הערב אני רוצה לראות סרט בטלוויזיה, לא לשמוע חדשות ברדיו.

This evening I want to watch a movie on TV, not listen to the news on the radio.

Breakdown of הערב אני רוצה לראות סרט בטלוויזיה, לא לשמוע חדשות ברדיו.

• אני: I
• לרצות: to want
• לא: not
• ב: on
• לשמוע: to listen to
• הערב: this evening
• לראות: to watch
• סרט: movie
• טלוויזיה: television
• חדשות: news
• רדיו: radio

Questions & Answers about הערב אני רוצה לראות סרט בטלוויזיה, לא לשמוע חדשות ברדיו.

What does הערב mean here? Is it the evening or this evening / tonight?

Here it means this evening or tonight.

Literally, הערב is the evening, but Hebrew often uses definite time words this way to mean a specific time around now, especially at the start of a sentence. So in context, הערב אני רוצה... means This evening/Tonight I want...

This is very common with time expressions in Hebrew.

Why does the sentence start with הערב?

Hebrew often puts a time expression first to set the scene:

הערב אני רוצה... = Tonight, I want...

This is natural word order and gives a slight emphasis to tonight. You could also rearrange the sentence, but starting with the time phrase is very common.

Why is אני included? Can't Hebrew leave out subject pronouns?

Sometimes it can, but here אני is very useful.

In present tense, Hebrew verbs usually do not clearly show person the way English does. The form רוצה tells you mainly gender/number, not whether the subject is I, you, or he. So אני helps make the subject clear.

Without אני, רוצה by itself could be understood in more than one way depending on context.

Why is the verb רוצה? What if the speaker is female?

רוצה is the present-tense form of to want.

A useful thing for learners to know is that in unpointed Hebrew, the masculine singular and feminine singular forms here are often spelled the same:

• male speaker: רוצה pronounced roughly rotze
• female speaker: רוצה pronounced roughly rotza

So a female speaker could write the same sentence exactly the same way, but pronounce רוצה differently.

Why are לראות and לשמוע in this form?

They are infinitives: to see/watch and to hear/listen.

After רוצה (want), Hebrew normally uses an infinitive:

• רוצה לראות = want to watch/see
• רוצה לשמוע = want to hear/listen

This is very similar to English want to + verb.

Does לראות really mean both to see and to watch? And does לשמוע mean both to hear and to listen?

Yes, very often.

Hebrew commonly uses:

• לראות for both to see and to watch
• לשמוע for both to hear and to listen

The exact meaning comes from context. In this sentence:

• לראות סרט naturally means to watch a movie
• לשמוע חדשות ברדיו naturally means to listen to the news on the radio

There is also להקשיב for to listen attentively, but לשמוע is very natural in everyday expressions like this one.

Where is the word for a before סרט?

Hebrew has no separate word for a or an.

So:

• סרט = a movie / movie
• הסרט = the movie

Because the noun here does not have ה-, it is indefinite, so English translates it as a movie.

Why is there no את before סרט or חדשות?

Because את is used only before a definite direct object.

Here:

• סרט is indefinite = a movie
• חדשות is being used in a general/indefinite sense = news

So no את is needed.

Compare:

• לראות סרט = to watch a movie
• לראות את הסרט = to watch the movie

And similarly:

• לשמוע חדשות = to hear/listen to news
• לשמוע את החדשות = to hear/listen to the news

Why do we say בטלוויזיה and ברדיו when English says on TV and on the radio?

Hebrew uses the preposition ב- in these expressions, even where English uses on.

So:

• בטלוויזיה = on TV
• ברדיו = on the radio

This is just how Hebrew expresses the medium.

Also, ב- often combines with ה-:

• ב + הטלוויזיה = בטלוויזיה
• ב + הרדיו = ברדיו

So these are very normal Hebrew forms.

Why isn't רוצה repeated before לא לשמוע?

Because Hebrew, like English, often omits repeated words when the meaning is already clear.

So this structure means:

I want to watch a movie on TV, not hear/listen to news on the radio.

The second part still depends on the earlier רוצה. In fuller form, the idea is:

אני רוצה לראות..., לא רוצה לשמוע...

But repeating רוצה is unnecessary here.

Why is לא placed directly before לשמוע?

Because לא is negating that infinitive phrase:

• לשמוע = to hear/listen
• לא לשמוע = not to hear/listen

So the sentence contrasts two things the speaker wants:

• לראות סרט בטלוויזיה
• לא לשמוע חדשות ברדיו

In English, this is like to watch a movie on TV, not to listen to news on the radio.

Why does חדשות look plural? Is it plural?

Yes, it is plural in form, and that is normal.

חדשות is the standard Hebrew word for news, even though English treats news as singular in form. In Hebrew, חדשות looks and behaves like a plural noun, often feminine plural.

For example:

• חדשות טובות = good news

So even though English learners may expect a singular-looking word, Hebrew uses חדשות as the normal word for news.