Learn Hardcore Hebrew: מסוכן לחצות את הכביש כאן בלילה, כי אין רמזור ליד הפנייה. - It is dangerous to cross the road here at night, because there is no traffic light near the turn.

Word

מסוכן לחצות את הכביש כאן בלילה, כי אין רמזור ליד הפנייה.

Meaning

It is dangerous to cross the road here at night, because there is no traffic light near the turn.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of מסוכן לחצות את הכביש כאן בלילה, כי אין רמזור ליד הפנייה.

Why does the sentence begin with מסוכן and not זה מסוכן?

Hebrew often uses an impersonal adjective + infinitive structure to say that something is dangerous, easy, important, forbidden, and so on.

So מסוכן לחצות את הכביש literally means dangerous to cross the road, or more naturally, it is dangerous to cross the road.

English usually needs it is, but Hebrew often leaves that out.
So:

You can say זה מסוכן, but that usually means that is dangerous or this is dangerous, with more emphasis on a specific thing.

What does לחצות mean, and why is it in this form?

לחצות means to cross.

It is the infinitive form, which is the Hebrew equivalent of English to + verb.

Here it comes after מסוכן, because Hebrew often says:

So: