Breakdown of לפני שאנחנו מזמינים, אני רוצה לראות את התפריט.
אני
I
לרצות
to want
לראות
to see
את
direct object marker
Questions & Answers about לפני שאנחנו מזמינים, אני רוצה לראות את התפריט.
Why does the sentence start with לפני שאנחנו?
לפני means before. When Hebrew says before + a whole clause, it often uses לפני ש־....
Here, שאנחנו is really:
- ש־ = that / when / which in many structures, and here it helps introduce the clause
- אנחנו = we
So לפני שאנחנו מזמינים means literally something like before that we order, i.e. before we order.
In normal writing, the ש־ is attached to the next word, so:
- ש + אנחנו = שאנחנו
Why is אנחנו needed? Can't Hebrew just say the verb?
In the present tense, Hebrew verbs usually do not clearly show person the way English does.
מזמינים can mean:
- we order / we are ordering
- you (plural, masculine/mixed) order
- they (masculine/mixed) order
So Hebrew often includes the subject pronoun in the present tense to avoid ambiguity.
That is why אנחנו מזמינים clearly means we are ordering / we order.
Why is the verb מזמינים in the present tense if the English meaning is before we order?