Breakdown of אם יש לך ביטוח טוב, גם אחרי תאונה אפשר לטפל בכול מהר יותר.
טוב
good
יש
there is
לך
to you
אחרי
after
Questions & Answers about אם יש לך ביטוח טוב, גם אחרי תאונה אפשר לטפל בכול מהר יותר.
Why does the sentence start with אם? Is it just the same as English if?
Yes. אם is the normal Hebrew word for if.
In this sentence, אם יש לך ביטוח טוב... introduces a condition: if you have good insurance...
A useful thing to notice is that Hebrew often uses the present tense in both parts of a general conditional statement, especially when talking about a general truth or typical situation. So this sentence is structurally very normal Hebrew.
Why does Hebrew say יש לך for you have?
Hebrew usually expresses possession with יש + a pronoun.
- יש = there is / there are
- לך = to you
So יש לך is literally there is to you, but idiomatically it means you have.
Examples:
- יש לי זמן = I have time
- יש לך ביטוח = You have insurance
- אין לך ביטוח = You don't have insurance
This is one of the most important basic Hebrew patterns.
Why is it ביטוח טוב and not טוב ביטוח?