how do you say “no big deal” in Hebrew?
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-1.m4a” /]לֹא נוֹרָא
Earlier this week we encountered the word נורא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-2.m4a” /], which means awesome or awful, depending on the context.
But when Israelis say לא נורא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-1.m4a” /], they definitely mean not awful… or, in the English equivalent, no big deal.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-3.m4a” /]אז שכחת פעם אחת את התיק בבית, לא נורא!
So you (a female) forgot your bag at home one time, it’s no big deal!
לא נורא also works for when you might say in English don’t worry, as in:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-4.m4a” /]לא נורא, עוד לא היינו מוכנים בכל מקרה.
Don’t worry, we weren’t ready anyway.
Nevertheless, אל תדאג[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-5.m4a” /] (to a male) or אל תדאגי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-6.m4a” /] (to a female) – literally, don’t worry – work there as well.
נורא comes from the root י.ר.א[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-נורא-7.m4a” /] meaning fear or awe.