מישהו מחכה בחוץ, אבל אני לא מחכה לאף אחד.

מחכה is the present-tense form of לחכות (to wait).

In Hebrew, present-tense verb forms do not show person the way English does. So the same form can work with different subjects:

• הוא מחכה = he is waiting
• היא מחכה = she is waiting
• אני מחכה = I am waiting

What changes the meaning is the subject, not the verb ending for person.

So in your sentence:

• מישהו מחכה בחוץ = Someone is waiting outside
• אני לא מחכה לאף אחד = I am not waiting for anyone

Hebrew present tense is often more like a participle than a fully person-marked English verb.

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

So:

• אני לא מחכה לאף אחד = clear: I’m not waiting for anyone

If you removed אני:

• אבל לא מחכה לאף אחד

that would usually sound incomplete or at least much less natural on its own, because מחכה does not tell you who is doing the waiting.

Also, אני helps create the contrast with אבל (but):

• Someone is waiting outside, but I am not waiting for anyone.

מישהו means someone.

It comes from מי (who) plus an ending that gives it an indefinite meaning, roughly like some- in English.

So:

• מי = who
• מישהו = someone

It is a very common everyday word.

Examples:

• מישהו כאן? = Is someone here?
• ראיתי מישהו = I saw someone

בחוץ means outside.

It is made of:

• ב־ = in / at
• חוץ = outside / the outside

In Hebrew, short prepositions like ב־, ל־, and כ־ are usually attached directly to the following word, so they are written as one word.

So:

• בחוץ = outside / outdoors

Examples:

• הילדים משחקים בחוץ = The children are playing outside
• חם בחוץ = It’s hot outside

Hebrew often uses a structure that looks like double negation to English speakers.

Here:

• לא = not
• אף אחד = anyone / no one, depending on context

So:

• אני לא מחכה לאף אחד

literally feels a bit like:

• I am not waiting for no one/anyone

But in natural Hebrew, this is simply the normal way to say:

• I am not waiting for anyone

This pattern is very common:

• אני לא רואה אף אחד = I don’t see anyone
• אין לי אף שאלה = I don’t have any questions

So the combination לא ... אף אחד is standard Hebrew.

Because the verb לחכות usually goes with the preposition ל־ when you say who someone is waiting for.

So Hebrew says:

• לחכות ל... = to wait for...

Examples:

• אני מחכה לך = I’m waiting for you
• הוא מחכה למורה = He is waiting for the teacher
• אנחנו מחכים לאוטובוס = We are waiting for the bus
• אני לא מחכה לאף אחד = I am not waiting for anyone

So לאף אחד is not just anyone. It is for anyone after the preposition ל־.

Literally, אחד means one, and אף אחד is an idiomatic expression that means anyone or no one, depending on the sentence.

Very roughly, it has the sense of even one person.

So:

• אף אחד לא בא = No one came
• אני לא מכיר אף אחד כאן = I don’t know anyone here

Even though אחד literally means one, the full expression אף אחד should be learned as a set phrase meaning anyone / no one in the right context.

In normal unpointed Hebrew spelling, מחכה can represent either:

• masculine singular
• feminine singular

So in writing, the form looks the same.

In this sentence:

• with מישהו, it is understood as masculine, because מישהו is grammatically masculine
• with אני, it could be said by either a male or female speaker in writing, since אני itself does not show gender

This is very common in Hebrew: the written form may not show the gender clearly unless there is more context.

The repetition is normal and natural.

The sentence has two full clauses:

• מישהו מחכה בחוץ
• אבל אני לא מחכה לאף אחד

Hebrew often repeats the verb just as English does when each clause has its own idea.

You could sometimes shorten things in conversation, but the full version is the clearest and most standard. The repetition also highlights the contrast:

• Someone is waiting outside
• but I am not waiting for anyone

So the repeated מחכה is not awkward; it is exactly what you would expect.

אבל means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• מישהו מחכה בחוץ = Someone is waiting outside
• אני לא מחכה לאף אחד = I’m not waiting for anyone

Put together:

• מישהו מחכה בחוץ, אבל אני לא מחכה לאף אחד.

This is very similar to English word order:

• statement 1
• אבל
• contrasting statement 2

So אבל is a straightforward conjunction meaning but.

Yes. The exact English translation depends on the structure.

For example:

• אף אחד לא מחכה בחוץ = No one is waiting outside

Here אף אחד is the subject, so English usually translates it as no one.

But in your sentence:

• אני לא מחכה לאף אחד

אף אחד comes after the preposition ל־, so English usually translates it as anyone:

• I’m not waiting for anyone

So the same Hebrew expression can correspond to either no one or anyone, depending on how the sentence is built.