Word
הוא לא רצה לסרב לבקשה שלה, אבל בסוף אמר שאין לו זמן ללוות אותה.
Meaning
He did not want to refuse her request, but in the end he said that he did not have time to accompany her.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of הוא לא רצה לסרב לבקשה שלה, אבל בסוף אמר שאין לו זמן ללוות אותה.
הוא
he
אין
there is no
לרצות
to want
אבל
but
Questions & Answers about הוא לא רצה לסרב לבקשה שלה, אבל בסוף אמר שאין לו זמן ללוות אותה.
Why is רצה used here and not רוצה?
Because the sentence is narrating a past event, so Hebrew uses the past tense:
- רצה = he wanted
- רוצה = he wants / is wanting
The subject is הוא (he), so the verb is in masculine singular past.
A quick comparison:
- הוא רוצה לעזור = He wants to help
- הוא רצה לעזור = He wanted to help
Why do לסרב and ללוות both start with ל־?
The ל־ at the beginning marks the infinitive form, similar to English to in to refuse or to accompany.
So:
- לסרב = to refuse
- ללוות = to accompany
After a verb like רצה (wanted), Hebrew commonly uses an infinitive:
- הוא רצה לסרב = He wanted to refuse
Why is it לסרב לבקשה שלה and not something like לסרב את הבקשה שלה?
Because the verb does usually take a direct object in Hebrew. It normally goes with before the thing being refused.