how to say “traffic” and “movement” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-1.m4a” /]תְּנוּעָה

In the Biblical story, Cain is cursed for murdering his brother with, among other things:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-2.m4a” /]נע ונד תהיה בארץ.

A wanderer shall you be in the land.

The word נע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-3.m4a” /] – whose infinitive is לנוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-4.m4a” /] – means moving.

Plugging the root נ.ו.ע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-5.m4a” /] into a noun form, we get תנועה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-1.m4a” /] – movement or traffic (movement of vehicles).

Here are examples of both:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-6.m4a” /]עשיתי תנועה לא טובה ופצעתי את עצמי.

I made a bad (not good) movement and injured myself.

and

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-7.m4a” /]יש הרבה תנועה בכביש.

There is a lot of traffic on the road.

תנועה also means movement in the social or political sense, as in:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תנועה-8.m4a” /]בני עקיבא היא תנועת נוער דתית לאומית.

Bnei Akiva is a national-religious youth movement.

Similar Posts