לפני שנה עבדתי הרבה ולא היה לי זמן, אבל השנה אני מנסה לשנות את ההרגל הזה.

לפני literally means before, and שנה means year. Together, לפני שנה means before a year, which in natural English is usually a year ago.

A few useful comparisons:

• לפני שנה = a year ago
• לפני שבוע = a week ago
• לפני חודש = a month ago

This is different from השנה שעברה, which more specifically means last year. In many contexts, though, לפני שנה and last year may feel similar in meaning.

עבדתי is the past tense, first person singular form of the verb לעבוד (to work).

So:

• עבדתי = I worked

The ending -תי is very common in the Hebrew past tense for I:

• כתבתי = I wrote
• למדתי = I studied
• ניסיתי = I tried

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a past situation, so עבדתי is the correct form.

Here, הרבה means a lot or much, and it works like an adverb modifying the verb:

• עבדתי הרבה = I worked a lot

Even though הרבה can also mean many/much in other contexts, here it describes how much the person worked.

Examples:

• אני אוכל הרבה = I eat a lot
• היא לומדת הרבה = She studies a lot

Hebrew often expresses possession with יש ל... and היה ל..., which literally mean something like there is to... or there was to...

So:

• יש לי זמן = I have time
• אין לי זמן = I do not have time
• היה לי זמן = I had time
• לא היה לי זמן = I did not have time / I had no time

Literally, לא היה לי זמן is something like there was not to me time, but natural English is I didn’t have time.

This structure is extremely common in Hebrew.

Because היה is agreeing with זמן, not with אני.

In לא היה לי זמן:

• זמן = time
• זמן is a masculine singular noun
• so Hebrew uses היה (masculine singular past form of to be)

The לי just means to me / for me, which is how Hebrew expresses I have.

Compare:

• היה לי זמן = I had time
  (זמן is masculine singular)
• הייתה לי עבודה = I had work / a job
  (עבודה is feminine singular)

In Hebrew, you usually do not use a helper verb like English do / did for negation.

English:

• I worked
• I did not work

Hebrew:

• עבדתי = I worked
• לא עבדתי = I did not work

So for this sentence:

• לא היה לי זמן = I didn’t have time

The negative word לא is enough; Hebrew does not need an extra word corresponding to English did.

Because the sentence contrasts the past with the present:

• לפני שנה עבדתי הרבה ולא היה לי זמן = a past situation
• אבל השנה אני מנסה... = what is happening this year / now

מנסה is the present tense form of לנסות (to try), so:

• אני מנסה = I am trying / I try

In Hebrew, the present tense often covers both:

• I try
• I am trying

The exact meaning depends on context.

The base form is לנסות = to try.

מנסה is the present masculine singular form.

Present tense in Hebrew usually reflects gender and number:

• אני מנסה = I am trying (said by a man)
• אני מנסה can sometimes appear in teaching examples as a default form, but for a woman it should normally be:
• אני מנסה = masculine singular
• אני מנסה? No — the feminine form is מנסה? Actually the correct feminine singular is:
• אני מנסה = masculine
• אני מנסה is not feminine
• אני מנסה / אני מנסה are not two different spellings

The correct contrast is:

• מנסה = masculine singular
• מנסה? No change? The real feminine singular form is מנסה with different pronunciation? No — for this verb the spelling difference matters:
• masculine: מְנַסֶּה
• feminine: מְנַסָּה

In unpointed Hebrew, both are often written מנסה, so context tells you the gender.

That means this written sentence could be said by either a man or a woman, although with vowels the pronunciation would differ.

לשנות is the infinitive form of the verb לשנות, meaning to change.

After verbs like try, Hebrew commonly uses an infinitive:

• אני מנסה לשנות = I am trying to change

This is very similar to English:

• try + to change

Other examples:

• אני רוצה ללמוד = I want to study
• היא צריכה לעבוד = She needs to work
• אנחנו מתחילים להבין = We are starting to understand

In Hebrew, demonstratives like this usually come after the noun:

• ההרגל הזה = this habit
• literally: the-habit this

This is the normal pattern in Hebrew:

• הספר הזה = this book
• הילד הזה = this boy
• השנה הזאת = this year

Also notice that the noun usually takes ה־ (the):

• הרגל = a habit
• ההרגל הזה = this habit

So Hebrew often uses the + noun + this/that.

Because in Hebrew, when you say this/that with a noun, the noun is normally definite.

So:

• הרגל = a habit
• ההרגל הזה = this habit

This is a standard Hebrew pattern:

• הבית הזה = this house
• הבעיה הזאת = this problem
• האנשים האלה = these people

Without ה־, it would sound incomplete or unnatural in normal usage.

אבל means but, and it introduces the contrast between the two parts of the sentence:

• past: I worked a lot and didn’t have time
• present/this year: but this year I’m trying to change that habit

Its position is very similar to English but. It usually comes at the beginning of the contrasting clause.

Both are possible, but the emphasis changes.

• השנה אני מנסה puts emphasis on this year
• אני מנסה השנה sounds more like I’m trying this year

In your sentence, השנה comes first because the speaker is making a time contrast with לפני שנה:

• לפני שנה... אבל השנה...
• A year ago... but this year...

So the word order helps highlight that contrast.

Yes, more or less. Hebrew structure here is very different from English.

Breakdown:

• ו־ = and
• לא = not
• היה = was
• לי = to me
• זמן = time

So literally it is close to:

• and there was not to me time

But the natural English meaning is:

• and I didn’t have time

This is a great example of why translating word-for-word from Hebrew can sound strange in English.

Yes. That would mean:

• לא היה לי מספיק זמן = I didn’t have enough time

Your original sentence, לא היה לי זמן, is stronger and more direct:

• I didn’t have time

In real life, both are common:

• לא היה לי זמן = I had no time / I didn’t have time
• לא היה לי מספיק זמן = I didn’t have enough time

They are the same noun, שנה = year, but one is indefinite and one is definite.

• לפני שנה = a year ago / before a year
• השנה = this year / the year (in context, this year)

Why does השנה mean this year?
Because in Hebrew, השנה often means this year in context, especially when speaking about the current year.

So:

• השנה אני עובד פחות = This year I work less
• השנה אני מנסה לשנות... = This year I’m trying to change...

Yes, it sounds natural and clear.

It has a very common conversational structure:

1. a past situation
   לפני שנה עבדתי הרבה ולא היה לי זמן
2. a contrast
   אבל
3. a present effort or change
   השנה אני מנסה לשנות את ההרגל הזה

A native speaker might also say slightly different versions depending on style, but your sentence is perfectly natural.