how to say “the ice age” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-1.m4a” /]עִדַּן הַקֶּרַח

The basic word for time in Hebrew is זמן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-2.m4a” /]. For period of time it’s תקופה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-3.m4a” /]. And for an extended period of time – an age – it’s עידן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-4.m4a” /] (also the first name of Israeli musician Idan Raichel).

Thus an ice age is עידן קרח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-5.m4a” /], while the ice age – referring to the one featuring saber-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths – is עידן הקרח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-1.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-6.m4a” /]חיו חיות גדולות ומפחידות בעידן הקרח.

Big, scary animals lived in the ice age.

Note that the verb – חיו[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עידן-הקרח-7.m4a” /] – is at the beginning of the sentence. This is not necessary, but placing the non-present-tense verb at the beginning of the sentence is good form in Hebrew composition.