Learn Hardcore Hebrew: לא רק אני אהיה בבית בערב, אלא גם הילדים יהיו שם, ולכן נכין ארוחה גדולה. - Not only will I be at home in the evening, but the children will be there too, so we will prepare a big meal.

Word

לא רק אני אהיה בבית בערב, אלא גם הילדים יהיו שם, ולכן נכין ארוחה גדולה.

Meaning

Not only will I be at home in the evening, but the children will be there too, so we will prepare a big meal.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of לא רק אני אהיה בבית בערב, אלא גם הילדים יהיו שם, ולכן נכין ארוחה גדולה.

What does לא רק ... אלא גם ... mean, and is it a fixed pattern?

Yes. לא רק ... אלא גם ... is the standard Hebrew pattern for not only ... but also ....

In this sentence:

It is basically a set expression, so learners should get used to recognizing it as a unit.

Why is אני written explicitly? Doesn’t אהיה already mean I will be?

Correct: אהיה already tells you the subject is I. Hebrew verbs often contain the subject information inside the verb itself.

So technically, Hebrew could sometimes omit אני. But here אני is useful because it creates contrast:

So the pronoun is there for emphasis and clarity.

Why do we use אהיה and יהיו? Are these forms of to be?