תני לי ממחטה, בבקשה; נשפך לי קצת קפה על השולחן.

Because תני is the imperative form used when speaking to one female.

With לתת (to give), the imperative changes for gender and number:

• תן — to one male
• תני — to one female
• תנו — to more than one person

So this sentence is addressed to a woman or girl.

Hebrew often leaves subject pronouns out when the verb already shows who the subject is.

In תני, the verb itself already tells you:

• it is a command
• it is directed to you
• that you are feminine singular

So Hebrew does not need a separate את here. Adding it would usually sound unnecessary or emphatic.

Because ממחטה here is indefinite: the speaker is asking for a tissue / a handkerchief, not the tissue.

A useful rule:

• ממחטה = a tissue / handkerchief
• הממחטה = the tissue / handkerchief
• את is used before a definite direct object

So:

• תני לי ממחטה = give me a tissue
• תני לי את הממחטה = give me the tissue

The version with את הממחטה would mean a specific tissue is already known in the situation.

Here לי simply means to me.

So תני לי ממחטה literally works like:

• תני — give
• לי — to me
• ממחטה — a tissue / handkerchief

This is a very common Hebrew pattern:

• תן לי מים — give me water
• תגידי לי — tell me
• תכתבי לי — write to me / write me

בבקשה means please here.

It is very flexible in Hebrew and can appear in different places:

• תני לי ממחטה, בבקשה
• בבקשה, תני לי ממחטה
• תני לי בבקשה ממחטה

All of these are natural.

Also, בבקשה can mean you’re welcome in other contexts, so learners often meet it with more than one meaning.

נשפך is the past-tense form of a verb meaning was spilled / got spilled / spilled out.

It comes from the root related to לשפוך (to pour / to spill), and here it is being used in a way that focuses on the event happening rather than on a clear agent doing it.

That is why נשפך לי קצת קפה sounds like:

• some coffee got spilled on me
• I spilled some coffee in an accidental, less direct way

It is very common in Hebrew to describe accidents this way.

This לי is not exactly the same as the לי in תני לי.

In נשפך לי קצת קפה, לי marks the speaker as the affected person. It often gives the feeling of:

• this happened to me
• this happened on me
• unfortunately, this happened and I’m the one dealing with it

This is a very common Hebrew pattern:

• נשבר לי הטלפון — my phone broke on me
• הלך לי המחשב — my computer died on me
• נקרע לי התיק — my bag tore on me

So לי here adds an affected, often accidental nuance.

Yes. That would also be correct, but it sounds different.

• שפכתי קצת קפה על השולחן = I spilled some coffee on the table
• נשפך לי קצת קפה על השולחן = some coffee got spilled on the table on me / I accidentally spilled some coffee on the table

The version with שפכתי is more direct and clearly says I did it.

The version with נשפך לי is very natural in spoken Hebrew when talking about accidents or mishaps, and it sounds a bit less direct or less blame-focused.

Because קצת normally comes before the noun it modifies in this kind of phrase.

So:

• קצת קפה = a little coffee / some coffee

This is the normal order.

Since קפה is a mass noun here, Hebrew uses it in the singular after קצת. You are not counting coffees; you are talking about a quantity of coffee.

Compare:

• קצת מים — a little water
• קצת חלב — a little milk
• קצת סבלנות — a little patience

Because Hebrew often uses the definite article when the object is specific and understood from the situation.

Here, השולחן usually means the table that is present in the scene — the table both speaker and listener can identify.

So:

• על השולחן = on the table
• על שולחן would usually sound incomplete or less natural here

Also, notice that על does not merge with ה. Hebrew prepositions like ב, ל, and כ often combine with the article, but על stays separate:

• על השולחן
• not a contracted form

Because verb-first order is very common and natural in Hebrew, especially when describing an event.

So נשפך לי קצת קפה is a normal way to present what happened.

You could also hear:

• קצת קפה נשפך לי על השולחן

but that puts a little more emphasis on קצת קפה.

For an English speaker, verb-first order can feel unusual, but in Hebrew it is often the most natural word order for this kind of sentence.

Yes.

נשפך is masculine singular, and it agrees with קפה, which is also treated as masculine singular in Hebrew.

So the grammar matches:

• קפה נשפך
• not קפה נשפכה

If the noun were feminine, the verb would change:

• נשפכה לי קצת מרק would be wrong, because מרק is masculine
• but נשפכה לי קצת שתייה would be possible, because שתייה is feminine

So agreement matters here.