אם אין לנו הרבה זמן, לא כדאי לבזבז שעה על ויכוח קטן.

If we do not have much time, it is not worth wasting an hour on a small argument.

Breakdown of אם אין לנו הרבה זמן, לא כדאי לבזבז שעה על ויכוח קטן.

• קטן: small
• אין: there is no
• לא: not
• על: on

Questions & Answers about אם אין לנו הרבה זמן, לא כדאי לבזבז שעה על ויכוח קטן.

Why does Hebrew say אין לנו הרבה זמן instead of using a verb meaning we don’t have?

Hebrew usually expresses to have with the structure יש ל... or אין ל..., literally there is / there isn’t to....

So:

• יש לנו זמן = we have time
  literally: there is to us time
• אין לנו הרבה זמן = we don’t have much time
  literally: there isn’t to us much time

This is a very common Hebrew pattern, and English speakers usually need a little time to get used to it.

What does אם mean here, and is it used just like English if?

Yes, אם here means if and introduces a condition:

• אם אין לנו הרבה זמן = if we don’t have much time

That is the normal Hebrew way to start an if-clause. It works very much like English if.

What exactly does לא כדאי mean?