אם האוטובוס איטי מדי, נוכל לקחת מונית.

If the bus is too slow, we can take a taxi.

Breakdown of אם האוטובוס איטי מדי, נוכל לקחת מונית.

• להיות יכול: to be able
• אוטובוס: bus
• אם: if
• לקחת: to take

Questions & Answers about אם האוטובוס איטי מדי, נוכל לקחת מונית.

What does אם mean here, and how is it used?

Here אם means if.

It introduces a condition:

• אם האוטובוס איטי מדי = if the bus is too slow

This is a very common way to build conditional sentences in Hebrew:

• אם... , ...
• If..., then...

Hebrew often does not need a separate word for then in sentences like this.

Why does האוטובוס start with ה?

The ה at the beginning is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• אוטובוס = a bus / bus
• האוטובוס = the bus

The article ה־ is attached directly to the noun, unlike English, where the is a separate word.

Is אוטובוס a native Hebrew word?

No, אוטובוס is a loanword, ultimately from bus / autobus.

Hebrew uses many loanwords, especially for modern objects. Even though the word is borrowed, it behaves like a normal Hebrew noun:

• it can take ה־: האוטובוס
• it has grammatical gender: it is usually treated as masculine