בדרך כלל אני אוהבת דרמה טובה, אבל הפעם דווקא קומדיה נשמעה לי מתאימה יותר.

אוהבת is the feminine singular present-tense form of לאהוב (to love / like).

So אני אוהבת means I like / I love said by a woman.

If a man were speaking, it would be:

אני אוהב

Hebrew present-tense verbs usually agree with the gender and number of the subject, even with אני (I).

בדרך כלל means usually / generally / as a rule.

Literally, it is something like in the way of a rule or as a general rule:

• דרך = way
• כלל = rule, general principle

As a fixed expression, though, you should just learn בדרך כלל as usually.

Hebrew does not have an indefinite article like English a / an.

So:

• דרמה טובה = a good drama
• קומדיה = a comedy

If Hebrew wants to say the, it uses ה־:

• דרמה = a drama
• הדרמה = the drama

So the lack of ה־ often corresponds to English a/an or sometimes no article at all, depending on context.

Because דרמה is a feminine noun, and adjectives in Hebrew usually agree with the noun in gender and number.

So:

• דרמה טובה = a good drama
• ספר טוב = a good book

Here:

• דרמה is feminine
• therefore טוב becomes טובה

אבל means but.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• בדרך כלל אני אוהבת דרמה טובה = Usually I like a good drama
• אבל הפעם... = but this time...

It is a very common contrast word in Hebrew, just like but in English.

הפעם means this time.

The base noun is פעם, which can mean time/occasion.
With ה־, it literally means the time/this time, depending on context.

In many expressions, Hebrew uses ה־ where English uses this:

• היום = today
• השבוע = this week
• הפעם = this time

So although ה־ is technically the, the natural translation here is this time.

דווקא is a very common Hebrew word, but it is tricky because its meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, דווקא gives a sense like:

• actually
• specifically
• of all things
• contrary to what you might expect

So אבל הפעם דווקא קומדיה... suggests something like:

But this time, a comedy actually seemed more suitable
or
But this time, דווקא a comedy seemed more suitable

The speaker normally likes drama, so דווקא highlights the slightly surprising contrast: this time it was a comedy that felt right.

Hebrew word order is flexible, and this order helps emphasize the contrast.

הפעם דווקא קומדיה puts focus on קומדיה as the unexpected choice.

A rough sense is:

But this time, דווקא a comedy...

If you changed the order, the emphasis could shift. The current version sounds natural and highlights that, contrary to the usual preference for drama, a comedy was the fitting option this time.

נשמעה לי comes from the verb להישמע = to sound / to seem / to be heard.

Here:

• נשמעה = sounded / seemed
• לי = to me

So literally it is something like:

a comedy sounded to me more suitable

In natural English, that becomes:

a comedy seemed more suitable to me
or
a comedy sounded more appropriate to me

Hebrew often uses להישמע in places where English might prefer seem.

Because קומדיה is feminine singular, and the verb agrees with it.

In Hebrew past tense, verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

So:

• קומדיה נשמעה = a comedy seemed/sounded
• ספר נשמע = a book seemed/sounded

Since קומדיה is feminine, the verb is נשמעה.

לי means to me.

Hebrew often uses an indirect object with verbs like להישמע:

• זה נשמע לי טוב = that sounds good to me
• היא נשמעה לי עייפה = she sounded tired to me

So קומדיה נשמעה לי מתאימה יותר means:

a comedy seemed more suitable to me

The לי shows whose impression it was.

מתאימה is the feminine singular form of מתאים / מתאימה = suitable / fitting / appropriate.

It agrees with קומדיה, which is feminine:

• קומדיה מתאימה = a suitable comedy
• ספר מתאים = a suitable book

So in the sentence:

קומדיה נשמעה לי מתאימה יותר

both נשמעה and מתאימה are feminine because they relate to קומדיה.

יותר means more.

So:

• מתאימה = suitable
• מתאימה יותר = more suitable

Hebrew forms many comparisons simply with יותר + adjective:

• יותר טוב = better / more good
• יותר מעניין = more interesting
• יותר מתאימה = more suitable

In this sentence, it compares comedy with the usual choice of drama, even though the second item is not repeated.

Yes. In Hebrew, נשמעה לי מתאימה יותר is already a natural compact structure.

The לי belongs with נשמעה, and that is enough to express to me / in my view.

You could sometimes hear things like:

• נשמעה לי יותר מתאימה
• נראתה לי יותר מתאימה

But the sentence does not need בשבילי. That would sound a bit different, more like for me in a practical sense.
Here the meaning is about personal impression or judgment, so לי is the natural choice.

Yes. A few natural alternatives would be:

• נראתה לי מתאימה יותר = seemed more suitable to me
• הרגישה לי מתאימה יותר = felt more suitable to me
• נשמעה לי יותר מתאימה = sounded more suitable to me

Each has a slightly different nuance:

• נשמעה לי = sounded to me
• נראתה לי = seemed/looked to me
• הרגישה לי = felt to me

The original sentence is perfectly natural and idiomatic.

Only the parts that agree with the speaker would change.

Original: בדרך כלל אני אוהבת דרמה טובה, אבל הפעם דווקא קומדיה נשמעה לי מתאימה יותר.

If a man says it: בדרך כלל אני אוהב דרמה טובה, אבל הפעם דווקא קומדיה נשמעה לי מתאימה יותר.

Only אוהבת changes to אוהב, because that verb refers to I.
The words connected to קומדיה stay feminine, because קומדיה is still feminine.

It mixes a general present idea with a past/impression form.

• אני אוהבת = present tense, I like
• נשמעה = past tense form, literally sounded / seemed

But in English, this kind of Hebrew past form is often translated naturally as either:

• a comedy seemed more suitable or
• a comedy sounded more suitable

The first half states a general habit: Usually I like...
The second half refers to this particular occasion: but this time...

A simple pronunciation guide is:

be-dérekh klal ani ohévet dráma tová, aval ha-pá'am dávka komédya nishme'á li mat'imá yotér

A few notes:

• בדרך כלל = be-DEREKH klal
• אוהבת = o-HE-vet
• דווקא = DAV-ka
• נשמעה = nish-me-A
• מתאימה = mat-i-MA
• יותר = yo-TER

Pronunciation can vary a little depending on accent, but this will be widely understood.