אני לא אוהב לשקר, גם אם האמת קשה.

אוהב is the masculine singular form of love / like in the present tense.

So:

• אני לא אוהב לשקר = I (male) don’t like to lie
• אני לא אוהבת לשקר = I (female) don’t like to lie

In Hebrew, the present tense agrees with the subject in gender and number, even with אני.

So a female speaker would say:

• אני לא אוהבת לשקר, גם אם האמת קשה.

The ל־ marks the infinitive, similar to English to in to lie.

• לשקר = to lie
• לאהוב = to love / like
• לומר = to say
• ללכת = to go

So:

• אוהב לשקר literally means likes to lie
• לא אוהב לשקר = doesn’t like to lie

This is a very common pattern in Hebrew:

• אני רוצה לאכול = I want to eat
• הוא אוהב לקרוא = He likes to read

גם אם means even if.

In this sentence:

• גם אם האמת קשה = even if the truth is hard

Breakdown:

• גם = also / even
• אם = if

Together, גם אם functions as the fixed expression even if.

Examples:

• גם אם זה ייקח זמן = Even if it takes time
• גם אם אני עייף = Even if I’m tired

Because אמת is a feminine noun, and the adjective must agree with it.

• אמת = truth (feminine)
• קשה = hard / difficult in the feminine singular form

Compare:

• יום קשה = a hard day
  
  • יום is masculine, so קשה is masculine singular here
• שאלה קשה = a difficult question
  
  • שאלה is feminine, so קשה is feminine singular here

This adjective is a little tricky because:

• masculine singular: קשה
• feminine singular: קשה
• masculine plural: קשים
• feminine plural: קשות

So in the singular, the masculine and feminine forms happen to look the same.

The ה־ is the definite article, meaning the.

• אמת = truth
• האמת = the truth

In Hebrew, the is attached directly to the noun as a prefix.

Examples:

• ספר = book

• הספר = the book

• ילד = boy
• הילד = the boy

So האמת קשה is literally the truth is hard.

In Hebrew, the verb to be is usually not expressed in the present tense.

So:

• האמת קשה literally looks like the truth hard
• but it means the truth is hard

This is normal in Hebrew.

More examples:

• הוא עייף = He is tired
• אני מוכן = I am ready
• היא בבית = She is at home

But in the past and future, Hebrew does use forms of to be:

• האמת הייתה קשה = The truth was hard
• האמת תהיה קשה = The truth will be hard

It can often mean either love or like, depending on context.

• אני אוהב קפה can mean I like coffee
• אני אוהב אותך usually means I love you

In this sentence, אני לא אוהב לשקר is best understood as:

• I don’t like to lie

It usually sounds more natural in English than I don’t love to lie, unless the speaker is being sarcastic or dramatic.

Yes. לשקר means to lie in the sense of telling a lie.

Examples:

• הוא שיקר לי = He lied to me
• אסור לשקר = It’s forbidden to lie

The verb to lie down is different in Hebrew. For example:

• לשכב = to lie down / to be lying

So there is no ambiguity here:

• לא אוהב לשקר = doesn’t like lying / doesn’t like to lie

This is a very natural Hebrew word order:

• אני = I
• לא = not
• אוהב = like / love
• לשקר = to lie

So literally: I not like to lie

Hebrew often places לא directly before the verb it negates:

• אני לא יודע = I don’t know
• היא לא רוצה לבוא = She doesn’t want to come

This is one of the most basic negative sentence patterns in Hebrew.

Yes. That is a very natural English translation.

Hebrew uses the infinitive לשקר (to lie), but in English you can often translate that either as:

• to lie
• lying

So both of these work well:

• I don’t like to lie, even if the truth is hard.
• I don’t like lying, even if the truth is hard.

A common pronunciation would be:

Ani lo ohev leshaker, gam im ha’emet kasha.

A few notes:

• אני = a-NI
• לא = lo
• אוהב = o-HEV
• לשקר = le-sha-KER
• גם אם = gam im
• האמת = ha-E-met
• קשה = ka-SHA

If the speaker is female, then:

• אוהבת is pronounced o-HE-vet

Yes. קשה can mean:

• hard
• difficult
• sometimes even harsh depending on context

So האמת קשה could be understood as:

• the truth is hard
• the truth is difficult
• sometimes the truth is harsh

In this sentence, hard is probably the most natural literal translation, but difficult can also fit depending on tone.

Yes, in many contexts you can, because Hebrew verb forms often make the subject clear enough from context.

• לא אוהב לשקר = Don’t like to lie / I don’t like to lie

But including אני makes it explicit and often sounds more complete, especially for learners or in stand-alone sentences.

So:

• אני לא אוהב לשקר = fully explicit
• לא אוהב לשקר = natural in conversation when the subject is already understood

It is completely natural and neutral. It works well in both normal conversation and standard written Hebrew.

Nothing in it is slang or unusually formal.

It sounds like a straightforward personal statement:

• אני לא אוהב לשקר, גם אם האמת קשה.
  = I don’t like to lie, even if the truth is hard.