how to say “the cleaners” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /]מִכְבָּסָה

While כביסה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /] is laundry, מכבסה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /] (colloquially pronounced מַכְבְּסָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /]*) is a business that specializes in doing people’s laundry for them (or renting them machines to do it themselves), what one might call the cleaners or a laundromat.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /]צריך להביא את הבגדים למכבסה.

(We) need to bring the clothes to the cleaners.

The root of כביסה and מכבסה is כ.ב.ס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /], a special root for cleaning clothes. So how do you say washing machine? מכונת כביסה.

And dry cleaning? That’s ניקוי יבש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /], where ניקוי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/מכבסה-#.m4a” /] means cleaning in the general sense.

* more on this in today’s video