Author: Ami Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-1.m4a” /]עָשָׁן Smoking, in Hebrew, is עישון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-3.m4a” /]העישון אסור. No smoking. (literally, the smoking is forbidden) עישון comes from לעשן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-4.m4a” /], an active-intensive פיעל verb deriving from the word עשן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-1.m4a” /] – smoke. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-5.m4a” /]יש פה ריח של עשן. It smells like smoke here.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-1.m4a” /]לִמְשׁוֹךְ To pull might include pulling something physical, such as a door with a sign on it: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-2.m4a” /]משוך!  Pull! …or something non-physical such as attention – to attract. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-3.m4a” /]היא מושכת את תשומת הלב של כולם. She attracts everyone’s attention. Thus attraction is משיכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-4.m4a” /]… as in gravity, as…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-1.m4a” /]לְשַׁחְרֵר The word לשחרר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-1.m4a” /] is all about freedom and liberation, deriving from the root ח.ו.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-2.m4a” /] as in בן חורין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-3.m4a” /] – free person. לשחרר means to release, to liberate, to let go. Here’s an illustration of the concept (in English) from the 1991 version of Father of the Bride. It’s also used colloquially…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-1.m4a” /]מִכְסֶה, כִּסּוּי No, this is not about a cover song – that’s קאוור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-2.m4a” /] (also called by the rare academician, גרסת כיסוי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-3.m4a” /]). This post is about the cover of a pot or a car – otherwise known as a lid or a hood. The word for these is מכסה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-4.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-5.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-1.m4a” /]מָנוֹעַ Though in English an engine and engineering come from the same root, in Hebrew this is not the case. While the profession of egineering is הנדסה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-2.m4a” /] and an engineer is a מהנדס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-3.m4a” /] (a male) or מהנדסת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-4.m4a” /] (a female), an engine or a motor is a מנוע. While the הנדסה probably derives from…

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/הלוך-ושוב-1.m4a” /]הָלוֹך וָשׁוֹב, הָלוֹך חָזוֹר When you get on the bus in Israel and want to ask for a round-trip ticket, you should say: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-2.m4a” /]כרטיס הלוך ושוב, בבקשה. A round-trip ticket, please. “בבקשה”[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-3.m4a” /] is optional. הלוך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-4.m4a” /] means going, and ושוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-5.m4a” /] means and returning. But you could also use a…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בגד-ים-1.m4a” /]בֶּגֶד יָם Summer is upon us here in the northern hemisphere. One of the most important summer items is variably called a swimsuit, a bathing suit or swim trunks. All these terms focus on the action taken while donning the garment. Hebrew’s term focuses not on the action, but on the place where the suit might be worn:…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-1.m4a” /]צֵל Though physically speaking they are more or less the same, shade and shadow can mean very different things in English: shade is cool and pleasant, while shadow can be frightening, a place where monsters lurk. Hebrew has one word for both: צל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-1.m4a” /], which in Biblical has either a neutral or positive connotation, as it usually does in Modern Hebrew as…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-יאומן-1.m4a” /]לֹא יְאֻמָּן, לֹא יֵאָמֵן To believe – in Hebrew – is להאמין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-יאומן-2.m4a” /], an active-causative הפעיל verb. It would follow, then, that unbelievable would be לא יואמן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-יאומן-3.m4a” /], as יואמן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-יאומן-4.m4a” /] is of the passive-causative הופעל form. But what most Israelis say is לא יאומן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-יאומן-5.m4a” /], where יאומן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לא-יאומן-6.m4a” /]…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/שנייה-1.m4a” /]רַק שְׁנִיָּה The unit of time called the second is called such because it’s the second unit of time after the minute. Its Hebrew translation, שנייה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/שנייה-2.m4a” /], conveys the same meaning, coming from the word for two – שניים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/שנייה-3.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/שנייה-4.m4a” /]יש שישים שניות בדקה. There are sixty seconds in a…