לפני החתונה היינו צריכים לקנות טבעת ולשלוח הודעה למשפחה.

לפני means before here, so לפני החתונה means before the wedding.

This is a very common structure in Hebrew:

• לפני + noun = before + noun
• לפני החתונה = before the wedding
• לפני השיעור = before the lesson
• לפני הארוחה = before the meal

Be aware that לפני can also mean in front of, depending on context. In this sentence, because it refers to time, it clearly means before.

The ה־ at the beginning is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• חתונה = a wedding / wedding
• החתונה = the wedding

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a specific wedding, so Hebrew uses החתונה.

Literally, היינו צריכים is something like we were needing / we were supposed to / we needed to, but in natural English it usually means we had to or we needed to.

Breakdown:

• היינו = we were
• צריכים = needing / needing to / required to in masculine plural

Together, היינו צריכים expresses a past obligation or necessity:

• היינו צריכים לקנות... = we had to buy...
• היינו צריכים לשלוח... = we needed to send...

This is a very common Hebrew way to say had to.

צריכים is the masculine plural form.

Hebrew adjectives and adjective-like words must agree with the subject in gender and number. Since the subject is we, the form depends on who we refers to:

• אנחנו היינו צריכים = we had to if the group is masculine or mixed-gender
• אנחנו היינו צריכות = we had to if the group is entirely female

So the sentence as written assumes either:

• a group of men, or
• a mixed group, which Hebrew normally treats as masculine plural

Because Hebrew often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

Here, היינו already means we were, so אנחנו is optional.

You could say:

• לפני החתונה היינו צריכים...
• לפני החתונה אנחנו היינו צריכים...

Both are grammatical, but the version without אנחנו is very natural and common.

The ל־ here is part of the Hebrew infinitive, similar to to in English:

• לקנות = to buy
• לשלוח = to send

After expressions like צריך / צריכים / הייתי צריך / היינו צריכים, Hebrew usually uses an infinitive:

• אני צריך ללכת = I need to go
• היינו צריכים לקנות = we had to buy
• הם צריכים לשלוח = they need to send

So in this sentence, לקנות and לשלוח are both infinitives.

ו־ means and, so:

• לשלוח = to send
• ולשלוח = and to send

Hebrew often connects two infinitives this way after one expression of obligation:

• היינו צריכים לקנות טבעת ולשלוח הודעה
• literally: we had to buy a ring and to send a message
• natural English: we had to buy a ring and send a message

Hebrew keeps the infinitive form on both verbs.

Because it means a ring, not the ring.

So:

• טבעת = a ring / ring
• הטבעת = the ring

In this sentence, the speaker is introducing it as an item that needed to be bought, so the indefinite form טבעת is natural.

Also, טבעת is a feminine noun.

הודעה means message or notice.

In modern everyday Hebrew, it very often means a message such as:

• a text message
• a written message
• a notification

In this sentence, לשלוח הודעה למשפחה most naturally means to send a message to the family.

It does not have to be specifically an SMS, but that is a very possible interpretation in modern usage.

The prefix ל־ here means to.

So:

• משפחה = family
• למשפחה = to the family

Hebrew often uses ל־ for the recipient of an action:

• לשלוח הודעה למשפחה = to send a message to the family
• לתת מתנה לחבר = to give a gift to a friend
• לכתוב מכתב למורה = to write a letter to the teacher

Because משפחה has the definite article absorbed into the prefix, למשפחה means to the family, not just to family.

When certain prepositions combine with ה־ (the), Hebrew merges them into one word.

So:

• ל + ה + משפחה becomes למשפחה

This is very common:

• לבית = to the house
• לחתונה = to the wedding
• בבית = in the house
• מהבית = from the house

So למשפחה is not just to family in a vague sense; it normally means to the family.

The word order is very natural Hebrew:

לפני החתונה היינו צריכים לקנות טבעת ולשלוח הודעה למשפחה.

A rough structure is:

• time phrase: לפני החתונה = before the wedding
• main verb phrase: היינו צריכים = we had to
• first action: לקנות טבעת = buy a ring
• second action: ולשלוח הודעה למשפחה = and send a message to the family

Hebrew often puts a time expression at the beginning of the sentence, just like English can:

• Before the wedding, we had to...

So the order should feel quite familiar to an English speaker.

Only צריכים would need to change to the feminine plural form:

• לפני החתונה היינו צריכות לקנות טבעת ולשלוח הודעה למשפחה.

Why only that word?

• היינו is the same for masculine and feminine plural
• the infinitives לקנות and לשלוח do not change
• the nouns stay the same

So the key agreement change is:

• צריכים = masculine plural
• צריכות = feminine plural

A simple pronunciation guide is:

lif-NEI ha-kha-tu-NA ha-YI-nu tsri-KHIM lik-NOT ta-BA-at ve-lish-LO-akh ho-da-A la-mish-pa-KHA

A few notes:

• לפני sounds like lifnei
• חתונה has the guttural ח, often like the ch in German Bach
• צריכים is tsrikhim
• לשלוח is lishloach
• הודעה is stressed at the end: hoda'á
• משפחה is mishpachá

The main stress pattern is roughly: lifNEI hachatuNA haYInu tsriKHIM likNOT taBAat velishLOach hodaA lamishpaKHA