זה לא תירוץ טוב; פשוט שכחת לבדוק את הכתובת לפני שיצאת.

That is not a good excuse; you simply forgot to check the address before you left.

Breakdown of זה לא תירוץ טוב; פשוט שכחת לבדוק את הכתובת לפני שיצאת.

• טוב: good
• לא: not
• את: direct object marker
• זה: that

Questions & Answers about זה לא תירוץ טוב; פשוט שכחת לבדוק את הכתובת לפני שיצאת.

Why is זה used at the beginning? Does it literally mean this or it?

In this sentence, זה is best understood as this/that in the sense of this is not a good excuse.

Hebrew often uses זה in places where English would use this, that, or even it more flexibly. So:

• זה לא תירוץ טוב = That’s not a good excuse / This isn’t a good excuse

It does not have to refer only to something physically near, the way this often does in English.

Why is there no word for is in זה לא תירוץ טוב?

Because Hebrew usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be.

So instead of saying a word equivalent to is, Hebrew simply says:

• זה לא תירוץ טוב literally: this not excuse good

But the natural meaning is:

• This/that is not a good excuse

This is very normal in Hebrew in the present tense.

What exactly does תירוץ mean? Is it always negative?