אתמול היה לי משעמם בבית, אז הלכתי לספרייה וחיפשתי ספר חדש.

This is a very common Hebrew way to express boredom.

היה לי משעמם literally breaks down as:

• היה = it was
• לי = to me
• משעמם = boring

So the literal sense is it was boring to me.

In natural English, we usually say I was bored, but Hebrew often uses this kind of to me structure for feelings and experiences. So היה לי משעמם is one of the most natural ways to say that you were bored.

A more direct personal form also exists:

• הייתי משועמם = I was bored (male speaker)
• הייתי משועממת = I was bored (female speaker)

But היה לי משעמם is extremely common and conversational.

Because grammatically, the sentence is not built around I was.

In היה לי משעמם, the structure is impersonal:

• היה = it was
• לי = to me

So Hebrew is not saying I was boring/bored. It is saying it was boring to me.

That is why the verb is היה in the third-person singular form, not הייתי.

לי means to me.

It is the preposition ל־ meaning to/for, plus the ending for me.

So:

• לי = to me
• לו = to him
• לה = to her
• לנו = to us

In this sentence, לי marks the person experiencing the boredom:

• היה לי משעמם = it was boring to me

No. This is a very important distinction.

• משעמם = boring
• משועמם = bored

So:

• הספר משעמם = the book is boring
• אני משועמם = I am bored (male)
• אני משועממת = I am bored (female)

But in the expression משעמם לי / היה לי משעמם, Hebrew uses משעמם in a fixed idiomatic pattern meaning I’m bored / I was bored.

So even though משעמם normally means boring, in this specific structure it helps express the idea of being bored.

Usually in this expression, no.

A woman can naturally say:

• משעמם לי
• היה לי משעמם

This expression is commonly used the same way regardless of the speaker’s gender.

If you use the more direct adjective משועמם / משועממת, then gender does matter:

• הייתי משועמם = I was bored (male)
• הייתי משועממת = I was bored (female)

So in this sentence, משעמם does not usually change with the speaker.

Because Hebrew verbs usually already show who is doing the action.

Both of these verbs end with ־תי, which marks I in the past tense:

• הלכתי = I went
• חיפשתי = I looked for / I searched

That means Hebrew often leaves out אני when it is already clear from the verb.

You could say אני הלכתי, but it is usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

הלכתי is the past-tense I form of the verb ללכת = to go / to walk.

The base idea comes from הלך = went / walked.

Then Hebrew adds the ending ־תי for I in the past:

• הלכתי = I went
• חיפשתי = I searched / I looked for
• אמרתי = I said

So once you recognize ־תי, many past-tense first-person forms become easier to spot.

Because Hebrew attaches many prepositions directly to the next word.

Here, ל־ means to.

When ל־ is attached to a definite noun with ה־ (the), the two combine:

• ל + ה + ספרייה → לספרייה

So לספרייה means to the library.

Hebrew often does this with prepositions:

• לבית = to the house / home
• בספרייה = in the library
• מהבית = from the house / from home

In unpointed Hebrew writing, you just see one combined word.

בבית comes from ב־ + בית.

• ב־ = in / at
• בית = house, home

So בבית means at home or in the house, depending on context.

In this sentence, it means at home.

This is one place where English and Hebrew use slightly different wording:

• English often says at home
• Hebrew says בבית, literally in/at the home/house

Because the Hebrew verb לחפש works differently from English look for.

In Hebrew, לחפש usually takes a direct object, so you simply say:

• חיפשתי ספר = I looked for a book
• חיפשתי את הספר = I looked for the book

There is no extra word corresponding to English for here.

This is very common when learning Hebrew: a verb may require a different structure from the English equivalent.

Because את is usually used before a definite direct object.

Here, ספר חדש means a new book, which is indefinite. So there is no את.

Compare:

• חיפשתי ספר חדש = I looked for a new book
• חיפשתי את הספר החדש = I looked for the new book

So the absence of את helps show that the object is indefinite.

Because in Hebrew, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• ספר חדש = a new book
• בית גדול = a big house
• ילד טוב = a good boy

Also, the adjective must agree with the noun in gender, number, and definiteness.

Here:

• ספר is masculine singular
• so the adjective is חדש, also masculine singular

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:

• ספרייה חדשה = a new library

אז here means so or then.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• first: Yesterday I was bored at home
• second: so I went to the library and looked for a new book

So אז shows result or consequence.

Depending on context, אז can mean:

• then
• so
• at that time

In this sentence, so is the best fit.

Hebrew often puts time expressions near the beginning of the sentence, especially when setting the scene.

So starting with אתמול = yesterday is very natural:

• אתמול היה לי משעמם בבית...

English can do this too:

• Yesterday, I was bored at home...

It is not the only possible word order in Hebrew, but it is a very normal one.