Thread: Who needs who?

я задумываюсь- нужна-ли я тебе?

I'm having trouble understanding this simple sentence. Is the writer wondering if she is needed? Or is the writer wondering who she needs? Why the hyphens? Thank you.

я задумываюсь- нужна-ли я тебе?
=> I'm wondering if you really like me?

In the case above, she literary asks "I'm wondering if you need me", but what she's actually asking is "do you really like me?" She does not mean you're needy or something like that, all she wants is some kind of reassurance.

Hope it helps.

The first one is a dash, not a hyphen. People are lazy and use the same character when typing. In reality there are 3 different characters: тире, знак минуса и дефис.
Here's a great article about typographical nuances: http://www.artlebedev.ru/kovodstvo/sections/97/

Anyway, the author should have used a comma, not a dash, and the second hyphen is used wrong. The correct punctuation would be:

Я задумываюсь, нужна ли я тебе.

Or is the writer wondering who she needs?

This would be: Нужен ли ты мне?

Thank you everyone for your kind help.