how to say “(phone) extension” in Hebrew
שְׁלוּחָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שלוחה-1.mp3″ /]
One of the key terms in a phone directory is extension – in Hebrew, שלוחה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שלוחה-1.mp3″ /].
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שלוחה-2.mp3″ /]נא המתינו להעברת השיחה לשלוחה.
Please wait for the call to be transferred to the extension.
(the standard recording you might have heard has a female voice)
The word שלוחה comes from the simple verb לשלוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שלוחה-3.mp3″ /], whose primary meaning is to send, but which also sometimes means to stretch:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שלוחה-4.mp3″ /]וַיִּמְצָא לְחִי חֲמוֹר טְרִיָּה וַיִּשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וַיִּקָּחֶהָ וַיַּךְ בָּהּ אֶלֶף אִישׁ. (שופטים ט”ו: ט”ו)
And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and stretched out his hand and took it, and with it he struck a thousand men. (Judges 15:15)