Lesson 107: If I Could…
Real plans use the future tense; dreams use the unreal conditional — “if I were rich, I would travel”. Hebrew builds it elegantly, with one verb doing double duty.
Daydreaming
מָה הָיִיתָ עוֹשֶׂה לוּ הָיִיתָ עָשִׁיר?
ma hayita ose lu hayita ashir?
What would you do if you were rich?
הָיִיתִי מְטַיֵּל בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם.
hayiti metayel bechol ha’olam.
I would travel all over the world.
וְלֹא הָיִיתָ עוֹבֵד?
ve’lo hayita oved?
And you wouldn’t work?
אוּלַי קְצָת. לוּ יָכֹלְתִּי, הָיִיתִי פּוֹתֵחַ מִסְעָדָה.
ulai ktsat. lu yacholti, hayiti poteach mis’ada.
Maybe a little. If I could, I’d open a restaurant.
חֲלוֹם יָפֶה!
chalom yafe!
A nice dream!
Grammar: the unreal conditional
For something imaginary (not a real plan), Hebrew uses לוּ or אִילּוּ (lu / ilu, “if [only]”) and puts both clauses in a “would” form built from הָיָה (haya) + the present participle:
- לוּ הָיִיתִי עָשִׁיר, הָיִיתִי מְטַיֵּל lu hayiti ashir, hayiti metayel — “if I were rich, I would travel”
So הָיִיתִי מְטַיֵּל (hayiti metayel) means “I would travel” — literally “I-was traveling”. The same הָיָה you used for “I was” (Lesson 59) now carries “would”.
Tip: Don’t confuse this with real conditions. A real one uses אִם + future (“if I have time, I’ll come”); the unreal one uses לוּ + haya (“if I were… I would…”).
Vocabulary
Hypotheticals
| לוּ | lu | if (only) — unreal |
| אִילּוּ | ilu | if — unreal (variant) |
| הָיִיתִי | hayiti | I would / I were |
| חֲלוֹם | chalom | dream |
Useful words
| עָשִׁיר | ashir | rich |
| יָכֹלְתִּי | yacholti | I could |
| לִפְתֹּחַ | liftoach | to open |