# It is annoying to be in the dark...



## מנחם

I'm trying to figure if it is okay to start a sentence with a pronoun and then bring in the referred to subject at the end.

Does this sound right:

הוא מטריד להיות בחשך על העתיד שלי

It is annoying to be in the dark about my future.

I feel that although this is something that would come up in my english colloquial speech quite often, that it would be more proper to put a real subject first!

אני הוטרד כי אני בחשך על העתיד שלי!

I am annoyed because I am in the dark about my future!

Can you tell I'm going through graduate school application stress? 

Thoughts anyone?

תודה מראש,

- מנחם


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## elroy

I would not start with הוא but with זה.

Can't (or rather, will choose not to) comment on the rest of the sentence.


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## Josh_

It is my understanding that Hebrew often leaves out the  'it is'.

For example, if you wanted to say:

It is hard to speak Hebrew
קשה לדבר עברית

as Mel Brooks might say:
טוב להיות המלך

So your sentence would be:
מטריד להיות בחשך על העתיד שלי


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## מנחם

> as Mel Brooks might say:
> טוב להיות המלך



Interesting.  But perhaps it is proper to use 'it/הוא' in a paragraph after you have stated the noun?

תודה,

- מנחם


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## Josh_

מנחם said:
			
		

> Interesting.  But perhaps it is proper to use 'it/הוא' in a paragraph after you have stated the noun?
> 
> תודה,
> 
> - מנחם


You may have a point. Usually, though, 'it is' statements are used to make general statements about something. If the 'it' refers to an a word or idea you have said before, than I don't think you have to restate what it is referring to. For example:

I am learning Hebrew.  It is hard.

You would not need to add "to learn Hebrew" after "it is hard. In this respect you would probably have to add the pronoun. 

אני לומד עברית.  היא קשה.

But as a general statement (standing in isolation) you would not need to.  

קשה ללמד עברית.

It works that way in English, but I am not sure about Hebrew.  I hope that is what you meant.  Maybe others will chime in.


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## morgoth2604

Well, in your second sentence "Ani lomed ivrit, hi kasha", I would turn hi into ze, because you're referring to the whole idea of "learning hebrew". So in a sense, you're saying:
I'm learning hebrew. It (->ze) is hard. Which is what Menahem's question was...if I understood correctly.

P.S: Please note that it is ze, and not hu, (when dealing with more abstract things/ideas).


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## amikama

מנחם said:
			
		

> Does this sound right:
> 
> הוא מטריד להיות בחשך על העתיד שלי
> 
> It is annoying to be in the dark about my future.


Your translation is _too_ literal. I'd say something like:
מטריד אותי שהעתיד שלי מעורפל
מטריד אותי שאני לא יודע מה העתיד שלי
etc.

Instead of "מטריד אותי" you can also say "מציק לי" or "מפריע לי".


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## elroy

amikama said:
			
		

> Your translation is _too_ literal. I'd say something like:
> מטריד אותי שהעתיד שלי מעורפל
> מטריד אותי שאני לא יודע מה העתיד שלי
> etc.
> 
> Instead of "מטריד אותי" you can also say "מציק לי" or "מפריע לי".


 
I agree about the translation (which is one of the reasons I didn't comment on it) but I believe that the primary question was whether it was ok to start with הוא.  I suspect that the answer is "no."

I suggested זה, but I see that in your version you don't use a pronoun at all (and that's in line with what Josh said). 

Am I to assume that זה would be incorrect?


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## amikama

elroy said:
			
		

> I agree about the translation (which is one of the reasons I didn't comment on it) but I believe that the primary question was whether it was ok to start with הוא. I suspect that the answer is "no."


You are right. Starting with הוא is incorrect.



> I suggested זה, but I see that in your version you don't use a pronoun at all (and that's in line with what Josh said).
> 
> Am I to assume that זה would be incorrect?


Well, at least in colloquial Hebrew it's possible to start with זה:
.זה נורא מה שקרה ב-11 בספטמבר (It's horrible what happened on 9/11.)
.זה נכון מה שאמרת לי אתמול (It's true what you told me yesterday.)

But in my translations above I _felt_ that starting with זה was wrong:
זה מטריד אותי שהעתיד שלי מעורפל  
In this case, starting with no pronoun at all would sound more natural (but maybe it's only me...).


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