Questions & Answers about אל תצחקי עליה כשהיא מהססת; פשוט תני לה עוד דקה.
Why are תצחקי and תני addressed to a woman?
Because the sentence is speaking to one female person.
In Hebrew, commands and command-like forms usually show gender and number. Here:
- תצחקי = you (feminine singular) will laugh / laugh in a negative command structure
- תני = give! addressed to one woman
If you were speaking to a man, you would say:
- אל תצחק עליה... פשוט תן לה עוד דקה.
If you were speaking to more than one woman:
- אל תצחקנה עליה... פשוט תנו לה עוד דקה.
(In modern spoken Hebrew, plural feminine forms are often replaced by the masculine plural.)
Why does the sentence use אל and not לא for don’t laugh?
Because אל is the normal word used for a negative command in Hebrew.
So:
- אל תצחקי = don’t laugh
- לא צחקתי = I didn’t laugh
- לא צוחקים = people don’t laugh / we don’t laugh
A very common pattern is:
- אל + future form
So although תצחקי is formally a future-tense form, after אל it functions as “don’t laugh.”