how to say “to finish” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-1.m4a” /]לִגְמוֹר, לְסַיֵּם

Modern Hebrew has two common words for to finish. לגמור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-2.m4a” /], the word used in the Bible, is probably the better-known one to people who are familiar with Hebrew but who are not native speakers.

לגמור is used in Modern Hebrew primarily to mean to finish something – it is a transitive verb, one with an object. For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-3.m4a” /]גמרת לאכול את כל הירקות?

Have you (a boy) finished eating all your (the) vegetables?

The other word for to finish – when the finishing doesn’t have any particular object, and sometimes when it does – is לסיים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-4.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לגמור-5.m4a” /]זהו, סיימתי!

That’s it, I’m done (I’ve finished)!

In the past, לגמור was also used as an intransitive. But since the word took on the slang connotation of finishing in the sexual sense, it started being used only when referring to finishing a particular thing or task.

Whereas לגמור is an active-simple verb, לסיים is an active-intensive verb.