how to say “to save up” in Hebrew

When I started learning French, I focused first on getting the sounds right. As I began acquiring some vocabulary, I would continue focusing on pronunciation of this new set of sounds. I believe the effort actually helped me remember better the words themselves.


Today’s dose of Hebrew features one of those words that English speakers may have trouble pronouncing. Click the image of the speaker above (underneath the title), and you’ll hear it. 

The simple (פָּעַל) verb לַחְסוֹך (lahkh-SOHKH) means to save up, but with variations that are difficult to translate into English (check out the examples below). In Biblical times לחסוך was spelled with a ש (seen) instead of a ס (SAH-mekh), but eventually the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative*, a sound as foreign to most of us as the technical term describing it, gave way to a simple s sound, represented by the letter ס.


Here are some examples of the use of לחסוך in Modern Hebrew.


טוֹב לַחְסוֹךְ כֶּסֶף לִקְרַאת רְכִישַׁת בַּיִת 
(tohv lahkh-SOHKH KEH-sef leek-RAHT reh-khee-SHAHT BAH-yeet)
It’s good to save up money in order to purchase a home (literally, in advance of the purchasing of a home).


נָסַעְתִּי בָּאוֹטוֹבּוּס וְחָסַכְתִּי דֶּלֶק 
(nah-SAH-tee bah-OH-toh-boos veh-khah-SAHKH-tee DEH-lek)
I traveled by (the) bus and saved fuel.


* This theory was posed by Dr. Richard Steiner, my teacher of Hebrew Phonology at Yeshiva University. His book on the subject can be found here.