אני מכירה את בעלה, אבל עדיין לא דיברתי עם דודה שלה.

Because Hebrew uses two different verbs for different kinds of know:

• להכיר = to know/be acquainted with a person, place, or thing through familiarity
• לדעת = to know a fact, piece of information, or how to do something

So:

• אני מכירה את בעלה = I know her husband / I’m acquainted with her husband
• אני יודעת מי בעלה = I know who her husband is

You generally do not use יודעת directly with a person in this sense.

Because מכירה is the feminine singular form.

In Hebrew, present-tense verb forms agree with gender:

• אני מכיר = I know / am acquainted with... (male speaker)
• אני מכירה = I know / am acquainted with... (female speaker)

Notice that דיברתי does not show gender here, because first-person past tense is the same for men and women. So the clue comes from מכירה.

Here את is the direct object marker. It has no English equivalent.

Hebrew uses את before a definite direct object. Since בעלה means her husband, it is definite, so את is required:

• אני מכירה את בעלה

Important: this את is not the word meaning you (feminine singular), even though it is spelled the same way.

Because את is only used for a direct object, not after a preposition.

In the sentence:

• אני מכירה את בעלה — בעלה is the direct object of מכירה
• דיברתי עם דודה שלה — דודה שלה comes after the preposition עם (with)

Once a noun is introduced by a preposition like עם, you do not add the direct object marker את.

בעלה is built from:

• בעל = husband
• ־ה = her

So בעלה literally means her husband.

This is a possessive suffix attached directly to the noun. Hebrew often does this with family relationships and other common words.

A few similar examples:

• בעלי = my husband
• בעלך = your husband
• בעלה = her husband

Also, because it already has possession built into it, it is automatically definite.

Hebrew has two common ways to show possession:

1. Suffix on the noun

   • בעלה = her husband

2. Noun + של + pronoun

   • דודה שלה = her aunt

Both are correct. Hebrew often mixes these patterns naturally.

In theory, דודתה is possible and means her aunt, but it sounds more formal or literary. In everyday spoken Hebrew, דודה שלה is usually more natural.

So this sentence sounds very normal:

• בעלה — compact and very common
• דודה שלה — colloquial and natural

When you mean speak with / talk to someone, לדבר commonly takes עם:

• דיברתי עם דודה שלה = I spoke with / talked to her aunt

This is the normal choice for a conversation with a person.

Compare:

• לדבר עם מישהו = to speak with someone
• לדבר אל מישהו = to speak to/address someone (often more formal or one-directional)
• לדבר על מישהו = to speak about someone

So here, עם is exactly what you would expect.

Because Hebrew does not have a separate present perfect tense like English have spoken / haven’t spoken.

Instead, Hebrew often uses the past tense together with words like עדיין לא or עוד לא to express that meaning:

• עדיין לא דיברתי = I still haven’t spoken / I haven’t spoken yet

So although דיברתי is grammatically past tense, the whole phrase corresponds very naturally to English haven’t spoken yet.

Yes. Both can work.

• עדיין לא = still not / still haven’t / not yet
• עוד לא = not yet

In many everyday situations, עוד לא is very common and natural:

• אבל עוד לא דיברתי עם דודה שלה

Using עדיין לא can give a slight sense of as of now, still not. It emphasizes that the situation remains unchanged.

So:

• עדיין לא דיברתי = I still haven’t spoken
• עוד לא דיברתי = I haven’t spoken yet

Both are good; the difference is mostly one of nuance.

With family words, Hebrew very often uses the noun directly with the possessive pronoun:

• אמא שלי = my mother
• אח שלו = his brother
• דודה שלה = her aunt

So דודה שלה is a normal way to say her aunt.

In other words, Hebrew does not always need a separate the in phrases like this, especially with kinship terms.