Questions & Answers about יש לי רק עשרים דקות לפני השיעור.
In everyday Hebrew, possession is usually expressed with יש + ל־ + person rather than with a separate verb meaning to have.
So:
יש לי = literally there is to me
Idiomatic meaning: I have
That is why יש לי רק עשרים דקות means I only have twenty minutes.
A useful pattern:
- יש לי = I have
- אין לי = I do not have
- היה לי = I had
- יהיה לי = I will have
לי is the preposition ל־ meaning to / for, combined with the pronoun me.
So:
- ל־ = to, for
- לי = to me / for me
In this sentence, יש לי literally means there is to me, which Hebrew uses for I have.
Other related forms:
- לך = to you
- לו = to him
- לה = to her
- לנו = to us