Author: Ami Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מעט-1.m4a” /]קְצַת, מְעַט In the first lesson of our Level 1 Hebrew course, we teach the common word for a little or a bit – קצת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מעט-2.m4a” /]. From that lesson: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מעט-3.m4a” /]אני מדברת קצת עברית. I (a female) speak a little Hebrew. Another way of saying a little is מעט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מעט-4.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כסף-כיס-1.m4a” /]כֶּסֶף כִּיס One of the first words you’d learn in any basic Hebrew course is כסף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כסף-כיס-2.m4a” /] – money. Another word that’s useful but far less ubiquitous is כיס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כסף-כיס-3.m4a” /] – pocket. For example, a security guard at the airport might instruct you (a male): [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כסף-כיס-4.m4a” /]תרוקן את הכיסים. Empty your (the) pockets….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-1.m4a” /]לְרוֹקֵן If you’ve got basic Hebrew down, you may know the Hebrew word for empty – ריק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-2.m4a” /] for masculine objects and ריקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-3.m4a” /] for feminine ones. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לרוקן-4.m4a” /]למה הכוס שלך ריקה? Why is your (a male’s) glass empty? Modern Hebrew takes this Biblical word and plugs it into…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-1.m4a” /]פַּח The common Modern Hebrew word for garbage or rubbish is זבל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-3.m4a” /]דני, תוציא את הזבל! Danny, take out the garbage! But historically, זבל referred specifically to fertilizer of animal droppings. The more generic term for waste, from Biblical times and on, is אשפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-4.m4a” /]. Then there’s פח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-1.m4a” /], which…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-1.m4a” /]כֵּלִים The Hebrew word for dishes is כלים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-2.m4a” /]אני לא שומע אותך, אני שוטף כלים. I (a male) can’t hear you (a female), I’m washing (the) dishes. But כלים means dishes only in the plural. In the singular, כלי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-3.m4a” /] means vessel or tool, and is often used in conjunction with…

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/2015/05/בדיחה-1.m4a” /]בְּדִיחָה While to laugh is לצחוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-2.m4a” /], a joke is בדיחה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-3.m4a” /]באופן מפתיע, היא פרצה בצחוק מהבדיחה שלי. Surprisingly, she burst out laughing from my joke. בדיחה came to Hebrew via Aramaic, where in the Talmud we have the expression מילתא דבדיחותא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-4.m4a” /] – words of entertainment.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-1.m4a” /]בְּאֹפֶן מַפְתִּיעַ You may know the Hebrew word for a surprise – הפתעה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-3.m4a” /]עשינו לו מסיבת הפתעה. We made him a surprise party.  הפתעה comes from the active-causative הפעיל verb להפתיע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-5.m4a” /] – to surprise, so that surprising is מפתיע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-6.m4a” /]. One way to add the equivalent of -ly to Hebrew…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-1.m4a” /]מִשְֹחַק יְלָדִים As the 2017 version of the movie It (in Hebrew, זה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-2.m4a” /]) has generated clown terror around the world with Israel being no exception, I’ll take this opportunity to remind at least some of you of another movie from about 30 years ago: Child’s Play, rendered in Hebrew as משחק ילדים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-1.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-1.m4a” /]מֶטֶאוֹרוֹלוֹגְיָה, חַזָּאוּת As with other sciences, Hebrew uses the international word for meteorology (weather forecasting): מטאורולוגיה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-3.m4a” /]היא הלכה ללמוד מטאורולוגיה באוניברסיטה העברית. She went to study meteorology at the Hebrew University. But there’s also a proper Hebrew term: חזאות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-4.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-5.m4a” /]המילה “מטאורולוגיה”, בעברית…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-1.m4a” /]עִבְרִית טְהוֹרָה The Academy of the Hebrew Language makes an effort to introduce pure Hebrew words for otherwise foreign words that Hebrew speakers tend to use. Here’s a complete list. Some of these have caught on: analysis (אנליזה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-2.m4a” /]) became ניתוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-3.m4a” /], arena (ארנה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-4.m4a” /]) became זירה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-5.m4a” /], and absolute (אבסולוטי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-6.m4a” /]) became מוחלט[audioclip…