למה את לא רוצה לבוא? כי אני עובדת.

Why don't you want to come? Because I am working.

Breakdown of למה את לא רוצה לבוא? כי אני עובדת.

• אני: I
• לרצות: to want
• את: you
• לא: not

Questions & Answers about למה את לא רוצה לבוא? כי אני עובדת.

Why is את used here?

את is the singular you used when speaking to a female.

So:

• את = you, feminine singular
• אתה = you, masculine singular

That means this question is being asked to a woman or girl.

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

למה אתה לא רוצה לבוא?

Why does Hebrew use different forms for you?

Hebrew marks gender in the second person. English usually does not.

So English has just you, but Hebrew distinguishes:

• אתה = you, masculine singular
• את = you, feminine singular

This is very normal in Hebrew and shows up in pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and more.

Why is רוצה written the same way for masculine and feminine here?

In the present tense, some masculine and feminine forms are spelled the same but pronounced differently.

Here:

• masculine: רוצה = rotze
• feminine: רוצה = rotza

Since the sentence has את, we know it is feminine, so it is understood as rotza.

This is something English speakers often find surprising: Hebrew spelling does not always show the full gender distinction clearly.