weekly video dose – how to say “to bless” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קבלן-1.m4a” /]קַבְּלָן A person who builds houses – or fixes computers, freelance-writes articles or teaches independently, for that matter – is a contractor. The Hebrew word for such a person is קבלן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קבלן-1.m4a” /] when he’s a male and קבלנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קבלן-2.m4a” /] when she’s a female. They are called such because they receive money: לקבל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קבלן-3.m4a” /] means to receive….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/שקש-#.m4a” /]שַׂק שֵׁנָה, שק”ש The full expression for sleeping bag in Hebrew is a literal translation from English: שק שינה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/שקש-#.m4a” /]. For example, you might see in a storefront: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/שקש-#.m4a” /]כאן מוכרים שקי שינה. Here (we) sell sleeping bags. But most Israelis are likely to use the abbreviated version probably coined by busy…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/פסנתר-#.m4a” /]פְּסַנְתֵּר The non-Semitic (Greek) sounding word פסנתר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/פסנתר-#.m4a” /] makes its appearance in Biblical Aramaic, in the Book of Daniel, where it appears in a list among other music instruments. It’s not clear precisely what instrument the פסנתר was in biblical times, but Modern Hebrew uses it to mean piano. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/פסנתר-#.m4a”…