Breakdown of כדאי לחצות את הכביש רק במעבר חצייה.
Questions & Answers about כדאי לחצות את הכביש רק במעבר חצייה.
What does כדאי mean here?
כדאי means advisable, worthwhile, or a good idea. In everyday Hebrew, כדאי + ל + verb often works like a soft should.
So כדאי לחצות... means something like:
- It’s advisable to cross...
- You should cross...
- It’s a good idea to cross...
It gives advice, not a harsh command.
Why is לחצות written with ל־ at the beginning?
Because לחצות is the infinitive form, meaning to cross.
In Hebrew, after כדאי, you normally use ל + infinitive:
- כדאי ללכת = It’s a good idea to go
- כדאי לחכות = It’s a good idea to wait
- כדאי לחצות = It’s a good idea to cross
So ל־ here is the normal marker for the infinitive.
Is את here the word for you?
No. Here את is not the feminine singular you.
In this sentence, את is the direct object marker. It comes before a definite direct object, and it usually is not translated into English.
So:
- לחצות את הכביש = to cross the road
The word את is just marking הכביש as the direct object of לחצות.
Why do we need את before הכביש?
Because הכביש is definite: it means the road, not just a road.
A very common Hebrew rule is:
- if the direct object is definite, you usually put את before it.
Compare:
- לחצות כביש = to cross a road
- לחצות את הכביש = to cross the road
So את appears because the object is definite.
Why is it הכביש and not just כביש?
הכביש means the road. Hebrew often uses the definite form where English may also use the, especially in instructions or general statements about a situation.
So לחצות את הכביש is a natural way to say to cross the road.
If you said לחצות כביש, that would sound more like to cross a road in a more general, less specific way.
What does רק mean, and what part of the sentence does it affect?
רק means only.
Here it affects במעבר חצייה, so the idea is:
- cross the road only at a crosswalk
Its position matters. In this sentence, רק limits the place where crossing is recommended.
Why is there a ב־ attached to מעבר?
The ב־ is a preposition attached directly to the noun. It usually means in, at, or sometimes on, depending on context.
So:
- מעבר חצייה = a crosswalk
- במעבר חצייה = at/in a crosswalk
In English we write the preposition separately, but in Hebrew it is often attached as a prefix.
What does מעבר חצייה mean literally?
מעבר חצייה is the normal Hebrew term for crosswalk or pedestrian crossing.
Literally:
- מעבר = passage / crossing
- חצייה = crossing
Together they form a noun phrase meaning crosswalk. In British English, this is often called a zebra crossing.
Are לחצות and חצייה related?
Yes. They come from the same Hebrew root, ח־צ־ה, which has to do with crossing.
- לחצות = to cross
- חצייה = crossing
This is very common in Hebrew: words built from the same root are often closely related in meaning.
Why is there no word for is or it is in the sentence?
Because in Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not expressed in the present tense.
So where English says:
- It is advisable to cross...
Hebrew simply says:
- כדאי לחצות...
This is a basic feature of Hebrew grammar, and learners see it all the time.
Is this sentence a command or just advice?
Grammatically, it is advice, because כדאי is softer than a true command.
It is not as strong as forms like:
- אסור = forbidden
- חייבים = must
- יש לחצות = one must / one should cross
But in context, especially with safety language, it can still sound quite strong: You should cross only at a crosswalk.
How is the whole sentence pronounced?
A simple pronunciation guide is:
kedai lakhatzot et hakvish rak bema'avar khatsiya
Approximate stress:
- keDAI
- lakhaTZOT
- et haKVISH
- rak
- bema'aVAR
- khatsiYA
The kh sound is like the ch in Bach or loch, not like English k.
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