an expression for “so embarrassed” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /]לֹא יָדַע אֵיפֹה לִקְבּוֹר אֶת עַצְמוֹ
An employee at a high-tech company – let’s call her Dana – sends a message:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /]רון, אתה לא תאמין מה אמר לי היום הבוס הגדול, פשוט לא ייאמן.
Ron, you won’t believe what the big boss said to me today, simply unbelievable.
…and she goes on to tell the story. But then she gets a message back from the big boss, Ronen, saying:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /]אני חושב שהתכוונת לשלוח את ההודעה הזאת למישהו אחר…
I think you meant to send this message to someone else…
When she meets him in person later, Dana tells Ron about what happened, saying:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /]לא ידעתי איפה לקבור את עצמי.
I was so embarrassed (I didn’t know where to bury myself).
Let’s break this expression down:
לא ידעתי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] – I didn’t know (ידעתי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] is a form of the simple verb לדעת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] of the root י.ד.ע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /])
איפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] – where
לקבור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] – to bury (a simple verb of the root ק.ב.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /])
את[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] – an untranslatable word indicating an action being done upon a direct object
עצמי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/לקבור-את-עצמו-#.m4a” /] – myself