Throughout the country
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| the Tel Aviv boardwalk on a hazy day |
Now it’s raining.
The Hebrew word for haze is אוֹבֶך (OH-vekh).
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/לצבור-#.m4a” /]לִצְבֹּר לצבור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/לצבור-#.m4a” /] means to accumulate. You may recognize the word from the Biblical story of Joseph, who rescues the economy of Egypt: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/לצבור-#.m4a” /]וַיִּצְבֹּר יוֹסֵף בָּר כְּחוֹל הַיָּם הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד עַד כִּי חָדַל לִסְפֹּר כִּי אֵין מִסְפָּר. (בראשית מ”א, מ”ט) And Joseph stored up (accumulated) huge quantities of grain, like the…
אָכִיל listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? In English, to express that an object or concept is capable of doing something, we usually add the suffix -able or -ible, as in reasonable and edible. Sometimes we add -ous as a suffix to express the same, as in poisonous – something…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ערכה-#.m4a” /]עֶרְכָּה A kit is a set of items that come together to serve a particular purpose. In Hebrew this is an ערכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ערכה-#.m4a” /], from the simple verb לערוך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ערכה-#.m4a” /] meaning to set up. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ערכה-#.m4a” /]איפה קונים ערכה ביתית לבדיקת קורונה? Where does one buy a home kit for Covid testing?…
אַדְרַבָּה Hear this word pronounced One way of saying on the contrary in Hebrew is לְהֶפֶך (leh-HEH-fekh) – literally, to the opposite. A word that will make you sound really smart is אַדְרַבָּה (AHD-rah-bah). It comes from Babylonian Aramaic and is used mostly in academic circles… and in the בֵּית מִדְרָש (beit meed-RAHSH) – religious house…
סֻלָּם גַנָּבִים listen to this word pronounced Last night I went to the birthday party of my friend Zevik, in Encino. Zevik, also a Hebrew teacher, offered to create a thieves ladder so that his neighbor from the house behind his own could simply hop the fence to get home instead of circling the block; thus…
שְׁאִיפוֹת listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet? The English word aspiration finds its roots in the Latin word spirare – to breathe. Likewise, the Hebrew word for to aspire is the same as that of to inhale – the active-simple verb לִשְׁאוֹף listen and repeat. And an aspiration is a שְׁאִיפָה listen and repeat. For example: …