Author: Ami Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/יום-חול-1.m4a” /]יוֹם חוֹל While Saturday and Sunday in most Western countries are days off, the average secular person today don’t consider either one of them particularly holy in the religious sense. Hebrew, however, makes that distinction, so that even secular Jews call Sunday through Friday ימי חול [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/יום-חול-2.m4a” /] – weekdays, or literally,…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/עסקה-1.m4a” /]עִסְקָה If a business is an עסק [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/עסקה-2.m4a” /] and business in the general sense is עסקים [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/עסקה-3.m4a” /] – literally, businesses, then a business deal is an עסקה [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/עסקה-1.m4a” /] For example: היינו כל כך קרובים לסגור את העסקה.[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/עסקה-4.m4a” /] We were so close to closing the deal. In…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/קרוב-1.m4a” /]קָרוֹב The Hebrew word for close – קרוב [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/קרוב-1.m4a” /] in the masculine – can refer to emotional closeness just as it does to physical. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/קרוב-2.m4a” /] פעם היינו מאוד קרובים אחד לשני. Once we were very close to one another. קרוב can also refer to a relative, though people…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/פעם-היה-1.m4a” /]פַּעַם הָיָה Sometimes there’s a gap between what we say and what we mean, and I’m not talking about lying. Take for example the expression used to be in English – what does once upon a time have to do with using? Hebrew’s term for this is more straightforward: פעם [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/פעם-היה-2.m4a” /], literally,…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/בדיוק-כמוני-1.m4a” /]בְּדִיּוּק כָּמוֹנִי In Hebrew, if you want to express that someone (or something) is just like someone (or something) else, you’d use the word בדיוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/בדיוק-כמוני-2.m4a” /] – exactly, followed by some form of כמו[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/בדיוק-כמוני-3.m4a” /] – like. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/בדיוק-כמוני-4.m4a” /]היא נראית בדיוק כמו אמא שלה. She looks just like…

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-1.mp3″ /] Review Material Can’t read Hebrew yet? You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep.  Flashcards . Scatter . Gravity . Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המנון-1.m4a” /]הִמְנוֹן Hebrew’s word for anthem – המנון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המנון-#.m4a” /] – borrows from the Greek ύμνος – hymnos. The national anthem or literally the state anthem is המנון המדינה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המנון-#.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המנון-#.m4a” /]המנון מדינת ישראל הינו “התקווה”. Israel’s national anthem is HaTikvah. (literally, The Hope) Listen to and learn התקווה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המנון-#.m4a” /] here. [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המנון-#.m4a” /]חג…

In celebration of Israel’s 70th, the Academy of the Hebrew Language – האקדמיה ללשון העברית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/עשורים-1.m4a” /] – opened up a vote to the Hebrew-speaking public for the most Israeli word for each of Israel’s 7 decades. We at Ulpan La-Inyan thought it apt to introduce these words to you, to help you increase your…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ליפול-1.m4a” /]לִפּוֹל The root of the word ליפול[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ליפול-1.m4a” /] is נ.פ.ל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ליפול-2.m4a” /] – since early Hebrew speakers found it troublesome to say לנפול[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ליפול-7.m4a” /], the nasal n sound disappeared, leaving only a trace in the hardening of the פ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ליפול-3.m4a” /] – from a f sound to p. In variations of ליפול, though, the n sound…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המיטב-1.m4a” /]הֲכִי טוֹב, הַטּוֹב בְּיוֹתֵר, הַמֵּיטָב If you look closely at the three expressions above for the best, you’ll find the word טוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המיטב-2.m4a” /] – good – in all of them, in some form. Each of these expressions is useful in different contexts: הכי טוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המיטב-3.m4a” /] is an everyday expression, for example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/המיטב-4.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/אמן-אמנית-1.m4a” /]אָמָּן Looking at the word אמן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/אמן-אמנית-1.m4a” /] without vowels, out of context, you might think it’s the Hebrew version of amen. But if אמן appears in a phrase such as הוא אמן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/אמן-אמנית-2.m4a” /] – he is an artist, the experienced Hebrew reader would know that it refers here to an artist. Although there’s…