אם נצא מוקדם, נספיק ללכת בשביל הארוך ולחזור לפני החושך.

Because Hebrew normally uses the future tense in both parts of a real future conditional sentence:

• אם נצא מוקדם = if we leave early
• נספיק... = we’ll have time / we’ll manage...

This is different from English, where we usually say If we leave early, we’ll... with present tense after if. In Hebrew, future + future is the normal pattern here.

Sometimes colloquial Hebrew uses the present tense for near-future plans, but in this sentence אם נצא מוקדם is the standard and most natural choice for a specific future condition.

So:

• אם נצא מוקדם = best choice for if we leave early
• אם אנחנו יוצאים מוקדם may sound more like a plan, a routine, or more conversational speech

נספיק comes from the verb להספיק, which often means:

• to have enough time
• to manage to do something in time
• sometimes to be enough

In this sentence, נספיק ללכת... ולחזור means something like:

• we’ll have enough time to go... and come back
• we’ll manage to go... and return in time

So it is not just simple future action; it includes the idea of enough time.

Because they depend on נספיק.

Hebrew often uses an infinitive after verbs like להספיק. So:

• נספיק ללכת = we’ll have time to walk / go
• נספיק לחזור = we’ll have time to return

Since both actions are things we will manage to do, both stay in the infinitive:

• ללכת ... ולחזור

This is similar to English to go ... and return.

Here שביל is a noun meaning path, trail, or track.

So בשביל הארוך means:

• on the long trail
• along the long path
• via the long route

In this sentence, ללכת בשביל הארוך means to walk on / take the long trail.

Yes. In unpointed Hebrew, בשביל can mean either:

• on/in the path = ב + השביל
• for / for the sake of

The spelling is the same, so context tells you which one is meant.

Here it must mean on the trail/path, because it is followed by הארוך, and the whole phrase clearly refers to walking a trail:

• ללכת בשביל הארוך = to walk on the long trail

Because Hebrew prepositions like ב, כ, and ל combine with the definite article ה.

So:

• ב + השביל becomes בשביל

In pointed Hebrew, this would be written in a way that shows the vowel change, but in normal unpointed writing it just appears as בשביל.

So בשביל הארוך is really:

• ב + השביל הארוך
• on the long trail

Because שביל is a masculine singular noun, and Hebrew adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

So:

• שביל = masculine singular
• הארוך = masculine singular adjective

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would also be feminine.

Because in Hebrew, when a noun is definite, its adjective must also be definite.

So Hebrew says the equivalent of:

• the trail the long

not just:

• the trail long

Here the noun is definite because of the built-in ב + ה in בשביל, so the adjective must also be definite:

• בשביל הארוך

Hebrew often uses the definite article where English would not.

So החושך can naturally mean:

• the dark
• darkness
• nightfall / dark

That makes לפני החושך a normal Hebrew way to say:

• before dark

It sounds natural in Hebrew, even though the English translation usually drops the.

It is built into the verb forms.

• נצא = we will leave / go out
• נספיק = we will manage / have enough time

Hebrew often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear. You could add אנחנו, but it is usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

Here מוקדם is being used like an adverb, meaning early.

It describes when we leave, not a noun, so it does not need to agree with gender or number.

Compare:

• נצא מוקדם = we’ll leave early
• יציאה מוקדמת = an early departure

In the second example, the word is an adjective describing a noun, so it changes form.

Because לצאת is an irregular verb pattern in Hebrew.

Its future forms are:

• אצא
• תצא
• יצא
• נצא

So נצא is the normal future form meaning we will go out / leave.

This is a common kind of verb in Hebrew, so it is worth memorizing as a full pattern rather than trying to build it mechanically from the infinitive.