אל תדברו עליו בזמן שהוא מנסה להתרכז.

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Breakdown of אל תדברו עליו בזמן שהוא מנסה להתרכז.

• אל: not
• לנסות: to try
• לדבר: to talk

Questions & Answers about אל תדברו עליו בזמן שהוא מנסה להתרכז.

Why does the sentence use אל and not לא for don’t?

אל is the normal word used for a negative command in Hebrew.

• אל תדברו = don’t speak / don’t talk
• לא usually means simple negation: not / no / do not in non-imperative contexts

So:

• אל תדברו עליו = Don’t talk about him
• לא מדברים עליו = People don’t talk about him / We don’t talk about him

A good basic rule is:

• אל + future-form verb = negative command

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Why is the verb תדברו in what looks like a future form?

In Modern Hebrew, negative commands are often formed with אל + future tense form.

So even though תדברו is technically a future form, in this sentence it functions as a command:

• תדברו = you will speak / you will talk
  but with אל:
• אל תדברו = don’t speak / don’t talk

This is very common in Hebrew.

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Who is תדברו addressing? One person or more than one?