ביקשתי תיקון חשבון בגלל חיוב היתר.

ביקשתי means I asked or I requested.

It comes from the verb לבקש = to ask for / to request.

Breakdown:

• ביקש- = the past-tense stem
• -תי = I in the past tense

So:

• ביקשתי = I asked / I requested

A useful point: in Hebrew, this first-person singular past form is the same whether the speaker is male or female.

Pronunciation: bi-KASH-ti.

Because Hebrew does not have an indefinite article.

So where English says:

• a correction
• an account correction
• a bill correction

Hebrew often just uses the bare noun:

• תיקון
• תיקון חשבון

Hebrew does have a definite article, ה־, which means the.

For example:

• תיקון = a correction / correction
• התיקון = the correction

So תיקון חשבון is naturally understood without any separate word for a.

It is a construct chain (called סמיכות in Hebrew).

That means two nouns are linked together, and the first one is understood as of the second one.

So:

• תיקון חשבון literally = correction of a bill/account
• more naturally in English = bill correction or account correction

This structure is very common in Hebrew.

Some similar examples:

• בית ספר = school, literally house of book
• כרטיס אשראי = credit card, literally card of credit

So here:

• תיקון = correction
• חשבון = bill/account

Together: תיקון חשבון = correction of a bill/account

חשבון can mean several things, depending on context:

• account
• bill
• check (in a restaurant)
• calculation

In this sentence, because of חיוב היתר = overcharge, the most natural meaning is bill or account charge.

So תיקון חשבון here is something like:

• bill correction
• account correction
• correction to the charge/account

Context is what tells you which English word fits best.

בגלל means because of.

It is usually followed by a noun or noun phrase, not a full clause.

In this sentence:

• בגלל חיוב היתר = because of the overcharge

Compare:

• בגלל טעות = because of a mistake
• בגלל הבעיה = because of the problem

If you wanted to say because followed by a whole clause, Hebrew often uses כי or מפני ש־ instead.

For example:

• ביקשתי תיקון כי חייבו אותי יותר מדי
  = I asked for a correction because they charged me too much

So בגלל is used here because what follows is a noun phrase, not a full sentence.

It means overcharge or excess charge.

Parts:

• חיוב = charge, billing, debit
• יתר = excess, too much, surplus

Together:

• חיוב יתר = overcharge
• חיוב היתר = the overcharge

A helpful grammar point: this is also a construct chain. In Hebrew construct phrases, the whole phrase becomes definite if the second noun is definite.

So:

• חיוב יתר = an overcharge / overcharging
• חיוב היתר = the overcharge

You may also see this written as:

• חיוב יתר
• חיוב-יתר

All are related to the idea of charging too much.

Because חשבון is not acting as a standalone direct object here.

Instead, it is part of the noun phrase תיקון חשבון.

Remember:

• את is used before a definite direct object
• but here we do not have the bill as a direct object of the verb

The direct object of ביקשתי is the whole phrase:

• תיקון חשבון = a bill correction / correction of a bill

That is why there is no את.

But if you changed the sentence to I asked to correct the bill, then you would say:

• ביקשתי לתקן את החשבון

Here את החשבון is a definite direct object, so את appears.

It is understandable, but many native speakers would prefer a slightly more natural phrasing in everyday Hebrew.

Possible alternatives:

• ביקשתי תיקון לחשבון בגלל חיוב יתר
• ביקשתי לתקן את החשבון בגלל חיוב יתר

Why?

• תיקון חשבון is understandable as a construct phrase
• but תיקון לחשבון can sound more natural if you mean a correction to the bill
• לתקן את החשבון is very direct and common if you mean to correct the bill

So the given sentence is not impossible, but some speakers might phrase it differently depending on the situation.

Because ביקשתי is a past-tense form.

So the sentence describes something that already happened:

• I requested a bill correction because of an overcharge

If you wanted present tense, you would say:

• אני מבקש תיקון חשבון... = I am requesting... / I request... (male speaker)
• אני מבקשת תיקון חשבון... = I am requesting... / I request... (female speaker)

If you wanted future tense:

• אבקש תיקון חשבון... = I will request...

So the tense comes entirely from the form ביקשתי.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

bi-KASH-ti ti-KUN khesh-BON big-LAL khi-YUV ha-YE-ter

Word by word:

• ביקשתי = bi-KASH-ti
• תיקון = ti-KUN
• חשבון = khesh-BON
• בגלל = big-LAL
• חיוב = khi-YUV
• היתר = ha-YE-ter

Notes:

• kh represents the guttural Hebrew sound of ח, like the ch in German Bach
• stress usually falls near the end of each word, as marked above

A smoother full reading: bi-KASH-ti ti-KUN khesh-BON big-LAL khi-YUV ha-YE-ter