how to say “an opener” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-1.m4a” /]פּוֹתְחָן

You invite people over, and everyone brings a bottle of wine. But you’ve got no opener. What do you do?

You go to your neighbors and say:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-2.m4a” /]יש לכם פותחן?

Do you have an opener?

פותחן comes from the simple verb לפתוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-3.m4a” /] – to open. This ן-[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-4.m4a” /] ending indicates that the object or person excels at the verb they’re attached to. It shows up at the end of other words such as קמצן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-5.m4a” /] – miser, חמקן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-6.m4a” /] – stealthy (very good at escaping) and צרכן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-7.m4a” /] – consumer. Add ית-[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-8.m4a” /] to the end of each of these when speaking of a female.

What about someone who excels at making wine, a winemaker? That’s יינן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-9.m4a” /], or ייננית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פותחן-10.m4a” /] if she’s a female