how to say “time flies” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-1.m4a” /]הַזְּמַן עָף, הַזְּמַן טָס

In English, flying could be done by either a bird or a plane. In Hebrew, though:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-2.m4a” /]ציפורים עפות

Birds fly, where עפות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-3.m4a” /] is a form of  the simple hollow verb לעוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-4.m4a” /]

and

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-5.m4a” /]מטוסים טסים.

Planes fly, where טסים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-6.m4a” /] is a form of לטוס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-7.m4a” /], also a simple hollow verb.

But if it’s not a bird, not a plane, but rather time (sorry, Superman), which word do we use?

Both. Thus we have some people saying הזמן עף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-8.m4a” /] (picture a hawk flying away with your opportunities), while others say הזמן טס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הזמן-טס-9.m4a” /] (picture an F-16 roaring above).