אנחנו לא נוסעות דרך הרחוב הגדול, אלא דרך הסמטה ליד המזרקה.

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Breakdown of אנחנו לא נוסעות דרך הרחוב הגדול, אלא דרך הסמטה ליד המזרקה.

• לא: not
• רחוב: street
• אנחנו: we

Questions & Answers about אנחנו לא נוסעות דרך הרחוב הגדול, אלא דרך הסמטה ליד המזרקה.

Why is the verb נוסעות feminine plural if אנחנו means we?

Because Hebrew verbs in the present tense agree with the gender and number of the subject.

• אנחנו = we
• נוסעות = travel / go for a female plural group

So this sentence is being said by a group of נשים, or by a speaker speaking about a group made up only of females.

If the group were all male, or mixed male and female, Hebrew would normally use:

• אנחנו לא נוסעים...

That is one of the big differences from English: we does not show gender in English, but Hebrew often does.

What does נוסעות literally mean here?

נוסעות is the feminine plural present form of the verb לנסוע, which usually means to travel, to go, or to ride/drive, depending on context.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• we are going
• we travel
• we are passing

Because the sentence talks about taking one route instead of another, נוסעות is best understood as going/traveling.

Why does the sentence use לא ... אלא ...?