Sentence Structure

Hebrew has no equivalent of the verb "to have". Instead it uses יש or אין together with the preposition ל: יֵשׁ לִי, אֵין לִי. You met this pattern in the possession lesson; here is a short recap, plus יש and אין for “there is” and “there isn’t”.

יש and אין never change for gender or number. What changes is the preposition: יֵשׁ לִי, יֵשׁ לְךָ, יֵשׁ לָנוּ.

לֹא is ordinary negation and stands before the verb or the adjective. אֵין negates existence or possession. אַל negates a request or command (אַל + future), and only that.

And unlike English, double negation in Hebrew is not a mistake but a requirement. In a full sentence with אף אחד, שום דבר or אף פעם, a negative word must still appear: לֹא, or אֵין in a “there is” sentence (אֵין כָּאן אַף אֶחָד).

A Hebrew question usually keeps the same word order as a statement. There is no auxiliary verb like "do", and inversion is never required (with a noun subject the verb may come right after the question word: מָתַי מַגִּיעַ הָאוֹטוֹבּוּס?). You saw this in the question words lesson; this chapter is a short recap.

A yes-or-no question is marked by intonation alone. In a formal register you may add האם at the front; in speech it is almost never used.

ש attaches to the front of a word and turns a full sentence into a clause. English can drop "that"; Hebrew can never drop ש.

The same ש is built into other connectors: כְּשֶׁ, אַחֲרֵי שֶׁ, לִפְנֵי שֶׁ, בִּגְלַל שֶׁ. כְּדֵי, by contrast, usually takes an infinitive (when someone else does the action it becomes כְּדֵי שֶׁ + future, כְּדֵי שֶׁתָּבִין, covered in the connectors lesson).