how to say “parking lot” in Hebrew

חַנְיוֹן, מִגְרַשׁ חֲנָיָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-1.mp3″ /]

In American English it’s called a parking lot, while in the Commonwealth they call it a car park.

In Hebrew, such a facility has two terms, one for a parking structure and the other for an outdoor slab of land designated for parking cars.

The first, the parking structure is a חַנְיוֹן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-2.mp3″ /], sometimes referred to more specifically as חַנְיוֹן מְקֹרֶה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-3.mp3″ /], where מקורה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-4.mp3″ /] means covered. Those who have taken our Level 1 class certainly notice the similarity in חניון to the word for shopping mall – קַנְיוֹן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-5.mp3″ /]. While חניון comes from the root ח.נ.ה (kh.n.h) meaning to park, קניון comes from the root ק.נ.ה (k.n.h) meaning to buy.

חניון in action:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-6.mp3″ /]שָׁכַחְתִּי אֵיפֹה חָנִיתִי בַּחַנְיוֹן הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה.

I forgot where I parked in this big parking structure.

The word for outdoor parking lot is מִגְרַשׁ חֲנָיָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-7.mp3″ /] – literally, a lot of parking. (If you’ve tried parking in Tel Aviv, you know there’s not a lot of parking. I use a lot in the literal sense)

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חניון-8.mp3″ /]בְּמִגְרְשֵׁי חֲנָיָה עִירוֹנִיִּם הַרְבֵּה פְּעָמִים צָרִיךְ לְשַׁלֵּם.

In urban parking lots one often needs to pay.