Breakdown of אל תשכחי לשים פסיק לפני החלק השני של המשפט, ובסוף תכתבי נקודה.
Questions & Answers about אל תשכחי לשים פסיק לפני החלק השני של המשפט, ובסוף תכתבי נקודה.
Is this sentence addressed to a woman?
Yes. The forms תשכחי and תכתבי are second person feminine singular.
So this sentence is talking to one female addressee:
אל תשכחי... ובסוף תכתבי...
If you were talking to a man, you would say:
אל תשכח לשים פסיק לפני החלק השני של המשפט, ובסוף תכתוב נקודה.
Why does אל תשכחי mean don’t forget?
In Modern Hebrew, a negative command is usually made with:
אל + future form
So:
- תשכחי = you will forget / you forget (feminine singular future form)
- אל תשכחי = don’t forget
This is the normal way to say don’t ... in Hebrew. Hebrew does not usually use the regular imperative for negative commands.
Why is תכתבי a future form if the meaning is a command?
Because Hebrew often uses the future tense to give instructions or commands.
So although תכתבי literally looks like you will write, in context it can mean:
- write
- you should write
- make sure to write
This is very common in spoken and written Modern Hebrew, especially in instructions.
A more direct imperative also exists here:
- כתבי = write! (to one woman)
But תכתבי can sound a bit more natural in instructional or conversational contexts.
Why is there לשים after תשכחי?
Because after forget, Hebrew uses an infinitive, just like English often uses to + verb.
- לשים = to put
- תשכחי לשים = you will forget to put / don’t forget to put
So the structure is very similar to English:
- Don’t forget to put...
- אל תשכחי לשים...
What exactly does לשים mean here?
לשים literally means to put or to place.
In this sentence, it means to put a comma into the sentence:
- לשים פסיק = to put a comma
In English we often say put a comma or add a comma, and Hebrew uses לשים very naturally for that.
What does לפני mean here?
לפני means before or in front of, depending on context.
Here it means before in the sense of position inside the sentence:
- לפני החלק השני של המשפט = before the second part of the sentence
So it is not about physical space here, but about where the comma should go in the sentence.
How does החלק השני של המשפט work grammatically?
It means the second part of the sentence.
Breakdown:
- החלק = the part
- השני = the second
- של המשפט = of the sentence
A few important grammar points:
- השני comes after the noun because adjectives in Hebrew usually come after the noun.
- Since החלק is definite (the part), the adjective must also be definite:
- החלק השני = the second part
- של means of
- של המשפט = of the sentence
Why is it השני and not just שני?
Because the noun is definite.
- חלק שני = a second part / second part
- החלק השני = the second part
In Hebrew, when a noun has ה־ and is definite, its adjective usually also gets ה־.
So:
- החלק = the part
- השני = the second
They match each other in definiteness.
Why don’t פסיק and נקודה have ה־?
Because they are indefinite here.
- לשים פסיק = to put a comma
- תכתבי נקודה = write a period
If Hebrew wanted to say the comma or the period, it would use הפסיק or הנקודה.
But here the meaning is more general: add a comma, write a period.
What does ובסוף mean exactly?
ובסוף is made of:
- ו־ = and
- בסוף = at the end / in the end
So:
- ובסוף = and at the end
In this sentence, it means at the end of the sentence/text you should write a period.
Is נקודה literally just a punctuation mark?
Here, yes: נקודה means period or full stop.
But literally, נקודה also means point or dot in other contexts.
So Hebrew uses the same word for:
- a geometric point
- a dot
- a period/full stop
Context tells you which meaning is intended.
How would this sentence change if I were talking to a man or to more than one person?
Yes, the verb forms would change.
To one man: אל תשכח לשים פסיק לפני החלק השני של המשפט, ובסוף תכתוב נקודה.
To more than one person: אל תשכחו לשים פסיק לפני החלק השני של המשפט, ובסוף תכתבו נקודה.
So the original sentence is specifically for one female addressee.
How is the whole sentence pronounced?
A natural pronunciation is:
al tishkechi lasim pasik lifnei hachelek hasheni shel hamishpat, uvasof tikhtevi nekuda
A slightly more detailed breakdown:
- אל = al
- תשכחי = tish-ke-CHI
- לשים = la-SIM
- פסיק = pa-SIK
- לפני = lif-NEI
- החלק = ha-CHE-lek
- השני = ha-she-NI
- של המשפט = shel ha-mish-PAT
- ובסוף = u-va-SOF
- תכתבי = tikh-te-VI
- נקודה = ne-ku-DA
The stressed syllable is often near the end of the word, as shown above.
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