אני רוצה ללבוש את השמלה האדומה, כי היא יפה.

I want to wear the red dress, because it is beautiful.

Breakdown of אני רוצה ללבוש את השמלה האדומה, כי היא יפה.

• אני: I
• לרצות: to want
• היא: it
• את: direct object marker
• כי: because
• יפה: nice
• ללבוש: to wear
• שמלה: dress
• אדום: red

Questions & Answers about אני רוצה ללבוש את השמלה האדומה, כי היא יפה.

Why is רוצה used here, and how can I tell whether the speaker is male or female?

In modern Hebrew, the present tense is often built with a form that looks like an adjective or participle, not with a separate fully conjugated verb the way English does.

So אני רוצה means I want, but רוצה also agrees with the speaker’s gender:

• masculine singular: pronounced rotze
• feminine singular: pronounced rotza

In normal unpointed Hebrew writing, both are spelled exactly the same: רוצה.

So from spelling alone, you often cannot tell whether the speaker is male or female. You would know from context, pronunciation, or vowel marks.

Why is there a ל־ at the start of ללבוש?

The ל־ is the normal marker for the infinitive in Hebrew, similar to English to in to wear.

So:

• ללבוש = to wear / to put on

The basic verb is לָבַשׁ = he wore / put on.

Because the verb itself begins with the letter ל, adding the infinitive prefix gives you two ל letters:

• ל + לבוש → ללבוש

That is completely normal. The word is pronounced roughly lilbósh.

What is את doing in the sentence?

את is the direct object marker. It does not have a direct English translation here.

Hebrew uses את before a definite direct object—that is, a specific known thing, usually marked with ה־ (the).

So in:

• אני רוצה ללבוש את השמלה האדומה

the object is השמלה האדומה = the red dress, which is definite, so Hebrew uses את.

Compare:

• אני רוצה ללבוש את השמלה האדומה = I want to wear the red dress
• אני רוצה ללבוש שמלה אדומה = I want to wear a red dress

In the second sentence, there is no את, because the object is indefinite.

Why does the adjective come after the noun in השמלה האדומה?

In Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• שמלה אדומה = dress red = red dress
• ילד קטן = boy small = small boy

This is one of the most basic word-order differences between English and Hebrew.

Why do both השמלה and האדומה have ה־?

Because in Hebrew, when a noun is definite, its adjective also has to be definite.

So:

• שמלה אדומה = a red dress
• השמלה האדומה = the red dress

This is called definiteness agreement.

In English, only the noun phrase gets the once. In Hebrew, the adjective also reflects that definiteness.

Why are האדומה, היא, and יפה feminine?

Because שמלה is a feminine singular noun.

In Hebrew, nouns have grammatical gender, including inanimate objects. Since שמלה is feminine, words that refer to it must match:

• השמלה האדומה — feminine adjective
• היא — feminine pronoun, referring to the dress
• יפה — feminine form in pronunciation here

A useful thing to know: יפה is written the same for masculine and feminine in normal spelling, but the pronunciation differs:

• masculine: yafe
• feminine: yafa

Since the sentence says היא יפה, it is feminine: hi yafa.

Why does the sentence use היא for a dress? Shouldn’t that be it?

English uses it for objects, but Hebrew does not work that way. In Hebrew, nouns are grammatically masculine or feminine, and pronouns match that gender.

Since שמלה is feminine, Hebrew refers to it with:

• היא = she grammatically, but in English you translate it as it

So כי היא יפה literally looks like because she is beautiful, but the correct English meaning is because it is beautiful.

Where is the word is in כי היא יפה?

In present-tense Hebrew, the verb to be is usually omitted.

So:

• היא יפה literally = she/it beautiful
• natural English = she/it is beautiful

This is very common in Hebrew:

• אני עייף / עייפה = I am tired
• הוא גבוה = He is tall
• הן בבית = They are at home

In past and future tenses, Hebrew usually does use forms of היה (to be), but in the present tense, it is normally left out.

Could Hebrew leave out היא and just say כי יפה?

Usually, no—not in normal standard speech.

Even though Hebrew often omits the present-tense to be, it still normally keeps the subject. So:

• כי היא יפה = natural
• כי יפה = incomplete in most normal contexts

Hebrew allows a sentence like השמלה יפה = the dress is beautiful, because השמלה is the subject. But once you switch to a new clause with כי, you normally need the subject there too:

• כי היא יפה

Is כי the normal word for because?

Yes. כי is a very common and natural way to say because in Hebrew.

So:

• כי היא יפה = because it is beautiful

There are other ways to say because, such as:

• מפני ש־
• בגלל ש־

But כי is simple, common, and completely normal here.

Why is there a comma before כי?

The comma separates the main clause from the reason clause:

• אני רוצה ללבוש את השמלה האדומה
• כי היא יפה

So the structure is:

• main statement: I want to wear the red dress
• reason: because it is beautiful

In Hebrew punctuation, a comma before כי can appear, especially in careful writing. In very short everyday sentences, some writers may omit it, but using it here is perfectly fine.