לפני ההופעה בדקנו איפה הבמה, כדי שנוכל לשבת קרוב יותר.

לפני means before.

In this sentence it is followed by a noun phrase: ההופעה = the performance / the show. So:

לפני ההופעה = before the performance

A useful comparison:

• לפני ההופעה = before the performance
• לפני ש... = before someone did something

So Hebrew uses לפני both with nouns and with clauses, but the structure changes a little.

ההופעה is the performance / the show / the appearance.

It is made of:

• הופעה = performance, show, appearance
• ה־ = the

So ההופעה literally means the performance.

This ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, like English the. You will see it attached directly to nouns.

בדקנו means we checked.

It comes from the verb לבדוק = to check / examine.

Breakdown:

• בדק־ = the verb stem/root idea
• ־נו = the ending for we in the past tense

So Hebrew does not need a separate subject pronoun here. The verb itself already tells you the subject:

• בדקתי = I checked
• בדקת = you checked
• בדקנו = we checked

That is why there is no separate אנחנו in the sentence.

Because איפה הבמה is not a simple direct object noun phrase like the book or the ticket. It is a clause meaning something like where the stage is/was.

Hebrew uses את before a definite direct object noun, for example:

• בדקנו את הכרטיסים = we checked the tickets

But with an embedded question/clause, Hebrew does not use את:

• בדקנו איפה הבמה = we checked where the stage was

So here בדקנו is followed by a clause, not by a noun object.

Yes. Here איפה introduces an indirect question:

• איפה הבמה? = Where is the stage?
• בדקנו איפה הבמה = We checked where the stage was

So איפה can appear in a direct question and also inside a larger sentence.

Also, איפה is the everyday, common word for where. A more formal alternative is היכן. In normal speech, איפה is much more common.

Because Hebrew usually does not use a present-tense form of to be in sentences like this.

So:

• איפה הבמה? literally looks like Where the stage?
• natural English: Where is the stage?

Inside this past sentence, English normally says where the stage was, but Hebrew still just says איפה הבמה and lets context do the work.

This is very normal in Hebrew. Present-tense to be is often simply omitted.

Because the sentence is talking about a specific stage, not just any stage.

• במה = a stage
• הבמה = the stage

In context, everyone knows which stage is meant: the stage at the performance venue. So Hebrew uses the definite form, just like English would say the stage.

This part expresses purpose.

• כדי = in order to / so that
• שנוכל = that we can / that we will be able
• לשבת = to sit

So:

כדי שנוכל לשבת קרוב יותר = so that we could sit closer / in order for us to be able to sit closer

Why both verbs?

Because נוכל means we will be able, and לשבת tells you able to do what? → to sit.

So the structure is:

be able + infinitive

just like English:

can sit / be able to sit

This is very common in Hebrew.

נוכל literally means we will be able. But after a past action, Hebrew often uses the future to describe the intended result or next action from that past point of view.

So:

• בדקנו... כדי שנוכל לשבת...
• literally: we checked... so that we will be able to sit...
• natural English: we checked... so that we could sit...

English often shifts this to could, but Hebrew keeps the future form because it is still something that comes after the checking.

Yes, that is possible, but it is slightly different in nuance.

• כדי לשבת קרוב יותר = in order to sit closer
• כדי שנוכל לשבת קרוב יותר = in order for us to be able to sit closer

The version in your sentence emphasizes ability / possibility. It suggests that checking where the stage was would help make it possible to choose seats in a better place.

So שנוכל is not just extra grammar; it adds the idea of being able to.

Hebrew often forms the comparative with יותר = more.

So:

• קרוב = near / close
• יותר = more
• קרוב יותר = more near = closer

In this sentence, קרוב יותר functions adverbially with לשבת:

• לשבת קרוב יותר = to sit closer

That is why קרוב does not change form here. It is not directly describing a feminine noun like במה; it is describing the manner/location of sitting.

A very literal breakdown would be:

לפני ההופעה — before the performance
בדקנו — we checked
איפה הבמה — where the stage is/was
כדי — in order / so that
שנוכל — we can / we will be able
לשבת — to sit
קרוב יותר — closer

So the full literal order is roughly:

Before the performance, we checked where the stage was, so that we could sit closer.

This is actually quite close to natural English word order, which makes this sentence a nice one for learners. The main differences are:

• Hebrew does not need a separate we
• Hebrew omits present-tense is/was in איפה הבמה
• Hebrew uses future (נוכל) where English would often say could in this context