how to say “child’s play” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-1.m4a” /]מִשְֹחַק יְלָדִים
As the 2017 version of the movie It (in Hebrew, זה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-2.m4a” /]) has generated clown terror around the world with Israel being no exception, I’ll take this opportunity to remind at least some of you of another movie from about 30 years ago: Child’s Play, rendered in Hebrew as משחק ילדים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-1.m4a” /].
This expression existed even before the movie did.
Here’s an example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-3.m4a” /]חזאות זה לא משחק ילדים.
Meteorology (forecasting) is not child’s play.
The word משחק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-4.m4a” /] also means game, and comes from the root ש.ח.ק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-5.m4a” /] meaning play. This root is closely related to צ.ח.ק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-6.m4a” /] meaning laugh, and in Biblical Hebrew the two roots are synonymous.
משחק ילדים also means a children’s game.
