אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב; אני רוצה לקרוא ספר.

Yes, Hebrew can sometimes leave it out, because the verb form often already shows the person. But in sentences like this, repeating אני sounds very natural and clear:

אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב; אני רוצה לקרוא ספר.

Repeating אני helps emphasize the contrast:

• I don’t want to watch TV tonight;
• I want to read a book.

You could also hear: אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב; רוצה לקרוא ספר in casual speech, but the full version with אני repeated is more standard and clearer for learners.

לא means not.

In Hebrew, לא usually comes before the verb or verbal phrase it negates:

• אני לא רוצה = I do not want
• הוא לא בא = He is not coming / He didn’t come (depending on context)

So in this sentence:

• אני לא רוצה לראות... = I don’t want to watch...

This is different from English, which often uses do not. Hebrew does not need an extra helping verb like do here.

רוצה is the present-tense form of to want for a masculine singular subject.

Since the subject is אני (I), the form depends on the speaker’s gender:

• male speaker: אני רוצה
• female speaker: אני רוצה

These look almost the same in writing without vowel marks, but they are pronounced differently:

• masculine: rotzeh
• feminine: rotzah

So this written sentence can be said by either a man or a woman, but pronunciation changes.

In normal unvocalized Hebrew, the sentence is written the same way:

אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב; אני רוצה לקרוא ספר.

But the pronunciation changes:

• male: ani lo rotze לראות... ani rotze likro sefer
• female: ani lo rotza לראות... ani rotza likro sefer

So the key difference is:

• masculine רוצה = rotze
• feminine רוצה = rotza

Hebrew often leaves this ambiguity in writing when there are no vowel marks.

After רוצה (want), Hebrew usually uses an infinitive—the to + verb form in English.

So:

• רוצה לראות = want to see/watch
• רוצה לקרוא = want to read

Here:

• לראות = to see / to watch
• לקרוא = to read

The ל־ at the beginning often corresponds to English to in infinitives.

Yes, very often it does.

In Hebrew, לראות basically means to see, but in many contexts it also works for to watch, especially with TV, movies, and shows:

• לראות טלוויזיה = to watch TV
• לראות סרט = to watch a movie

So even though the literal core meaning is to see, the natural English translation here is to watch television.

הערב literally means this evening / tonight, depending on context.

It is made of:

• ה־ = the
• ערב = evening

But Hebrew often uses הערב idiomatically where English says tonight:

• אני עובד הערב = I’m working tonight
• מה אתה עושה הערב? = What are you doing tonight?

So in this sentence, tonight is the most natural translation.

Because Hebrew often does not need a preposition where English does.

English says:

• this evening
• tonight
• sometimes in the evening

Hebrew can simply say:

• הערב

So:

• אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב
  literally feels like
• I don’t want to watch TV tonight / this evening

No extra word like in is required.

ספר means a book or just book, depending on context.
הספר means the book.

In this sentence:

• לקרוא ספר = to read a book

Since the meaning is general and indefinite, Hebrew uses ספר without ה־.

Hebrew has a definite article (ה־ = the), but it usually does not have a separate word for a/an. So:

• ספר = a book
• הספר = the book

Yes, but it would mean something different.

• לקרוא ספר = to read a book (any book, non-specific)
• לקרוא את הספר = to read the book (a specific book)

The word את is used before a definite direct object, such as הספר.

So the original sentence is more general: the speaker just wants to read some book.

The basic word order is very straightforward:

• אני = subject
• לא רוצה = negated verb phrase
• לראות טלוויזיה = infinitive phrase / complement
• הערב = time expression

So: אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב = I do not want to watch TV tonight

The second clause follows the same pattern: אני רוצה לקרוא ספר = I want to read a book

Hebrew word order is often similar to English in simple sentences like this.

The semicolon is fine in writing because the sentence contains two closely related clauses:

• I don’t want to watch TV tonight; I want to read a book.

In speech, a person would usually just pause slightly: אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב, אני רוצה לקרוא ספר.

In less formal writing, many people would use a comma instead of a semicolon. The semicolon just makes the contrast a little more polished and explicit.

Yes, טלוויזיה is a borrowed/international word, like television.

It is pronounced approximately: televizya

So:

• לראות טלוויזיה = to watch television / TV

Hebrew uses many international modern words like this, especially for technology and media.

Yes. In informal speech, people may say:

• טי־וי which is just TV pronounced with Hebrew sounds.

But טלוויזיה is completely standard and very common.

So both exist, but טלוויזיה is the more neutral full word.

Yes. A common softer alternative is:

• הייתי רוצה... = I would like...

So you could say: אני לא רוצה לראות טלוויזיה הערב; הייתי רוצה לקרוא ספר.

That sounds a bit softer or more polite, depending on context.

But the original אני רוצה is perfectly natural and very common in everyday Hebrew.