Word
אם תמצאי את הפותחן, נוכל לפתוח את הצנצנת.
Meaning
If you find the opener, we can open the jar.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of אם תמצאי את הפותחן, נוכל לפתוח את הצנצנת.
את
direct object marker
להיות יכול
to be able
לפתוח
to open
אם
if
Questions & Answers about אם תמצאי את הפותחן, נוכל לפתוח את הצנצנת.
Why is תמצאי feminine?
Because תמצאי is the second-person feminine singular future form of למצוא (to find).
Hebrew marks gender in the second person, so this sentence is being said to one female.
Compare:
- אם תמצאי = if you (female) find
- אם תמצא = if you (male) find
- אם תמצאו = if you (plural) find
So the ending here tells you who is being addressed.
Why is the verb after אם in the future tense? In English we usually say if you find, not if you will find.
That is a very common difference between English and Hebrew.
In Hebrew, when the condition refers to the future, it is very normal to use the future tense after אם:
- אם תמצאי... נוכל...
In natural English, we usually use:
- If you find..., we can / will be able to...
So Hebrew and English do not match word-for-word here. Hebrew often uses future + future in this kind of sentence.
What does את mean here?