אני רוצה לדבר איתך עליו אחרי העבודה.

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Breakdown of אני רוצה לדבר איתך עליו אחרי העבודה.

• לרצות: to want
• אחרי: after
• עבודה: work

Questions & Answers about אני רוצה לדבר איתך עליו אחרי העבודה.

Why is אני written here? Can’t Hebrew just say רוצה לדבר...?

Sometimes Hebrew does omit subject pronouns, but in this sentence אני helps make the subject clear.

The main reason is that רוצה in the present tense does not show person clearly by itself. Written without vowels, רוצה could be understood as:

• I want (if the speaker is male, or female in unpointed writing)
• he wants
• sometimes only context tells you exactly who

So אני רוצה clearly means I want.

What does לדבר mean, and why does it start with ל־?

לדבר is the infinitive form of the verb to speak / to talk.

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

So:

• לדבר = to speak / to talk

In אני רוצה לדבר, the structure is very similar to English:

• אני רוצה = I want
• לדבר = to talk

So literally: I want to talk.

Why is it לדבר איתך and not something more like talk to you?