הלילה אני רוצה לקרוא ספר במיטה, לא לראות סרט בטלוויזיה.

That is a very common question.

• לילה = night
• הלילה literally = the night
• But in actual usage, הלילה often means tonight, especially at the beginning of a sentence as a time expression.

So here:

• הלילה אני רוצה... = Tonight I want...

Compare:

• בלילה = at night / during the night in a general sense
• הלילה = tonight, this specific night

In the present tense, Hebrew often includes the subject pronoun because the verb form does not clearly show person.

For example, רוצה can mean:

• I want
• you want
• he wants

The exact meaning depends on context and on who is speaking.

So אני רוצה is very natural and helps make it clear that the subject is I.

This is different from past and future tense, where the verb usually shows the person more clearly.

Yes.

רוצה is the present-tense form of to want, and it agrees with gender and number.

In singular:

• masculine: רוצה — pronounced rotze
• feminine: רוצה — pronounced rotza

So the spelling is the same, but the pronunciation changes.

That means this sentence could be spoken by:

• a man: ani rotze
• a woman: ani rotza

Plural would be different:

• רוצים = masculine plural
• רוצות = feminine plural

Because after רוצה (want), Hebrew normally uses the infinitive.

So:

• רוצה לקרוא = want to read
• רוצה לראות = want to see/watch

The ל־ at the beginning of לקרוא and לראות is the normal marker of the infinitive, similar to English to in to read / to watch.

So the structure is:

• אני רוצה + infinitive
• I want + to + verb

Because Hebrew has no indefinite article. There is no separate word for a or an.

So:

• ספר can mean a book
• סרט can mean a movie

If the noun is definite, Hebrew uses ה־:

• ספר = a book
• הספר = the book
• סרט = a movie
• הסרט = the movie

So Hebrew leaves the indefinite form unmarked.

Because את is only used before a definite direct object.

Here the nouns are indefinite:

• ספר = a book
• סרט = a movie

So you do not use את.

Compare:

• לקרוא ספר = to read a book
• לקרוא את הספר = to read the book

And:

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

That is one of the most important rules for את.

Because Hebrew prepositions like ב־ (in / at / on) are usually attached directly to the following word.

So:

• ב + מיטה → במיטה = in bed
• ב + טלוויזיה → בטלוויזיה

In context, בטלוויזיה means on TV / on the television.

Also, when a word has ה־ (the), it can combine with the preposition, but in normal unpointed Hebrew writing you often do not see the difference clearly. What matters for a learner is:

• short prepositions are usually prefixes
• they are attached to the noun

Not in this sentence.

Here לא is negating the second infinitive phrase, not the verb רוצה.

So the idea is:

• I want to read a book in bed, not watch a movie on TV.

In other words, it contrasts two activities:

• לקרוא ספר במיטה
• לא לראות סרט בטלוויזיה

If you wanted to say I don’t want, you would put לא before רוצה:

• אני לא רוצה לקרוא... = I don’t want to read...

So compare:

• אני רוצה לקרוא..., לא לראות... = I want to read..., not watch...
• אני לא רוצה לקרוא... = I don’t want to read...

Because Hebrew can leave it understood.

The full idea is something like:

• הלילה אני רוצה לקרוא ספר במיטה, לא רוצה לראות סרט בטלוויזיה.

But once אני רוצה has already been said, Hebrew can shorten the second part and just keep the infinitive phrase:

• לא לראות סרט בטלוויזיה

This works much like English:

• Tonight I want to read a book in bed, not watch a movie on TV.

English also leaves out the repeated I want to.

It can be changed, but putting הלילה first is very natural because it sets the time right away.

This sentence:

• הלילה אני רוצה לקרוא ספר במיטה...

sounds like:

• Tonight, I want to read a book in bed...

You could move things around, for example:

• אני רוצה הלילה לקרוא ספר במיטה
• אני רוצה לקרוא ספר במיטה הלילה

These are possible, but they may sound slightly different in emphasis.

So הלילה at the beginning is common and natural, especially in everyday speech.

Yes, literally לראות means to see, but in Hebrew it is also commonly used where English says watch, especially with things like movies or TV.

So:

• לראות סרט = to watch a movie
• לראות טלוויזיה can mean to watch TV

This is normal Hebrew usage. English separates see and watch more sharply than Hebrew often does in these contexts.

So even though the basic verb is to see, the natural translation here is watch.