Breakdown of אני רוצה לדבר איתן אחרי השיעור.
Questions & Answers about אני רוצה לדבר איתן אחרי השיעור.
Why is לדבר in the infinitive form?
Because after רוצה (want) Hebrew normally uses an infinitive, just like English uses to + verb.
- אני רוצה לדבר = I want to speak / talk
- לדבר is the infinitive to speak / to talk
This pattern is very common:
- אני רוצה לאכול = I want to eat
- אני רוצה ללכת = I want to go
So רוצה + infinitive is the standard structure.
Does רוצה tell us whether the speaker is male or female?
Yes, but only in pronunciation, not in the usual spelling without vowel marks.
The word רוצה can be:
- רוֹצֶה (rotze) for a male speaker
- רוֹצָה (rotza) for a female speaker
So the written sentence could be said by either a man or a woman. You only know from context or from hearing it spoken.
Why does Hebrew use איתן—literally with them—instead of a word meaning to them?
Because with לדבר, Hebrew often uses a preposition meaning with, where English might say to or with depending on context.
So Hebrew commonly says:
- לדבר עם...
- לדבר אית...
Both mean something like talk with / speak with, and in many situations that matches English talk to as well.
So לדבר איתן is a normal Hebrew way to say that you want to talk to those people.
Why is it איתן and not אותן?
Because אותן is a direct object pronoun, while לדבר here needs a prepositional form.
Compare:
- אני רואה אותן = I see them
Here אותן is the direct object.
But:
- אני מדבר איתן = I speak with them
Here Hebrew needs the preposition with, so it uses איתן.
So after לדבר in this sentence, אותן would be wrong.
Is this related to the very common word את that marks a direct object?
Yes, but this is a different use, and that can be confusing for learners.
Hebrew has:
- את as the direct object marker
- אֶת / אִת־ as an older/literary form meaning with, which survives very commonly in forms like:
- איתי = with me
- איתך = with you
- איתו = with him
- איתה = with her
- איתם / איתן = with them
So in איתן, this is not the direct object marker at all. It is the with form.
What does איתן tell me about the people being referred to?
איתן means with them for a feminine plural group.
So it refers to:
- them = more than one person
- specifically female people, or a group treated grammatically as feminine
The masculine/mixed equivalent is איתם.
So:
- לדבר איתן = speak with them (feminine plural)
- לדבר איתם = speak with them (masculine plural or mixed group)
Can I use איתם instead of איתן?
Only if the group is masculine or mixed.
In standard Hebrew:
- איתן = with them, feminine plural
- איתם = with them, masculine plural / mixed plural
In casual spoken Hebrew, some speakers use masculine plural forms more broadly, especially for mixed or unspecified groups. But if you know the group is all female, איתן is the accurate form.
Why is it אחרי השיעור and not just אחרי שיעור?
Because השיעור means the lesson / the class, referring to a specific one that both speaker and listener understand.
- אחרי השיעור = after the lesson/class
The ה־ is the definite article, like the in English.
Without ה־, אחרי שיעור can sometimes appear in certain colloquial or less specific contexts, but אחרי השיעור is the most straightforward and standard way to say after the lesson/class when a particular class is meant.
What exactly does שיעור mean here?
שיעור can mean several related things, depending on context:
- lesson
- class
- lecture
In this sentence, it most likely means the class or the lesson. In a school or course context, that is the most natural reading.
Is איתן here the male name Eitan?
No. In this sentence, איתן is the pronoun form meaning with them (feminine plural).
That said, the spelling is the same as the common Hebrew male name Eitan. Context tells you which one it is.
Here, because it comes after לדבר, the meaning is clearly grammatical:
- לדבר איתן = to talk with them
not
- to talk with a person named Eitan
Can אחרי השיעור be moved to another place in the sentence?
Yes. Hebrew word order is fairly flexible, though the original order is very natural.
You can say:
- אני רוצה לדבר איתן אחרי השיעור.
- אחרי השיעור אני רוצה לדבר איתן.
Both are correct.
The second version puts more emphasis on after the class. The original version is probably the most neutral everyday order.
How is the whole sentence pronounced?
A common pronunciation would be:
ani rotze / rotza ledaber itan acharei ha-shi-UR
More closely by word:
- אני = a-NI
- רוצה = rot-ZE (male) / rot-ZA (female)
- לדבר = leda-BER
- איתן = i-TAN
- אחרי = acha-REI
- השיעור = ha-shi-UR
The main stress is usually near the end of each word, especially in:
- לדבר
- איתן
- אחרי
- השיעור
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