Breakdown of אחרי הנחיתה נתקשר לאמא ונגיד לה שהגענו.
Questions & Answers about אחרי הנחיתה נתקשר לאמא ונגיד לה שהגענו.
Why does the sentence begin with אחרי, and what exactly does it mean grammatically?
אחרי means after.
In this sentence, אחרי הנחיתה means after the landing. It functions like a time expression and sets the scene for when the later actions will happen.
A few useful notes:
- אחרי is a very common everyday word.
- It is followed here by a noun phrase: הנחיתה.
- So the structure is: after + the landing.
You could think of the sentence pattern as:
After the landing, we will call Mom and tell her that we arrived.
Why is it הנחיתה and not just נחיתה?
Because הנחיתה means the landing, while נחיתה means just landing in a more general sense.
The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, equivalent to the.
So:
- נחיתה = landing
- הנחיתה = the landing
In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific landing — the one they are about to make — so הנחיתה is the natural choice.
What form is נתקשר?
נתקשר is the future tense, first person plural form of להתקשר (to call / to get in touch by phone).
So:
- להתקשר = to call
- נתקשר = we will call
This is a very common future pattern in Hebrew:
- נ־ at the beginning often marks we in the future tense.
For example:
- נלך = we will go
- נשב = we will sit
- נתקשר = we will call
Is נתקשר specifically we will call on the phone, or can it mean other kinds of contact?
In everyday Hebrew, להתקשר most commonly means to call on the phone.
So נתקשר לאמא is naturally understood as:
- we’ll call Mom
- more specifically, we’ll phone Mom
The verb can sometimes mean to get in touch, depending on context, but the phone meaning is the default one for most learners to remember.
What form is נגיד?
נגיד is the future tense, first person plural form of להגיד (to say / to tell).
So:
- להגיד = to say, to tell
- נגיד = we will say / we will tell
In this sentence, because it has an indirect object (לה, to her), the natural translation is we’ll tell her.
So:
- ונגיד לה = and we’ll tell her
Why is there a ל־ in לאמא? Why not just אמא by itself?
Because the verb להתקשר normally takes the person called with ל־.
So in Hebrew you say:
- להתקשר למישהו = to call someone
Therefore:
- לאמא = to Mom
- נתקשר לאמא = we’ll call Mom
This is different from English, where we simply say call Mom without a preposition.
A learner should get used to this pattern:
- התקשרתי לחבר שלי = I called my friend
- נתקשר לרופא = we’ll call the doctor
Why is there לה after נגיד?
לה means to her.
The verb להגיד often works with an indirect object introduced by ל־, especially when you are saying something to someone.
So:
- נגיד לה = we’ll tell her
- literally: we’ll say to her
This is very natural Hebrew.
Breakdown:
- נגיד = we will say / tell
- לה = to her
So the sentence says:
- we’ll call Mom and tell her...
What does ש־ do in שהגענו?
ש־ is a very common Hebrew linking word meaning that.
So:
- שהגענו = that we arrived
It introduces a clause after נגיד לה:
- ונגיד לה שהגענו
- and we’ll tell her that we arrived
This ש־ is extremely common in spoken and written Hebrew.
Examples:
- אני חושב שהוא צודק = I think that he is right
- היא אמרה שהיא עייפה = she said that she was tired
Why is שהגענו in the past tense if the sentence is talking about the future?
This is one of the most common questions learners ask, and the answer is very important:
The main actions are in the future:
- נתקשר = we will call
- ונגיד = and we will tell
But the arrival will already be completed by the time that future phone call happens. So Hebrew uses the past tense for the thing that will already have happened at that point.
So:
- נגיד לה שהגענו = we’ll tell her that we arrived
In natural English, we might also say:
- we’ll tell her we arrived
- we’ll tell her that we’ve arrived
Hebrew often uses the simple past here where English may prefer have arrived.
So the timeline is:
- landing happens
- we call Mom
- we tell her that we already arrived
That is why הגענו is past.
What form is הגענו exactly?
הגענו is the past tense, first person plural form of להגיע (to arrive).
So:
- להגיע = to arrive
- הגענו = we arrived
This verb is very common, and you will see forms like:
- הגעתי = I arrived
- הגעת = you arrived
- הגענו = we arrived
In the sentence, it appears inside the clause introduced by ש־:
- שהגענו = that we arrived
Why doesn’t Hebrew use a special form like English we have arrived here?
Modern Hebrew does not have a separate tense form that works exactly like the English present perfect (have arrived, have eaten, etc.).
Instead, Hebrew usually uses the past tense form, and the context tells you how to understand it.
So הגענו can correspond to:
- we arrived
- we have arrived
depending on the context.
Here, because they are calling after landing, English often prefers we’ve arrived, but Hebrew simply says הגענו.
Could the sentence omit לה and just say ונגיד שהגענו?
Yes, but it would change the emphasis slightly.
- ונגיד לה שהגענו = and we’ll tell her that we arrived
- ונגיד שהגענו = and we’ll say that we arrived
The version with לה is more natural here because the sentence has already mentioned אמא, and now Hebrew explicitly says to her.
It helps connect the two parts:
- we’ll call Mom
- and tell her
Without לה, the sentence is still grammatical, but it sounds less complete in this context.
Is the word order fixed, or could Hebrew arrange this differently?
The given word order is very natural:
אחרי הנחיתה נתקשר לאמא ונגיד לה שהגענו.
But Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, especially with time expressions.
For example, you could also see:
- נתקשר לאמא אחרי הנחיתה ונגיד לה שהגענו
- אחרי הנחיתה, נתקשר לאמא ונגיד לה שהגענו
The original order is especially common because the sentence begins with the time phrase, which sets the context right away.
Why is there no separate word for and then between the two future verbs?
Because ו־ by itself often does the job.
Here:
- נתקשר = we will call
- ונגיד = and we will say/tell
So ו־ connects the two actions naturally. Hebrew does not need an extra word like then unless the speaker wants to emphasize sequence more strongly.
The sense of order already comes from context:
- after the landing
- we’ll call Mom
- and tell her we arrived
How would this sentence typically be pronounced?
A common everyday pronunciation would be roughly:
Akharei ha-nekhitá nitkasher le-ima ve-nagíd la she-higánu.
A few pronunciation tips:
- אחרי = akharei
- הנחיתה = ha-nekhitá
- נתקשר = nitkasher
- לאמא = le-ima
- ונגיד = ve-nagíd
- לה = la
- שהגענו = she-higánu
The stress is commonly toward the end in several of these words, especially:
- nekhitá
- nagíd
- higánu
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning HebrewMaster Hebrew — from אחרי הנחיתה נתקשר לאמא ונגיד לה שהגענו to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.
- ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions