how to say “take a hint” in Hebrew

 

קַח רֶמֶז
 

 

 
In an effort to avoid awkward moments, people sometimes attempt to communicate in more subtle ways, rather than making open and direct statements. If the receiving end of the communication doesn’t get it, the speaker might say get frustrated and say, “take a hint”… or, in Hebrew:
 
קַח רֶמֶז    to a male
 
and 
 
קְחִי רֶמֶז    to a female.
 
 
These phrases broken down:
 
קח   and קחי   mean take! and are forms of the verb לָקַחַת   to take.
 
רמז   is a hint. A traffic light gives a signal (sort of a hint) of light, so Modern Hebrew combines the word רמז with the word אוֹר   light – yielding רַמְזוֹר  .
 
 
A bit more:
 
To hint is לִרְמוֹז  , an active-simple verb. For example:
 
הוּא דִּבֵּר בְּקוֹל בַּטֶּלֶפוֹן, אָז רָמַזְתִּי לוֹ לַעֲבוֹר לְחֶדֶר אַחֵר.
He spoke loudly on the phone, so I hinted to him to move to another room.
 
 
Luckily, in this case,
 
הוּא קָלַט אֶת הַרֶמֶז.
He took (understood) the hint.
 

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