אני רוצה שתנסי לקרוא את השאלה לבד.

I want you to try to read the question by yourself.

Breakdown of אני רוצה שתנסי לקרוא את השאלה לבד.

• אני: I
• לרצות: to want
• את: direct object marker
• לקרוא: to read
• ש: that
• שאלה: question
• לנסות: to try
• לבד: by yourself

Questions & Answers about אני רוצה שתנסי לקרוא את השאלה לבד.

Why is there a ש־ attached to תנסי?

The ש־ means that and introduces a subordinate clause.

So אני רוצה שתנסי... is literally something like I want that you try.... In natural English, that becomes I want you to try....

This structure is very common in Hebrew after verbs like רוצה (want), especially when the second verb has a different subject from the first one.

• אני רוצה לקרוא = I want to read
• אני רוצה שתנסי לקרוא = I want you to try to read

In the first sentence, the speaker and the reader are the same person, so Hebrew uses the infinitive לקרוא. In the second, the speaker wants someone else to do the action, so Hebrew uses ש־ + a finite verb.

How do we know that תנסי is talking to a female?

תנסי is the second-person feminine singular form of the verb לנסות (to try).

That means the speaker is talking to one female.

If the speaker were talking to a male, it would be:

אני רוצה שתנסה לקרוא את השאלה לבד.

If the speaker were talking to more than one person, modern Hebrew would usually use:

אני רוצה שתנסו לקרוא את השאלה לבד.

So the ending on תנסי is one of the clearest clues in the sentence.

Does רוצה tell us whether the speaker is male or female?

Not in unpointed Hebrew spelling.

The written form רוצה can be read as:

• rotze = masculine singular
• rotza = feminine singular

So from spelling alone, אני רוצה could mean either:

• I want said by a male speaker
• I want said by a female speaker

You only know for sure from context, pronunciation, or vowel marks.

So this sentence clearly tells us the listener is female because of שתנסי, but it does not clearly tell us the speaker’s gender from normal unvocalized writing.

Why do we have תנסי לקרוא instead of just תקראי?

Because the sentence means try to read, not simply read.

• תנסי לקרוא = try to read
• תקראי = you will read or sometimes read depending on context

The verb לנסות normally takes an infinitive after it:

• לנסות להבין = to try to understand
• לנסות לכתוב = to try to write
• לנסות לקרוא = to try to read

So שתנסי לקרוא means that you try to read.

If you replaced it with שתקראי, the idea of trying would disappear.

What is את doing in את השאלה?

Here את is the direct object marker. It does not have its own English translation in this sentence.

Hebrew uses את before a definite direct object, meaning an object that is specific or marked as definite.

Since השאלה means the question, it is definite, so Hebrew uses את:

• לקרוא את השאלה = to read the question

Compare:

• לקרוא שאלה = to read a question
• לקרוא את השאלה = to read the question

So את is not the word you here. It is purely a grammar marker.

What exactly does לבד mean here?

לבד means alone, by yourself, or on your own.

In this sentence, the natural sense is on your own / by yourself, meaning without help.

So the idea is not necessarily that the person must be physically alone in the room. It usually means something more like:

• try reading the question without someone helping you
• try doing it independently

That is a very common use of לבד.

Is תנסי a future form? If so, why is the sentence not really about the future?

Yes. תנסי is formally a future-tense form.

But in Hebrew, future forms are often used after words like רוצה, מקווה, מבקש, and similar expressions to talk about something desired, expected, or requested.

So in אני רוצה שתנסי, the form is grammatically future, but the meaning is closer to:

• I want you to try
• I want you to try now / in this situation

This is very normal Hebrew usage. English usually does not translate it as a future.

Why is אני included? Could Hebrew leave it out?

It could sometimes be left out in conversation if the context is very clear, but אני is natural and helpful here.

One important reason is that רוצה in the present tense does not clearly mark person the way past and future verbs often do. By itself, רוצה could mean:

• I want
• you want
• he wants
• she wants

depending on context and pronunciation.

So adding אני makes it clear that the subject is I.

This is especially useful in present-tense Hebrew, where pronouns are often more important than they are in past or future forms.

How is לקרוא pronounced, and why does it end with א?

It is usually pronounced roughly likro in everyday speech, and in more careful pronunciation you may hear a slight final ʔ sound because of the א.

The א is part of the root ק-ר-א, which is the root connected with reading / calling.

So even though the final א is not strongly pronounced in many modern accents, it still belongs in the spelling and grammar of the verb.

This is why the infinitive is written לקרוא, not לקרו.