מתי את רוצה לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

When do you want to come, early or late?

Breakdown of מתי את רוצה לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

• לרצות: to want
• את: you
• מתי: when
• לבוא: to come
• או: or
• מוקדם: early
• מאוחר: late

Questions & Answers about מתי את רוצה לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

Why is there no separate word for do in this question?

Because Hebrew does not use do-support the way English does.

In English, you say When do you want to come?
In Hebrew, you simply use the question word plus the normal sentence:

מתי את רוצה לבוא?

So Hebrew is literally closer to When you want to come?, but that is just normal Hebrew grammar.

Why does the sentence start with מתי?

מתי means when, and Hebrew usually puts question words near the beginning of the sentence.

So:

• מתי את רוצה לבוא? = the normal order
• putting מתי later would sound unnatural in most situations

This is very similar to English, where when also usually comes first: When do you want to come?

Why does it say את and not אתה?

Because the speaker is talking to one female.

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

So this sentence is addressed to a woman or girl.

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

מתי אתה רוצה לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

Why is it רוצה?

רוצה agrees with the person being addressed.

Here, the subject is את (you, feminine singular), so the verb form is the feminine singular form:

• את רוצה = you want (to a female)
• אתה רוצה = you want (to a male)

Even though English just says you want in both cases, Hebrew marks gender here.

Can I leave out את?

Usually, in this sentence, no.

In Hebrew present tense, the verb form often does not clearly show the person by itself.
רוצה can mean:

• I want (if spoken by a woman)
• you want (to a woman)
• she wants

So the pronoun את helps make the meaning clear.

That is why מתי את רוצה לבוא? is much more natural than just מתי רוצה לבוא?

What is לבוא, and why does it come after רוצה?

לבוא is the infinitive to come.

After רוצה (want), Hebrew normally uses an infinitive, just like English uses to + verb:

• רוצה לבוא = want to come
• רוצה לאכול = want to eat
• רוצה ללכת = want to go

The ל־ at the beginning of לבוא is the usual marker of the infinitive, similar to English to.

Why does Hebrew just say מוקדם או מאוחר instead of repeating the whole idea?

Because Hebrew often leaves out repeated words when they are understood from context.

The full idea is something like:

• Do you want to come early or late?

Hebrew does not need to repeat לבוא again after each option. So:

• מוקדם או מאוחר? = early or late?

This is very natural.

Are מוקדם and מאוחר adjectives or adverbs here?

In this sentence, they function more like adverbs in English:

• מוקדם = early
• מאוחר = late

They describe when the coming happens, not the person.

That is why they do not change to match את.
They are not saying you are early/late; they are saying come early/late.

Is the comma necessary in מתי את רוצה לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

Not strictly.

The comma shows a small pause before the two options:

• מתי את רוצה לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

You may also see this written without a comma, or with a dash in more informal writing. The meaning stays the same.

In speech, the important thing is the pause and intonation, not the punctuation.

Could I also say מתי את רוצה לבוא? מוקדם או מאוחר?

Yes. That is also natural.

It splits the idea into two questions:

1. When do you want to come?
2. Early or late?

The original version combines them into one sentence, which is also very natural.

How would I say this to more than one person?

You would change both the pronoun and the form of want.

For example:

• to a group of males or a mixed group:
  מתי אתם רוצים לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

• to a group of females:
  מתי אתן רוצות לבוא, מוקדם או מאוחר?

So Hebrew changes for both gender and number.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A simple pronunciation guide is:

matái at rotzá lavo, mukdám o me'ukhár?

The main stresses are usually near the ends of these words:

• מתי → ma-TAI
• רוצה → ro-tza / ro-TZA
• לבוא → la-VO
• מוקדם → muk-DAM
• מאוחר → me-u-KHAR

Exact pronunciation varies a little by speaker, but this will be understood well.