To lend a hand, in Hebrew, is להושיט יד – literally, to reach out a hand. For example: זה הזמן להושיט יד למישהו שצריך עזרה. Now is the time to reach out to someone who needs help. Another expression that means the same thing but uses a different body part for the metaphor is לתת…
To pinch (someone) is לצבוט, a simple verb. For example: תפסיק לצבוט אותי! Stop pinching me! (to a boy… or a man) Likewise, a pinch – in the sense of getting pinched – is צביטה. But what about a pinch of salt? That’s קורט מלח, where קורט refers to the smallest amount of substance one can hold…
How do you say for in Hebrew? Depends on what kind of for you’re referring to. If it’s for in the sense of designating something for a particular purpose, a good word to use is בשביל. For example: בשביל מה צריך את כל הנייר הזה? For what do (we) need all this paper? The prefix -ל works just as…
Yesterday we saw the word לאחד – to unite, a פיעל verb. Another word of the same verb form is לעבד – to process. Its root is ע.ב.ד, which you may recognize from the simple verb לעבוד – to work. For example: המחשב עכשיו מעבד את הנתונים. The computer is now processing the data. Likewise,…
If you’ve had even the slightest exposure to Hebrew – in Israel or in a synagogue anywhere in the world – you’ve probably heard the word אחד – one. אחד also functions as a root for verbs, such as the התפעל verb להתאחד – to unite (together) and the פיעל verb לאחד – to unite…