Я хотел возразить, но мне стало неловко.

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Breakdown of Я хотел возразить, но мне стало неловко.

• мне: me
• хотеть: to want
• но: but

Questions & Answers about Я хотел возразить, но мне стало неловко.

Why is it хотел, and what does that tell me about the speaker?

Хотел is the past tense of хотеть (to want).

In Russian past tense, the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• я хотел = I wanted (male speaker)
• я хотела = I wanted (female speaker)
• мы хотели = we wanted

So я хотел tells you that the speaker is male. If the speaker were female, the sentence would be:

• Я хотела возразить, но мне стало неловко.

Why is возразить in the infinitive after хотел?

After хотеть (to want), Russian normally uses an infinitive to say what someone wanted to do:

• Я хотел возразить = I wanted to object
• Она хотела уйти = She wanted to leave
• Мы хотели спросить = We wanted to ask

This is very similar to English wanted to + verb.

Why is it возразить and not возражать?