how to say “a hard nut to crack” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/אי-1.m4a” /]אִי Oftentimes words in English use many more letters to spell than their Hebrew counterparts. One example is the word for island – אי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/אי-1.m4a” /]. Here’s the word in context, in the plural: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/אי-2.m4a” /]מדינת הוואי היא בעצם קבוצת איים באוקיינוס השקט. The State of Hawaii is actually a group of…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/שלט-#.m4a” /]סִימָן, שֶׁלֶט A sign in the spiritual sense is סימן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/שלט-#.m4a” /], for example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/שלט-#.m4a” /]חיכיתי לסימן שיהיה בסדר. I waited for a sign that it would okay. סימן also means a marker, such as that on a hiking trail: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/שלט-#.m4a” /]שימו לב לסימני הדרך. Pay attention to the path markers. (spoken to more than…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/אזעקת-שווא-#.m4a” /]אַזְעָקַת שָׁוְא The Hebrew word for alarm is all too well known to people living along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip: אזעקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/אזעקת-שווא-#.m4a” /], from the root ז.ע.ק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/אזעקת-שווא-#.m4a” /] meaning to scream. A false alarm is אזעקת שווא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/אזעקת-שווא-#.m4a” /], as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/אזעקת-שווא-#.m4a” /]לא הייתה תקרית – זו הייתה אזעקת שווא. There…