"I'm just a little girl, why would I pay taxes?"

Translation: אני רק ילדה קטנה, למה שאשלם מיסים?

[zion11dotcom]

ani rak yaldah ktanah lamah sh-ashalem misim

[zion11dotcom]

similar sentence with audio:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/24582818

[LSadun]

Two questions: 1) Isn't ילדונת the same as ילדה קטנה?
2) Why is this in the future? Isn't the conditional הייתי משלמת?

[Nathan740070]

Yep, ילדונת and ילדה קטנה is the same thing, just like כף קטנה and כפית, or מפה קטנה and מפית.
For the other question, you can say it in the present: למה אני צריכה לשלם and also in the future:
למה שאני 'אעשה'(future) את זה
Though I think the former example is more right to say.

[EranBarLev]

מפית and מפה קטנה are not the same.

• מפית = napkin
• מפה קטנה = small table cloth

[Erlenmeyer71]

We just learned diminutives and yet this is not accepted... אני רק ילדונת למה שאשלם מיסים

[VivekRaman7]

The conditional was also accepted but I'm not sure which is more natural

אני רק ילדה קטנה למה שהייתי משלמת מיסים

[EranBarLev]

This sounds very unnatural to me. I think it shouldn't be accepted.

[jon246931]

Why is there a ש in front of the verb? Would it work without it?

[AlmogL]

It wouldn't work. למה ש would be translated as "why would", sort of.

[Nathan740070]

It's a short way of saying:
למה ש'אני' אעשה את זה

[yeho013natan]

Just is רק is notסתם

[LeahShahar]

רק
actually means "only", as in "I'm only a little girl and NOT YET an adult" which is equivalent to "just a little girl" in English.
סתם
means "just" as in "I'm just a little girl and NOT a unique little girl, like a child prodigy."

Since the context of paying taxes implicitly distinguishes the girl from an adult, רק is more appropriate. The translation should have said "only" for clarity.

[MrsT637020]

I totally do not understand the construction of this sentence in Hebrew! Please explain the use of שאשלם...
And why does the English need to use"would"?

[EranBarLev]

This is the way to express the subjunctive in Hebrew: ש + future tense.