how to say “to leave (behind)” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-1.m4a” /]לְהַשְׁאִיר

All the lights are on in the house, and you rush out to the supermarket, forgetting to turn off the lights. You might smack your forehead and say:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-2.m4a” /]השארתי את כל האורות בבית דלוקים.

I left all the lights on in the house.

The word השארתי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-3.m4a” /] – I left – is a form of the word להשאיר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-1.m4a” /] – to leave or to leave behind. It’s an active-causative הפעיל verb. Its root is ש.א.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-4.m4a” /] meaning remaining.

Though לעזוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-5.m4a” /] also means to leave, that’s more in the sense of to quit something, to depart and go about your merry way, as in:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשאיר-6.m4a” /]עזבתי את הבית.

I left home (and went away somewhere else).

להשאיר focuses more on what’s left behind.