ביקשתי ממנה לבוא ברבע לשש, כדי שנוכל לשתות קפה לפני השיעור.

ביקשתי is the past tense, first person singular form of the verb לבקש (to ask, to request).

• ביקשתי = I asked / I requested
• The ending -תי often marks I in the past tense.

So the sentence begins with I asked...

ממנה means from her, but after לבקש it functions like ask of her / ask her in English.

Hebrew often uses the preposition מ־ with לבקש when you ask something from someone:

• ביקשתי ממנה = I asked her
• literally: I asked from her

By contrast, אותה is a direct object pronoun meaning her.
You would not normally say ביקשתי אותה לבוא for I asked her to come.

A useful pattern is:

• לבקש מ... + infinitive / noun
• ביקשתי ממנו לעזור = I asked him to help
• ביקשנו מהם כסף = We asked them for money

לבוא is the infinitive of בא / לבוא (to come), and Hebrew commonly uses an infinitive after verbs like ask, want, can, need, etc.

So:

• ביקשתי ממנה לבוא = I asked her to come

This is very similar to English asked her to come.

Structure:

• ביקשתי = I asked
• ממנה = her / from her
• לבוא = to come

ברבע לשש means at quarter to six, i.e. 5:45.

Breakdown:

• ב־ = at
• רבע = quarter
• לשש = to six

So literally it is at quarter to six.

This is a standard Hebrew way to tell time:

• ברבע לשש = 5:45
• ברבע אחרי חמש = 5:15
• בחצי שש = 5:30 in everyday Hebrew usage

The ל־ in לשש is the idea of to / until the next hour.

When telling time, Hebrew uses the basic numeral form used with clock hours, so you say:

• אחת
• שתיים
• שלוש
• ארבע
• חמש
• שש

So לשש is the normal form for to six when talking about time.

You do not use שישה here, because שישה is the masculine counting form used before masculine nouns, not clock time.

כדי ש־ means so that or in order that.

In this sentence:

• כדי שנוכל לשתות קפה לפני השיעור
• so that we can drink coffee before class

It introduces a purpose clause: it explains why she was asked to come at that time.

Compare:

• באתי מוקדם כדי לעזור = I came early in order to help
• באתי מוקדם כדי שנוכל לדבר = I came early so that we could talk

Because after כדי in this kind of sentence, Hebrew usually uses ש־ before the verb:

• כדי שנוכל = so that we can / will be able to

Breakdown:

• כדי ש־ = so that
• נוכל = we will be able / we can

Together they form the purpose clause.

In everyday Hebrew, you may sometimes hear כדי + infinitive instead, but here the speaker wants to say so that we can drink coffee, which naturally uses כדי ש־ + verb.

נוכל is the first person plural form (we) of the verb יכול (can / be able to) in the future tense.

• נוכל = we will be able to

After כדי ש־, Hebrew often uses a future form even when English uses can, could, or may depending on context.

So:

• כדי שנוכל לשתות קפה
  = so that we can drink coffee

This future form after words like כדי ש־, ש־, אם, etc. is very normal in Hebrew.

Because after יכול / אוכל / נוכל (can / be able to), Hebrew normally uses an infinitive.

So:

• נוכל לשתות = we can drink
• literally: we will be able to drink

This pattern is very common:

• אני יכול לבוא = I can come
• הם יוכלו לעזור = they will be able to help
• נוכל לשבת פה = we can sit here

Hebrew usually does not need a word corresponding to English some in sentences like this.

• לשתות קפה = to drink coffee

This can mean drink coffee in a general sense, or have some coffee depending on context.

Hebrew often leaves this unstated when English might add some naturally.

לפני השיעור means before the lesson / before class.

Breakdown:

• לפני = before
• השיעור = the lesson / the class

So:

• לפני השיעור = before class

The ה־ on שיעור is the definite article the.

Because השיעור refers to a specific lesson/class known from context:

• השיעור = the lesson / the class

But קפה here is indefinite and general:

• קפה = coffee

Hebrew uses ה־ only when something is definite.
So the contrast is:

• לשתות קפה = to drink coffee
• לפני השיעור = before the class

Yes, it is very natural.

The sentence is structured like this:

• ביקשתי ממנה לבוא ברבע לשש
  I asked her to come at quarter to six
• כדי שנוכל לשתות קפה לפני השיעור
  so that we can drink coffee before class

This is a very common Hebrew pattern:

1. main action
2. time/details
3. purpose clause with כדי ש־

Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, but this version sounds natural and clear.

Yes, but the meaning would shift slightly.

• כדי לשתות קפה לפני השיעור = in order to drink coffee before class
• כדי שנוכל לשתות קפה לפני השיעור = so that we can drink coffee before class

The version with שנוכל explicitly includes the idea of being able to and highlights that coming at 5:45 creates the opportunity.

So the actual sentence sounds a bit more natural if the speaker means:

I asked her to come at 5:45, so that we’d be able to have coffee before class.

Yes. The exact English translation depends on context.

Hebrew לבקש מ־ covers situations where English may say:

• ask someone
• ask something from someone
• request from someone

Examples:

• ביקשתי ממנה לבוא = I asked her to come
• ביקשתי ממנה עזרה = I asked her for help
• הוא ביקש ממני כסף = He asked me for money

So the core Hebrew pattern stays the same even when English wording changes.

It is completely natural and works well in everyday speech.

Nothing here is unusually formal. In spoken Hebrew, this would sound normal:

• ביקשתי ממנה לבוא ברבע לשש, כדי שנוכל לשתות קפה לפני השיעור.

The only small point is that in very casual speech, some speakers might simplify or shorten parts of it, but the sentence as written is standard, natural Hebrew.