חבל לי לבטל, כי חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת כל השבוע.

In this sentence, חבל לי is an idiomatic way to express regret.

Literally, it is something like it’s a shame/pity to me, but in natural English it often means:

• I’m sorry to...
• I regret...
• It’s a shame for me to...

So חבל לי לבטל means something like I’m sorry to cancel or I feel bad about canceling.

This is a very common Hebrew pattern:

• חבל לי ללכת = I’m sorry to leave / I feel bad about leaving
• חבל לי על הכסף = I’m sorry about the money / It’s a pity about the money

The word לי means to me / for me.

Hebrew often uses this kind of structure where English would use a subject adjective like I’m sorry or I’m sad. Instead, Hebrew says something closer to:

• חבל לי = it’s a pity for me
• קשה לי = it’s hard for me
• נעים לי = it’s pleasant for me

So לי marks the person who feels the regret.

Compare:

• חבל לי לבטל = I’m sorry to cancel
• חבל לו לבטל = He’s sorry to cancel
• חבל להם לבטל = They’re sorry to cancel

Because לבטל is the infinitive, meaning to cancel.

In Hebrew, infinitives usually begin with ל־, which often corresponds to English to:

• לבטל = to cancel
• ללכת = to go
• לחכות = to wait

So:

• חבל לי לבטל = I’m sorry to cancel

This is completely normal Hebrew grammar.

It can feel like either one depending on tone and context.

Most directly, it means:

• I’m sorry to cancel
• I regret canceling

But it can also carry the emotional feeling of:

• I hate to cancel
• I feel bad canceling

So it expresses regret, not just neutral information.

חיכיתי is past tense, first person singular: I waited.

It comes from the verb לחכות = to wait.

So:

• חיכיתי = I waited / I have waited / I’d been waiting

In this sentence, because of כל השבוע (all week), natural English often uses:

• I’ve been waiting for this meeting all week or
• I’ve been looking forward to this meeting all week

Hebrew uses the past tense here, even where English might prefer a present perfect or past perfect kind of idea. The exact English translation depends on context.

Because Hebrew and English do not divide time in exactly the same way.

Hebrew often uses the simple past where English uses:

• I waited
• I have waited
• I had waited
• I’ve been waiting

The time phrase and context tell you how to understand it.

Here, חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת כל השבוע literally looks like I waited for this meeting all week, but natural English is often:

• I’ve been waiting for this meeting all week
• I’ve been looking forward to this meeting all week

So the Hebrew form is normal, even if the best English translation uses a different tense.

Because the verb לחכות usually takes the preposition ל־ when you say what you are waiting for.

So:

• לחכות ל... = to wait for...
• חיכיתי לפגישה = I waited for the meeting

More examples:

• אני מחכה לאוטובוס = I’m waiting for the bus
• היא חיכתה לתשובה = She waited for an answer

This is just the normal preposition used with this verb.

Yes, very often.

Literally, חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת means I waited for this meeting, but in many real situations the intended meaning is closer to:

• I was looking forward to this meeting
• I’d been waiting for this meeting

That happens because in context, the speaker is not just physically waiting at a location. They mean they had been anticipating it.

So the sentence carries both the literal idea of waiting and the emotional idea of expectation.

In Hebrew, demonstratives like this and that usually come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• הפגישה הזאת = this meeting
• הספר הזה = this book
• הילדה הזאת = this girl

That is different from English, where we say this meeting.

So לפגישה הזאת literally follows Hebrew word order:

• to-the-meeting this

But in natural English, of course, we say for this meeting.

Because פגישה is a feminine singular noun.

Hebrew demonstratives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

So:

• masculine singular: הזה = this
• feminine singular: הזאת = this

Examples:

• הספר הזה = this book
• הפגישה הזאת = this meeting

Since פגישה is feminine, הזאת is the correct form.

Because in Hebrew, when you say this/that + noun, the noun is usually definite and takes ה־.

So Hebrew says:

• הפגישה הזאת = this meeting not usually just פגישה הזאת

This is a normal pattern:

• הבית הזה = this house
• השאלה הזאת = this question

So both parts show definiteness:

• הפגישה = the meeting
• הזאת = this

Together: this meeting.

כל השבוע means all week or the whole week.

Breaking it down:

• כל = all / the whole
• השבוע = the week / this week, depending on context

So here:

• חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת כל השבוע = I’ve been waiting for this meeting all week

It works as a time expression describing how long the waiting lasted.

Because כל השבוע here expresses duration: all week.

Hebrew often uses כל + time expression without a preposition:

• כל היום = all day
• כל הלילה = all night
• כל השבוע = all week

If you say בכל השבוע, that usually means something more like during every week or in the whole week, which is a different idea and usually not what you want here.

So for duration, כל השבוע is the natural choice.

כי means because here.

It introduces the reason:

• חבל לי לבטל = I’m sorry to cancel
• כי חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת כל השבוע = because I’ve been waiting for this meeting all week

So the second clause explains the regret.

Sometimes, yes, but כי is the most straightforward choice here.

Other options can include:

• מפני ש... = because...
• בגלל ש... = because...

But כי is very common, simple, and natural in a sentence like this.

So כי חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת כל השבוע sounds very normal.

Yes, it sounds natural.

חבל לי לבטל, כי חיכיתי לפגישה הזאת כל השבוע.

It expresses:

• regret about canceling
• the reason for that regret
• emotional investment in the meeting

A native speaker would understand it easily, and it sounds like something someone might say in a real message or conversation.

Yes. Depending on tone and context, good translations could include:

• I’m sorry to cancel, because I’ve been waiting for this meeting all week.
• I hate to cancel, because I’ve been looking forward to this meeting all week.
• I regret canceling, because I’ve been waiting for this meeting all week.

That is very common when translating Hebrew: one Hebrew sentence can match several natural English phrasings.