אם נקדים את התשלום, אולי יסכימו להאריך לנו את החוזה בעוד חודש.

If we pay earlier, maybe they will agree to extend our contract by another month.

Breakdown of אם נקדים את התשלום, אולי יסכימו להאריך לנו את החוזה בעוד חודש.

• את: direct object marker
• ב: by
• אם: if
• עוד: another

Questions & Answers about אם נקדים את התשלום, אולי יסכימו להאריך לנו את החוזה בעוד חודש.

Why does אם use the future form נקדים here? In English we usually say if we pay early, not if we will pay early.

That is a very common question. In Hebrew, a future or potential condition often uses the future form after אם.

So:

אם נקדים את התשלום
literally: if we will advance the payment
natural English: if we pay early / if we make the payment earlier

This is normal Hebrew. English and Hebrew handle if-clauses differently here.

What exactly does נקדים mean?

נקדים is the 1st person plural future form of להקדים.

The basic idea of להקדים is to make something earlier, to bring something forward, or to do something in advance.

In this sentence, נקדים את התשלום means:

• we pay earlier than planned
• we move the payment date forward
• we make the payment in advance

So it is not just the general idea of paying, but paying earlier than expected.

Why is there an את in את התשלום?