המלצר שואל אם אנחנו רוצים עוד קפה.

שואל is the masculine singular present-tense form of the verb לשאול (to ask).

In Hebrew, the present tense often covers both:

• asks
• is asking

So המלצר שואל can mean either:

• the waiter asks
• the waiter is asking

Hebrew does not usually need a separate verb like is for the progressive the way English does.

The ה־ at the beginning is the Hebrew definite article, meaning the.

So:

• מלצר = a waiter
• המלצר = the waiter

In this sentence, the speaker means a specific waiter, so המלצר is used.

Here אם means if in the sense of whether.

So:

• המלצר שואל אם... = The waiter is asking if / whether...

This is very common in Hebrew when introducing an indirect yes/no question.

For example:

• אני לא יודע אם הוא בא = I don’t know if/whether he is coming

This אם is not the same as the word האם, which can be used to mark a direct yes/no question in more formal Hebrew.

Because רוצים is the masculine plural form of want in the present tense.

With אנחנו (we), Hebrew chooses the verb form based on the gender of the group:

• אנחנו רוצים = we want (masculine plural, or mixed group)
• אנחנו רוצות = we want (all-female group)

So if the speakers are male or mixed, רוצים is correct. If they are all female, it would be רוצות.

That is a normal feature of Hebrew. The pronoun אנחנו always means we, but it does not itself change for gender. The gender shows up in the verb or adjective instead.

So:

• אנחנו רוצים = we want (masculine/mixed)
• אנחנו רוצות = we want (feminine)

English does not do this, so it often feels unusual to learners at first.

It can mean either, depending on context.

עוד often means:

• more
• another
• additional

So עוד קפה could mean:

• more coffee
• another coffee

In a restaurant situation, both are natural. If people already had some coffee, the waiter may be asking whether they want more. If they each had a cup and want an additional one, עוד קפה also works.

Because קפה here is being used in a general, non-specific sense.

So:

• קפה = coffee
• הקפה = the coffee

In English, we also often say more coffee, not more the coffee. Hebrew works similarly here.

If you were talking about a specific coffee already mentioned, you might use הקפה, but that is not what this sentence is doing.

קפה is usually treated as masculine in modern Hebrew.

For example:

• קפה חם = hot coffee
  not
• קפה חמה

This does not affect the sentence much here, because there is no adjective agreeing with קפה, but it is useful to know.

Because the whole sentence is actually a statement about a question, not the question itself.

It says:

• The waiter asks if we want more coffee.

That is an indirect question.

A direct question would be something like:

• המלצר שואל: אתם רוצים עוד קפה?
• The waiter asks: Do you want more coffee?

So אם helps turn the direct yes/no question into an embedded clause.

The word order is:

• המלצר = subject
• שואל = verb
• אם אנחנו רוצים עוד קפה = embedded clause

So literally:

• The waiter asks if we want more coffee

This is a very normal and natural Hebrew word order.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ha-mel-tsar sho-el im a-nakh-nu rot-sim od ka-fe

A few notes:

• המלצר = ha-mel-tsar
• שואל = sho-el (two vowel sounds: sho
  • el)
• אם = im
• אנחנו = a-nakh-nu
• רוצים = rot-sim
• עוד = od
• קפה = ka-fe

The dictionary form is לרצות, which means to want.

In this sentence:

• רוצים is the masculine plural present-tense form

Other present-tense forms are:

• רוצה = he wants
• רוצה = she wants
• רוצים = they / you plural / we want (masculine or mixed, depending on context)
• רוצות = they / you plural / we want (feminine)

Sometimes Hebrew can omit subject pronouns, but with the present tense it is often better to keep them because present-tense verb forms do not always clearly show the subject by themselves.

So:

• אם אנחנו רוצים עוד קפה is clear and natural.
• אם רוצים עוד קפה would usually sound less clear here and could mean something more general, like if one wants more coffee or if people want more coffee, depending on context.

So including אנחנו is the normal choice.

Only the verb רוצים would change:

• המלצר שואל אם אנחנו רוצות עוד קפה.

That is because אנחנו stays the same, but the participle/present-tense form must agree with the gender of the group.