למכונאי יש יכולת לתקן את המנוע.

there is

Breakdown of למכונאי יש יכולת לתקן את המנוע.

• את: direct object marker
• לתקן: to repair
• מנוע: engine

Questions & Answers about למכונאי יש יכולת לתקן את המנוע.

Why does the sentence begin with למכונאי? It looks like to the mechanic / to a mechanic, not the mechanic.

That is normal in Hebrew when you want to say that someone has something.

Hebrew often expresses possession with this pattern:

ל־ + person + יש + thing
literally: to X there is Y
natural English: X has Y

So:

למכונאי יש יכולת
literally: to the mechanic / to a mechanic there is ability
natural English: the mechanic / a mechanic has the ability

This is one of the most important Hebrew sentence patterns to learn, because Hebrew does not usually use a separate everyday verb meaning to have in the same way English does.

Does למכונאי mean to a mechanic or to the mechanic?

In unpointed Hebrew, it can be either one.

That is because למכונאי can represent:

• לְמכונאי = to a mechanic
• לַמכונאי = to the mechanic

When Hebrew is written without vowel marks, both look the same: למכונאי.

So the meaning depends on:

• context
• pronunciation
• any translation already given

If the intended meaning is the mechanic, the pronunciation is approximately la-mekhona'i.
If the intended meaning is a mechanic, it is approximately le-mekhona'i.