אני רוצה להגיד לך משהו חשוב.

רוצה means want in the present tense.

In this sentence, it agrees with the speaker:

• אני רוצה = I want

A useful thing to know is that in normal unpointed Hebrew spelling, רוצה can represent both:

• rotze = a male speaker saying I want
• rotza = a female speaker saying I want

So the written sentence stays the same, but the pronunciation changes depending on the speaker.

After רוצה in Hebrew, you normally use the infinitive, just like English uses to + verb:

• I want to say
• אני רוצה להגיד

The ל־ at the beginning of להגיד is part of the infinitive form here, similar to English to in to say.

So:

• רוצה = want
• להגיד = to say / to tell

Both can mean to say, and in many situations they are interchangeable.

• אני רוצה להגיד לך משהו חשוב
• אני רוצה לומר לך משהו חשוב

Both are natural.

A rough guide:

• להגיד is very common in everyday speech
• לומר can sound a bit more neutral or slightly more formal

In this sentence, להגיד is completely normal and natural.

לך means to you.

It is made from the preposition ל־ = to plus a pronoun ending.

So:

• להגיד לך = to say/tell to you = to tell you

In natural English, we usually just say tell you, but Hebrew often uses this to you structure.

In unpointed Hebrew, לך can mean:

• lecha = to you when speaking to a male
• lach = to you when speaking to a female

So the spelling is the same, but the pronunciation changes.

That means this sentence can be read as either:

• אני רוצה להגיד לך = I want to tell you (male)
• אני רוצה להגיד לך = I want to tell you (female)

Only the pronunciation tells you which one it is.

Because in Hebrew, adjectives usually come after the noun or noun-like word they describe.

So:

• משהו חשוב = something important

This is the normal Hebrew order.

Compare:

• English: important something would be wrong
• Hebrew: משהו חשוב is correct

The same pattern appears in many Hebrew phrases:

• ספר טוב = a good book
• איש נחמד = a nice man

Hebrew adjectives usually agree in gender and number with the word they describe.

משהו behaves like a masculine singular word in this kind of sentence, so the adjective is also masculine singular:

• משהו חשוב

Not:

• משהו חשובה

So even though something in English has no grammatical gender, in Hebrew the adjective still has to take a grammatical form, and masculine singular is the normal one here.

Because את is normally used before a definite direct object, and משהו חשוב is indefinite.

• משהו חשוב = something important, not the something important

So no את is used.

Compare:

• אני רוצה להגיד לך משהו חשוב = I want to tell you something important
• אני רוצה להגיד לך את הדבר החשוב הזה = I want to tell you this important thing

In the second sentence, את appears because הדבר החשוב הזה is definite.

In this sentence, אני is very natural and usually important.

Why? Because רוצה in the present tense does not clearly show person by itself. Depending on context, רוצה could mean:

• I want
• you want (masculine singular)
• he wants

So אני makes it clear that the subject is I.

You might hear Hebrew omit subject pronouns in some contexts, but here אני רוצה is the normal clear form.

No, but it is the most neutral and natural word order.

The sentence is:

• אני רוצה להגיד לך משהו חשוב

This is the standard way to say it.

Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, and other versions are possible for emphasis, but they would sound more marked. For example, you could move things around in conversation for stress, but the basic learner-friendly pattern is:

• subject + want + infinitive + indirect object + direct object

So this sentence is an excellent default model.

A common pronunciation is:

• ani rotze להגיד לך משהו חשוב if the speaker is male
• ani rotza להגיד לך משהו חשוב if the speaker is female

More fully:

• ani rotze lehagid lecha mashehu chashuv = speaking to a male
• ani rotze lehagid lach mashehu chashuv = speaking to a female
• ani rotza lehagid lecha mashehu chashuv = female speaker to a male
• ani rotza lehagid lach mashehu chashuv = female speaker to a female

So two parts can change in pronunciation:

• רוצה depends on the speaker
• לך depends on the listener