רציתי לשמור איתה על קשר גם אחרי הקורס.

רציתי is the 1st person singular past form of רצה (to want), so it literally means I wanted.

In Hebrew, this past form is often used not only for a real past desire, but also to sound a bit softer or more natural, somewhat like I wanted to... in English. In this sentence, it can simply mean a past intention: I wanted to keep in touch with her...

A useful detail: in the past tense, רציתי is the same whether the speaker is male or female.

Hebrew often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

So:

• רציתי = I wanted
• רצית = you wanted (with gender depending on form)
• רצה = he wanted

Because רציתי already tells us the subject is I, adding אני is usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

לשמור is the infinitive of the verb שמר, meaning to keep, to guard, to preserve, or to maintain, depending on context.

Here it appears in the expression:

לשמור על קשר = to keep in touch

So even though לשמור by itself can mean things like to guard or to keep, in this sentence it is part of a fixed phrase.

This is an idiomatic expression.
לשמור על קשר literally looks like to keep/maintain on contact, but the natural meaning is:

to keep in touch
or
to maintain contact

Here, על is just the preposition used by this expression. It does not translate word-for-word very naturally into English.

This is something worth memorizing as a chunk:

• שמר על = kept/maintained
• לשמור על קשר = to keep in touch

Because in this expression, Hebrew usually says לשמור על קשר without the definite article.

So:

• לשמור על קשר = to keep in touch / to maintain contact

Even though English might sometimes use the in similar phrases, Hebrew treats this more like a general idea: contact, not the contact.

This is another reason to learn it as a fixed expression.

איתה means with her.

It comes from the preposition את / עם-based form used in modern Hebrew as a pronoun combination. In practice, you should learn these as set forms:

• איתי = with me
• איתך = with you
• איתו = with him
• איתה = with her
• איתנו = with us

So in this sentence:

לשמור איתה על קשר = to keep in touch with her

Yes, but the style is different.

• איתה is the normal, everyday spoken form.
• עמה also means with her, but it is more formal, literary, or elevated.

So in ordinary modern speech, איתה is the natural choice.

גם most basically means also / too, but in context it can sometimes feel like even.

In this sentence:

גם אחרי הקורס most naturally means
also after the course
or more idiomatically in English,
even after the course

So the sense is that the contact would continue not just during the course, but afterward as well.

Both are possible.

• אחרי = after
• לאחר = after

The difference is mostly style:

• אחרי is more common in everyday speech.
• לאחר is a bit more formal or written.

So אחרי הקורס is the most natural conversational choice.

Because it means the course.

• קורס = course
• הקורס = the course

Hebrew usually adds definiteness by attaching ה־ directly to the noun, unlike English, which uses a separate word (the).

So:

• אחרי קורס = after a course
• אחרי הקורס = after the course

The given word order is very natural:

רציתי לשמור איתה על קשר גם אחרי הקורס.

But Hebrew word order is somewhat flexible, especially if you want to shift emphasis. For example, you could also hear:

• רציתי גם לשמור איתה על קשר אחרי הקורס.
• גם אחרי הקורס רציתי לשמור איתה על קשר.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly.

The original sentence sounds smooth and neutral.

No. In the 1st person singular past tense, Hebrew uses the same form for both male and female speakers.

So רציתי can mean:

• a man saying I wanted
• a woman saying I wanted

Hebrew often marks gender clearly in the 2nd and 3rd person, but not here.

The only part that would change is איתה (with her).

If you mean with him, you would say:

רציתי לשמור איתו על קשר גם אחרי הקורס.

So:

• איתה = with her
• איתו = with him

Everything else stays the same.

It is pronounced roughly ee-TAH, with the stress on the last syllable.

A rough pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

ra-TZI-ti lish-MOR ee-TAH al KE-sher gam a-kha-REI ha-KURS

This is only an approximation for English speakers, but it gives the general rhythm.

It sounds natural.
A native speaker could definitely say:

רציתי לשמור איתה על קשר גם אחרי הקורס.

It is a normal, idiomatic way to express the idea of wanting to stay in contact with someone after a course ended.