הילד רצה ללכת איתו, אבל בסוף הוא נשאר איתי בבית.

Because this sentence is talking about the past.

• רצה = wanted
• רוצה = wants / is wanting

Hebrew marks tense directly on the verb, so הילד רצה means the boy/child wanted.

Also, רצה is masculine singular, which matches הילד, a masculine singular subject.

After verbs like רצה (wanted), Hebrew normally uses an infinitive, just like English uses to go after wanted.

So:

• רצה ללכת = wanted to go

The ל־ at the start of ללכת is the usual marker for the infinitive in Hebrew, similar to English to.

This is a very common learner question. The infinitive of הלך (to go / to walk) is ללכת.

It looks like there are two ל letters, and historically/morphologically that is normal for this verb form. In practice, you should just learn ללכת as the infinitive form of הלך.

It is pronounced roughly la-LE-khet.

A useful point: this is not something unusual in meaning; it is simply the standard infinitive form of this verb.

These mean:

• איתו = with him
• איתי = with me

Hebrew often attaches pronoun endings directly to prepositions. So instead of using a separate word for him or me, the pronoun is built into the preposition.

Some common forms are:

• איתי = with me
• איתך = with you
• איתו = with him
• איתה = with her
• איתנו = with us

So in this sentence, the learner should notice that these are not two-word combinations; they are single forms.

Yes. In Hebrew, the same masculine singular pronoun form can sometimes mean him or it, depending on context.

So איתו can mean:

• with him
• with it for a masculine noun

In this sentence, it most naturally means with him, because the sentence is about people.

Here בסוף means in the end, eventually, or after all.

Literally, it comes from:

• ב־ = in / at
• סוף = end

So the literal sense is at the end, but in normal usage it often works like the English expression in the end.

Yes, נשאר already tells you he stayed, because the verb form is masculine singular past.

But Hebrew often still includes the subject pronoun for reasons like:

• clarity
• emphasis
• contrast
• smoother narrative style

Here, אבל בסוף הוא נשאר... feels natural because it highlights the turn in events: but in the end, he stayed...

If you removed הוא, the sentence would still be grammatical:

• הילד רצה ללכת איתו, אבל בסוף נשאר איתי בבית

But with הוא, the sentence is clearer and more explicit.

Most naturally, הוא refers back to הילד.

So the most likely reading is that the child wanted to go with someone, but in the end the child stayed with me at home.

However, grammatically, Hebrew can leave this kind of pronoun slightly ambiguous if more than one masculine singular person is in the context. Just like in English, the wider context usually tells you who he is.

נשאר means stayed or remained.

In this sentence, it means that he did not go; instead, he remained where he was, namely with me at home.

So נשאר is a very natural verb for:

• staying somewhere
• remaining behind
• ending up still being in a place or situation

Because in Hebrew, the preposition ב־ (in / at) combines with the definite article ה־ (the).

So:

• ב + הבית becomes בבית

This is a normal contraction in Hebrew spelling and grammar.

Depending on context, בבית can mean:

• in the house
• at home

In this sentence, איתי בבית most naturally means with me at home.

The prefix ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, equivalent to English the.

So:

• ילד = boy / child
• הילד = the boy / the child

Hebrew attaches the directly to the noun, instead of writing it as a separate word.

A common pronunciation guide is:

ha-YE-led rat-SA la-LE-khet i-TO, a-VAL ba-SOF hu nish-AR i-TI ba-BA-yit

A smoother transliteration:

ha-yeled ratsa lalekhet ito, aval basof hu nish'ar iti babayit

A few notes:

• ח in ללכת is the throaty sound heard in words like the German Bach
• רצה is pronounced rat-sa
• איתו is ee-TO
• איתי is ee-TI
• בבית is ba-BA-yit