אם תקני חצאית אפורה, כדאי שתמדדי גם סוודר ורוד שיתאים לה.

Breakdown of אם תקני חצאית אפורה, כדאי שתמדדי גם סוודר ורוד שיתאים לה.

לקנות
to buy
גם
also
אם
if
ש
that
למדוד
to try on
כדאי
advisable
סוודר
sweater
חצאית
skirt
ורוד
pink
אפור
gray
להתאים
to match
לה
to it

Questions & Answers about אם תקני חצאית אפורה, כדאי שתמדדי גם סוודר ורוד שיתאים לה.

Why is תקני used here?

תקני is the future tense, second person feminine singular form of לקנות (to buy).

The sentence is speaking to one female person, so Hebrew uses the feminine you form. That is why it is אם תקני = if you (feminine) buy.

If you were speaking to a man, it would be:

אם תקנה חצאית אפורה...

Why is the verb after אם in the future tense?

In Hebrew, when אם means if in a real future condition, the verb is often in the future tense.

So:

  • אם תקני = if you buy
  • literally, it looks like if you will buy, but in natural English we just say if you buy

This is very normal Hebrew structure for future situations.

Why does the sentence say כדאי שתמדדי and not just use an infinitive?

כדאי often introduces advice or recommendation, and one very common pattern is:

כדאי ש + future verb

So:

  • כדאי שתמדדי = it’s כדאי that you try on
  • natural English: you should try on / it would be a good idea to try on

You may also see כדאי לך למדוד in other sentences, which is another common way to say something similar.

What exactly does כדאי mean here?

כדאי means something like:

  • worthwhile
  • advisable
  • a good idea

In this sentence, it gives advice:

כדאי שתמדדי גם סוודר ורוד
= You should also try on a pink sweater

It does not change for gender or number here; כדאי itself stays the same.

Why is תמדדי feminine singular?

Because the whole sentence is still addressing one woman.

תמדדי is the future, second person feminine singular form of למדוד.

In clothing contexts, למדוד means to try on.

So:

  • תמדדי = you (feminine singular) will try on / should try on

If speaking to a man, it would be תמדוד.

Does למדוד always mean to try on?

Not always. Its basic meaning is to measure, but with clothes it commonly means to try on.

For example:

  • למדוד חולצה = to try on a shirt
  • in another context, it could mean to measure something

So here, because the object is clothing, the meaning is clearly try on.

Why are the adjectives after the nouns: חצאית אפורה and סוודר ורוד?

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

  • חצאית אפורה = a gray skirt
  • סוודר ורוד = a pink sweater

This is the normal Hebrew word order.

Also, the adjective must agree with the noun in gender and number.

Why is it אפורה but ורוד?

Because the adjectives must match the noun’s gender.

  • חצאית is feminine singular, so the adjective is אפורה
  • סוודר is masculine singular, so the adjective is ורוד

So the sentence shows adjective agreement:

  • feminine noun + feminine adjective
  • masculine noun + masculine adjective
Why is there no ה on the nouns and adjectives?

Because the sentence is talking about indefinite items:

  • a gray skirt
  • a pink sweater

So Hebrew uses:

  • חצאית אפורה
  • סוודר ורוד

If it were the gray skirt or the pink sweater, you would need the definite article on both the noun and the adjective:

  • החצאית האפורה
  • הסוודר הוורוד
What does גם mean, and why is it placed there?

גם means also.

Here it modifies the action of trying on the sweater:

כדאי שתמדדי גם סוודר ורוד
= You should also try on a pink sweater

Its position is natural Hebrew word order. It comes before the thing being added, here סוודר ורוד.

What is the ש in שתמדדי and שיתאים?

The prefix ש is very common in Hebrew. It often means that, which, or so that, depending on context.

Here:

  • שתמדדי = that you try on
  • שיתאים לה = that/which will suit it / match it

So in this sentence, ש introduces a clause after כדאי, and later it introduces a relative clause describing the sweater.

Why is it שיתאים and not a feminine verb?

Because the subject of יתאים is סוודר ורוד, and סוודר is masculine singular.

So:

  • סוודר ... שיתאים לה
  • literally: a sweater that will match/suit it

Since סוודר is masculine singular, the verb is masculine singular future: יתאים.

If the subject were a feminine noun, the verb form would be feminine.

What does לה refer to?

לה here means to it and refers back to חצאית.

Even though לה often means to her, it can also mean to it when referring to a feminine noun.

Since חצאית is grammatically feminine, Hebrew uses לה:

סוודר ורוד שיתאים לה
= a pink sweater that will match it
that is, match the skirt

Why does Hebrew use לה instead of a direct object form?

The verb להתאים or התאים often works with the preposition ל־ when meaning to suit or to match something.

So Hebrew says, literally:

  • it will suit/match to it

That is why you get:

שיתאים לה

This is just the normal Hebrew pattern with this verb.

Is שיתאים לה best understood as that matches it or that will match it?

Grammatically, יתאים is future tense, so literally it is will match.

Because the whole sentence is about a possible future situation, English may translate it in a few natural ways:

  • that will match it
  • that would match it
  • sometimes simply to match it

All of these can work as natural translations, but the Hebrew form itself is definitely future.

Could this sentence be said to a man?

Yes, but several verb forms would have to change.

To a man, you would say:

אם תקנה חצאית אפורה, כדאי שתמדוד גם סוודר ורוד שיתאים לה.

The nouns and adjectives stay the same, because they describe the clothes, not the person being addressed. Only the you verb forms change:

  • תקניתקנה
  • תמדדיתמדוד
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