• נשארו הרבה מנות = a lot of dishes/portions were left

Even though a lot of sounds plural in English, the Hebrew verb follows the noun that comes after הרבה.

Why does Hebrew say הרבה אוכל instead of something plural?

Because אוכל usually works as a mass noun, like food in English. It is not normally counted item by item.

So:

• הרבה אוכל = a lot of food
• הרבה מאכלים = many food items / many dishes

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things. The sentence uses the more general mass-noun idea: a lot of food.