אני לא שונאת תה, אבל אני אוהבת קפה יותר.

Because the speaker is feminine singular.

In Hebrew present tense, these verb forms agree with the subject’s gender and number:

• שונאת = feminine singular hates
• אוהבת = feminine singular likes/loves

If a man were speaking, you would usually get:

• אני לא שונא תה, אבל אני אוהב קפה יותר.

So אני itself does not show gender, but the present-tense verb form does.

Yes, this is present tense.

Hebrew does not use an auxiliary like English do in negatives. So:

• אני לא שונאת = I do not hate
• literally: I not hating / I not hate

Also, Hebrew present tense does not use a separate word like am/is/are in sentences like this. The present-tense form itself carries the meaning.

So לא simply goes before the verb:

• לא שונאת = do not hate
• לא אוהבת = do not like

In this sentence, אני is very helpful and usually natural to include.

That is because present-tense Hebrew forms like אוהבת and שונאת show gender and number, but not clearly person. For example, אוהבת could mean:

• I like
• you like (to a woman)
• she likes

So without אני, the sentence could be unclear unless the context already makes the subject obvious.

This is different from many past and future forms, where the verb often shows person more clearly and the subject pronoun can be dropped more easily.

It does not have to be repeated, but repeating it sounds natural.

So both of these are possible:

• אני לא שונאת תה, אבל אני אוהבת קפה יותר.
• אני לא שונאת תה, אבל אוהבת קפה יותר.

Repeating אני does a few useful things:

• it makes the second clause clear
• it gives the sentence a balanced rhythm
• it avoids any momentary ambiguity, since אוהבת by itself could also mean she likes or you like (feminine)

So the repetition is normal and often preferable.

Because את is only used before a definite direct object.

Here, תה and קפה mean tea and coffee in general, not the tea or the coffee, so they are indefinite/generic. That means no את.

Compare:

• אני אוהבת קפה. = I like coffee.
• אני אוהבת את הקפה הזה. = I like this coffee.

So in your sentence, no את is needed.

Because the sentence is talking about tea and coffee as general categories, not specific ones.

Hebrew often uses a bare noun for general meaning, especially with foods and drinks:

• אני אוהבת קפה. = I like coffee.
• אני לא שונאת תה. = I don’t hate tea.

If you meant a specific tea or coffee, you might use the definite article:

• התה
• הקפה

For example:

• אני אוהבת את הקפה שבבית הקפה הזה. = I like the coffee in this café.

יותר means more, and here it means more than tea.

So:

• אני אוהבת קפה יותר = I like coffee more

The comparison target is understood from the earlier part of the sentence: tea.

Hebrew often leaves the second half of the comparison unstated when it is obvious from context. So this sentence naturally means:

• I don’t hate tea, but I like coffee more.

This is a very important word-order point.

• אוהבת קפה יותר = likes coffee more
  
  • comparison of preference
• אוהבת יותר קפה = likes more coffee / likes a greater amount of coffee
  
  • comparison of quantity

So in your sentence, יותר comes after קפה because it is modifying the whole idea of liking coffee more, not the amount of coffee.

Yes.

If you want to state the comparison fully, Hebrew can make it more explicit, for example with מאשר:

• אני לא שונאת תה, אבל אני אוהבת קפה יותר מאשר תה.

That is more explicit, but in everyday speech the shorter version is very common when the comparison is already obvious:

• אני לא שונאת תה, אבל אני אוהבת קפה יותר.

So the original sentence is natural and economical.

Yes, שונאת is generally strong, just like hate in English.

So אני לא שונאת תה means I don’t hate tea, not just I’m not crazy about tea.

If you wanted something milder, you could say things like:

• אני לא כל כך אוהבת תה. = I don’t like tea that much.
• אני פחות אוהבת תה. = I like tea less.
• אני לא ממש אוהבת תה. = I don’t really like tea.

So this sentence suggests: tea is acceptable, but coffee is preferred.

Because the first letter here is pronounced as שׂ (sin), not שׁ (shin).

In unpointed Hebrew, both look like ש, so learners have to know the pronunciation from vocabulary or from pointed text.

So:

• שונאת = so-net or more carefully so-ne’et
• not sho-net

This is a common issue for learners, because standard everyday Hebrew usually does not write the dot that distinguishes שׁ from שׂ.

In common modern pronunciation, roughly:

• אני = a-NI
• לא = lo
• שונאת = so-NET
• תה = teh
• אבל = a-VAL
• אוהבת = o-HE-vet
• קפה = ka-FE
• יותר = yo-TER

A couple of helpful notes:

• The א in words like שונאת and אוהבת is often weak in fast modern speech.
• So learners may hear שונאת almost like sonet and אוהבת clearly as ohevet.

That is normal.