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Learn Hardcore Hebrew: מתי אתה רוצה לבוא? - When do you want to come?

Hardcore Hebrew
/Lesson 4
/מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?

מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?

Word

מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?

Meaning

When do you want to come?

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Hebrew

Lesson

Breakdown of מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?

Questions & Answers about מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?

How is this sentence pronounced?

A common pronunciation is matai ata rotze lavo?

More closely:

מתי = ma-TAI
אתה = a-TA
רוצה = ro-TZE
לבוא = la-VO

So the stress usually falls like this: maTAI aTA roTZE laVO?

What does each word do in the sentence?

Here is the breakdown:

מתי — when
אתה — you (masculine singular)
רוצה — want / wants in the masculine singular present form
לבוא — to come

So structurally, Hebrew is doing something very close to:

When + you + want + to come?

Why is אתה included? Doesn’t רוצה already show who the subject is?

Yes, רוצה already matches a masculine singular subject, so Hebrew can often drop אתה.

That means both of these are possible:

מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?
מתי רוצה לבוא? — this is generally not natural in standard Hebrew, because if you drop the subject here, you would usually rely on context and say something like מתי תרצה לבוא? in a different structure.

In everyday speech, מתי אתה רוצה לבוא? is very natural because Hebrew often keeps the pronoun for clarity or emphasis, especially in simple spoken questions.

So while Hebrew can drop subject pronouns in many cases, it does not always sound equally natural to do so in every sentence pattern.

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Why is רוצה in the present tense if the meaning is about the future?

This is very normal in Hebrew.

Hebrew often uses:

a present-tense form like רוצה (want)
plus an infinitive like לבוא (to come)

to talk about a present desire about a future action.

So אתה רוצה לבוא literally looks like you want to come, even though in context it means something like:

When do you want to come?
When would you like to come?

English also does something similar, since want is present tense even when the coming happens later.

Why is לבוא written with ל־ at the beginning?

In Hebrew, the infinitive often begins with ל־, which usually corresponds to English to.

So:

בוא is related to the root idea come
לבוא = to come

This ל־ is a built-in part of the infinitive form here, not a separate word like English to.

Why is the word order מתי אתה רוצה לבוא and not something else?

Hebrew word order is often flexible, but this order is the most natural neutral one.

The sentence is:

מתי — question word first
אתה — subject
רוצה — verb
לבוא — infinitive

So the pattern is basically:

When + you + want + to come?

Putting the question word first is very common in Hebrew, just like in English.

Is רוצה masculine because of the speaker or because of the person being spoken to?

It is because of the person being spoken to.

In this sentence, אתה means you addressed to one male, so the verb/adjective-like form רוצה must also be masculine singular.

If you were speaking to a woman, you would say:

מתי את רוצה לבוא?

Here:

את = you (feminine singular)
רוצה can still sound the same in modern pronunciation, but it is understood as the feminine form from context and spelling tradition

How would I say this to a woman?

You would say:

מתי את רוצה לבוא?

This changes only אתה to את.

So:

אתה = you to a man
את = you to a woman

Everything else stays the same.

How would I say this to more than one person?

For a group of men or a mixed group:

מתי אתם רוצים לבוא?

For a group of women:

מתי אתן רוצות לבוא?

Changes:

אתם / אתן = you plural
רוצים / רוצות = plural forms of want

Could I also say מתי תרצה לבוא?

Yes. מתי תרצה לבוא? is also correct.

It uses the future tense form תרצה, which can sound a bit more:

formal
polite
smooth
sometimes slightly more written or careful, depending on context

Compare:

מתי אתה רוצה לבוא? — very common, everyday, direct
מתי תרצה לבוא? — When would you like to come? / When will you want to come?

In many situations, both are natural.

Is לבוא a regular infinitive?

Not really. לבוא comes from the verb בוא (to come), which is somewhat irregular compared with many simpler verb patterns.

A learner may expect something more predictable, but לבוא is just the standard infinitive and is very common, so it is best to learn it as a whole form.

The important thing for this sentence is simply:

לבוא = to come

Does Hebrew need a word for do here, like in When do you want to come?

No. Hebrew does not use a helper verb like English do in this kind of question.

English says:

When do you want to come?

Hebrew simply says:

מתי אתה רוצה לבוא?

So Hebrew forms the question without adding an equivalent of do.

Can this sentence also mean When would you like to come?

Yes, very often.

Even though the literal structure is When do you want to come?, in real conversation it can sound softer in English as:

When would you like to come?

That depends on tone and context, not a different grammar structure in the Hebrew sentence itself.

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