הוא שאל אם אני מתכוונת לזרוע גם מחר, ואני עניתי שקודם אני רוצה לבדוק אם האדמה כבר לא רטובה.

Because מתכוונת is the feminine singular form.

In the sentence, the speaker says אני מתכוונת = I intend / I’m planning. That tells us the speaker is female.

• אני מתכוונת — said by a woman
• אני מתכוון — said by a man

Hebrew often marks gender in the present tense, unlike English.

Literally, it is something like intend to sow or am planning to sow.

Breakdown:

• מתכוונת = intending / meaning / planning
• לזרוע = to sow

So:

• אני מתכוונת לזרוע = I intend to sow
• In more natural English, it might be I’m planning to sow

The structure מתכוון/מתכוונת + infinitive is very common in Hebrew for expressing intention.

Because לזרוע is the infinitive form, meaning to sow.

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

• לבדוק = to check
• לזרוע = to sow
• ללכת = to go

So מתכוונת לזרוע is literally intending to sow.

Here אם means if / whether.

In this sentence it appears twice:

1. הוא שאל אם אני מתכוונת לזרוע גם מחר
   = He asked if / whether I intended to sow tomorrow too

2. אני רוצה לבדוק אם האדמה כבר לא רטובה
   = I want to check if / whether the soil is no longer wet

So in both places, אם introduces an indirect yes/no question.

Because after שאל (asked), Hebrew uses אם to introduce an indirect question when the answer would be yes or no.

For example:

• הוא שאל אם אני באה = He asked if I’m coming
• היא שאלה אם זה נכון = She asked whether it’s true

This is like English asked if / asked whether.

• שאל = asked
• עניתי = I answered

So:

• הוא שאל... = He asked...
• אני עניתי... = I answered...

Hebrew uses ענה specifically for replying or answering, just like English answer.

You could sometimes use אמרתי (I said) in other contexts, but עניתי emphasizes that this was a response to a question.

עניתי is the past tense, first person singular form of ענה (to answer).

It means I answered.

Breakdown:

• ענה = he answered
• עניתי = I answered

The ־תי ending is very common for I in the past tense:

• אמרתי = I said
• בדקתי = I checked
• רציתי = I wanted
• עניתי = I answered

גם מחר means tomorrow too / also tomorrow.

• גם = also / too
• מחר = tomorrow

So the idea is:

He asked whether I intended to sow tomorrow as well.

The גם adds the sense of in addition to some other time—for example, maybe I sowed today, and he is asking whether I will do it tomorrow too.

שקודם is really:

• ש־ = that
• קודם = first / קודם

So ואני עניתי שקודם... means:

• and I answered that first...
• more naturally: and I answered that first I want to...

In smoother English, this often becomes:

• and I answered that I first want to check...
• or and I answered that before that, I want to check...

The ש־ connects what follows to עניתי (I answered).

Here קודם means first or before that.

In context:

קודם אני רוצה לבדוק...
= First I want to check...
= Before that, I want to check...

It does not mean earlier in a past-time sense here. It means as a first step.

The prefix ש־ often means that.

So:

• עניתי שקודם אני רוצה לבדוק...
• literally: I answered that first I want to check...

This is very common in spoken and written Hebrew after verbs like:

• אמר = said
• חשב = thought
• ידע = knew
• ענה = answered

Examples:

• אמרתי שאני עייפה = I said that I’m tired
• חשבתי שזה נכון = I thought that it was correct

Hebrew often includes the subject pronoun even when the verb already shows the person.

In this sentence:

• אם אני מתכוונת...
• אני רוצה לבדוק...

The pronoun אני is not unusual here. It can make the sentence clearer, more natural, or slightly more emphatic.

Hebrew does allow dropping pronouns in some cases, but keeping them is very common, especially in everyday speech.

לבדוק means to check, to examine, or to inspect.

So:

• אני רוצה לבדוק = I want to check

It is a very common verb in Hebrew.

Examples:

• אני צריך לבדוק = I need to check
• בדקתי את זה = I checked it

כבר לא means no longer or not anymore.

So:

• האדמה כבר לא רטובה = the soil is no longer wet = the soil isn’t wet anymore

Even though כבר by itself often means already, the combination כבר לא has the special meaning not anymore / no longer.

This is a very important Hebrew pattern.

Examples:

• אני כבר לא גר שם = I no longer live there
• הוא כבר לא עובד פה = He doesn’t work here anymore

Because in the expression כבר לא, the two words work together as one idea: no longer / not anymore.

Compare:

• כבר הגעתי = I already arrived
• אני כבר לא מחכה = I’m no longer waiting

So in your sentence:

• אם האדמה כבר לא רטובה
• not: if the soil already not wet
• but: if the soil is no longer wet

Because רטובה agrees with האדמה, which is a feminine singular noun.

• אדמה = soil / earth / ground — feminine
• feminine singular adjective: רטובה = wet
• masculine singular adjective: רטוב

So:

• האדמה רטובה = the soil is wet

Adjectives in Hebrew usually match the noun in gender and number.

Yes. אדמה is a feminine noun.

That is why related words in the sentence are feminine:

• האדמה רטובה = the soil is wet

The ־ה ending often suggests a feminine noun, though not always. In this case, אדמה is indeed feminine.

האדמה can mean the soil, the earth, or the ground, depending on context.

Here, because the sentence talks about sowing, the most natural translation is the soil.

So:

• אם האדמה כבר לא רטובה = if the soil is no longer wet

This is a very normal Hebrew way to connect two actions:

• הוא שאל...
• ואני עניתי...

The ו־ means and.

So the sentence moves naturally from the question to the answer:

1. He asked something
2. And I answered something

The structure is straightforward and common in narrative Hebrew.

Yes. In many cases, if and whether are both possible in English.

So:

• אני רוצה לבדוק אם האדמה כבר לא רטובה can be understood as
  • I want to check if the soil is no longer wet
  • I want to check whether the soil is no longer wet

Whether is sometimes a little more formal in English, but both are fine.

Only the gender-marked first-person present-tense form would change:

• אני מתכוונת → אני מתכוון

So the male version would be:

הוא שאל אם אני מתכוון לזרוע גם מחר, ואני עניתי שקודם אני רוצה לבדוק אם האדמה כבר לא רטובה.

Everything else can stay the same.

It is a normal word, especially in agricultural or gardening contexts, but it is less common in everyday conversation than verbs like לשתול (to plant).

The difference is roughly:

• לזרוע = to sow seeds
• לשתול = to plant

So if you are talking about seeds in soil, לזרוע is exactly the right word.

Yes, Hebrew allows some flexibility.

For example:

• קודם אני רוצה לבדוק...
• אני רוצה קודם לבדוק...

Both are possible, though they may sound slightly different in emphasis.

In your sentence, קודם אני רוצה לבדוק puts first right up front, which highlights the idea that checking the soil comes before sowing.

The sentence mixes past tense and present-tense forms used for current intention/wanting.

• הוא שאל = he asked — past
• עניתי = I answered — past
• אני מתכוונת = I intend / am planning — present form
• אני רוצה = I want — present form
• האדמה... רטובה = the soil is wet — present description

This is completely normal. The reported conversation happened in the past, but what was said inside the conversation uses present forms to express the speaker’s intention and state at that time.

Sometimes yes, in natural English translation, but עניתי specifically means I answered.

So:

• precise translation: and I answered
• looser natural translation: and I said

If you want to preserve the Hebrew verb closely, answered is better.