לנסוע – the basic and most useful Hebrew word for traveling
having trouble seeing the print? מוּטָב מְאֻחָר מֵאֲשֶׁר לְעוֹלָם לֹא Learn to Speak Hebrew…With Us Yesterday my great-uncle had his בַּר מִצְוָה ( ) – Bar Mitzvah. Yes, my great uncle. He’s 82. Because when he was 13, he was in Auschwitz, where they didn’t do בר מצווה ceremonies. En route, I told…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-1.m4a” /]יִסּוּרֵי מַצְפּוּן The Hebrew word for conscience is מצפון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-2.m4a” /], of the root צ.פ.נ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-3.m4a” /] meaning north: someone who has lost their conscience has also lost their “north.” And if you’ve got some background in Jewish philosophy, you almost certainly know the word for tribulations – ייסורים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ייסורי-מצפון-4.m4a” /]. Putting these…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/לקחת-קשה-#.m4a” /]הוּא לָקַח אֶת זֶה קָשֶׁה The Hebrew word for hard or difficult is קשה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/לקחת-קשה-#.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/לקחת-קשה-#.m4a” /]קשה להבין אותו כשהוא מדבר. It’s hard to understand him when he speaks. To express that someone took news with difficulty or not well, Israelis say לקחת את זה קשה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/לקחת-קשה-#.m4a” /] – literally, to take it…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לעבור-את-הגיל-#.m4a” /]לַעֲבוֹר אֶת הַגִּיל In Hebrew, to outgrow something by virtue of age or maturity is לעבור את הגיל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לעבור-את-הגיל-#.m4a” /] – literally, to pass the age. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לעבור-את-הגיל-#.m4a” /]הוא כבר עבר את הגיל עם החצ’קונים. He already passed the age of (with) acne. Broken down, that’s: לעבור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/לעבור-את-הגיל-#.m4a” /] – to pass, a simple…
לְשׂוֹחֵחַ I did this spiel this morning on the air with Adam. לְדַבֵּר (leh-dah-BEHR) is probably the first word that comes to mind, if you know some Hebrew. That’s the generic word for to talk or to speak. But as widely used as לדבר is, it carries a tinge of harshness –…