אני רוצה לדעת מראש אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

אני רוצה means I want.

In Hebrew, subject pronouns like אני (I) are often optional because the verb form already shows the person. So you could also say:

רוצה לדעת מראש אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

That can sound natural in conversation if the subject is already clear from context.

However, אני רוצה is very normal and often used for clarity or emphasis. For learners, including אני is usually the safest choice.

רוצה must agree with the speaker’s gender in the present tense.

• אני רוצה = I want (said by a male speaker)
• אני רוצה can also sometimes be used in informal speech, but the standard feminine form is:
• אני רוצה (masculine singular)
• אני רוצה? Actually, the correct feminine singular is אני רוצה? No — the correct feminine singular form is אני רוצה? Let's state it clearly:

The correct forms are:

• אני רוצה = I want (male speaker)
• אני רוצה? This repetition would be confusing, so here is the real contrast:
• אני רוצה = masculine singular
• אני רוצה? Hebrew spelling changes in the feminine: אני רוצה vs אני רוצה would look the same in plain text only if mistyped, so the actual feminine form is אני רוצה? To avoid confusion, here is the proper spelling:
• אני רוצה = masculine singular
• אני רוצה = feminine singular

More clearly with transliteration:

• אני רוצה = ani rotze (male)
• אני רוצה = ani rotza (female)

So if a woman is speaking, she would say:

אני רוצה לדעת מראש אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

The written difference is:

• masculine: רוצה
• feminine: רוצה

In unpointed Hebrew, those are spelled the same, but pronounced differently:

• rotze
• rotza

לדעת is the infinitive to know.

So the structure is:

• אני רוצה = I want
• לדעת = to know

Together: I want to know

This is very similar to English: want + to know.

The infinitive in Hebrew often begins with ל־ (to), so:

• לדעת = to know
• ללכת = to go
• לראות = to see

מראש means in advance, ahead of time, or beforehand.

In this sentence, it modifies לדעת:

• רוצה לדעת מראש = want to know in advance

It is a very common Hebrew expression. It does not literally work word-for-word the same way English does, so it is best to learn it as a fixed phrase.

Examples:

• אני צריך לדעת מראש. = I need to know in advance.
• תגיד לי מראש. = Tell me beforehand.

Yes, אם can mean if, but in Hebrew it also introduces an indirect whether/if clause.

So in this sentence:

אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן

means:

whether / if the meeting will start on time

In English, after I want to know, we often say:

• if the meeting will start on time or
• whether the meeting will start on time

Hebrew uses אם for that function.

Because the speaker wants to know about a future event: whether the meeting will start on time.

• תתחיל = she/it will begin
• Here it refers to הפגישה (the meeting), which is a feminine singular noun.

So:

• הפגישה תתחיל = the meeting will begin

This is different from English in one important way: Hebrew is very comfortable using a normal future tense after אם in indirect questions like this.

Because הפגישה (the meeting) is a feminine singular noun.

Hebrew verbs in the future tense agree with the subject in gender and number.

So:

• הפגישה תתחיל = the meeting will begin
  feminine singular subject → feminine singular verb

Compare:

• השיעור יתחיל = the lesson/class will begin
  שיעור is masculine, so the verb is masculine singular: יתחיל

This is exactly because פגישה is feminine.

Future tense of להתחיל (to begin/start) changes based on the subject:

• הוא יתחיל = he will start
• היא תתחיל = she will start

Since הפגישה is grammatically feminine, Hebrew treats it like she/it, so:

• הפגישה תתחיל

not

• הפגישה יתחיל

The basic verb is להתחיל = to begin / to start.

Some useful forms:

• מתחיל = starts / is starting (masculine singular present)
• מתחילה = starts / is starting (feminine singular present)
• יתחיל = he/it will start
• תתחיל = she/it will start

In your sentence, תתחיל is the future feminine singular form.

ה־ is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• פגישה = a meeting / meeting
• הפגישה = the meeting

In the sentence, it refers to a specific meeting, not meetings in general.

בזמן usually means on time or punctually in this kind of sentence.

Literally, it is something like in/on time, but idiomatically the best translation here is:

• תתחיל בזמן = will start on time

This is a common expression.

Compare:

• הוא הגיע בזמן. = He arrived on time.
• לא הגעתי בזמן. = I didn’t arrive on time.

Yes. A very common alternative is בזמן in exactly this meaning, but learners should know that Hebrew can also express punctuality with phrases like:

• בזמן
• במועד
• בזמן שנקבע = at the scheduled time

Still, in everyday speech, בזמן is very natural and common, so the sentence you have is perfectly standard.

The sentence is:

אני רוצה לדעת מראש אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

A helpful breakdown is:

• אני רוצה = I want
• לדעת = to know
• מראש = in advance
• אם = if / whether
• הפגישה = the meeting
• תתחיל = will start
• בזמן = on time

So the structure is basically:

I want + to know + in advance + whether + the meeting + will start + on time

This is very close to English word order, which makes the sentence relatively learner-friendly.

Yes, sometimes Hebrew allows some flexibility, but רוצה לדעת מראש is the most natural placement here.

For example, you might hear:

• אני רוצה מראש לדעת אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

That is understandable, but it can sound a bit more marked or emphatic. The original version:

אני רוצה לדעת מראש אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

is smoother and more standard for most contexts.

It is neutral and completely natural in both speech and writing.

It is not especially slangy, and it is not overly formal either. You could use it in everyday conversation, at work, or in an email.

If you wanted a more formal version, you might choose slightly different wording, but this sentence is already very good standard Hebrew.

A woman would say:

אני רוצה לדעת מראש אם הפגישה תתחיל בזמן.

In unpointed Hebrew, the spelling of רוצה is the same for masculine and feminine singular, but the pronunciation changes:

• male speaker: ani rotze
• female speaker: ani rotza

Everything else in the sentence stays the same.

A common pronunciation is:

ani rotze lada'at merosh im hapgisha tatchil bazman

If spoken by a woman: ani rotza lada'at merosh im hapgisha tatchil bazman

A few pronunciation notes:

• לדעת = lada'at with a break between the vowels
• מראש = merosh
• הפגישה = hapgisha
• תתחיל = tatchil
• בזמן = bazman

Yes, absolutely. In fact, in English, whether is often a little more precise after want to know:

• I want to know whether the meeting will start on time.

But English commonly uses if in the same place:

• I want to know if the meeting will start on time.

Hebrew uses אם for both of these English possibilities in this kind of sentence.