Questions & Answers about אני לא מבין למה אתה מתכוון.
What does each word in אני לא מבין למה אתה מתכוון mean?
A word-by-word breakdown is:
- אני = I
- לא = not
- מבין = understand / understanding
- literally a present-tense form, but often used like English I understand
- למה = why or what ... for, but in this expression it helps form what do you mean?
- אתה = you (masculine singular)
- מתכוון = mean / intend (masculine singular)
So the whole sentence idiomatically means I don’t understand what you mean.
Why does the sentence use למה if the translation is what do you mean?
This is one of the most common learner questions.
In Hebrew, למה אתה מתכוון? is a very natural way to say What do you mean? Even though למה usually means why, in this expression the meaning is more like:
- What are you getting at?
- What do you mean by that?
- What are you referring to?
So you should learn למה אתה מתכוון? as a set phrase, not translate it too literally word by word.
A more literal English gloss might be something like What are you intending by that?, but the natural English translation is simply What do you mean?