Author: Ami Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מעצבן-1.m4a” /]מְעַצְבֵּן The Hebrew word עצב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מעצבן-2.m4a” /] means nerve, so that someone nervous is עצבני[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מעצבן-3.m4a” /] (a male) or עצבנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מעצבן-4.m4a” /] (a female). To get on someone’s nerves – to annoy – is the active-intensive לעצבן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מעצבן-5.m4a” /]. For example:   [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מעצבן-6.m4a” /]נראה לי שעצבנתי אותו. I think I annoyed him. How about annoying? That’s מעצבן[audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-1.m4a” /]סַקְרָנוּת The Hebrew word סקר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-2.m4a” /] means survey – something involving checking things out, satisfying curiosity. Someone curious is סקרן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-3.m4a” /] (a male) or סקרנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-4.m4a” /] (a female). For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-5.m4a” /]אני סקרן לדעת מה קרה אתמול. I’m curious to know what happened yesterday. Likewise, curiosity is סקרנות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-1.m4a” /]. For example:  …

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סובלנות-1.m4a” /]סַבְלָנוּת, סוֹבְלָנוּת Yesterday we saw the two very closely related words, סיכון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סובלנות-2.m4a” /] – risk and סכנה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סובלנות-3.m4a” /] – danger. We saw that in their adjective forms of dangerous and risky, they have the same word: מסוכן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סובלנות-4.m4a” /]. Another pair of words that are nearly identical is סבלנות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סובלנות-5.m4a” /] and סובלנות[audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מסוכן-1.m4a” /]מְסֻכָּן The Hebrew words for dangerous and risky are the same: מסוכן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מסוכן-1.m4a” /]. An example of מסוכן as dangerous: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מסוכן-2.m4a” /]מסוכן לעמוד כל כך קרוב לקצה הצוק! It’s dangerous to stand so close to the edge of the cliff!   And here’s מסוכן as risky: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מסוכן-3.m4a” /]הימורים הוא עסק מסוכן. Gambling is risky business….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-1.m4a” /]כֶּשֶׁל, כִּשָּׁלוֹן Hebrew has one word for to fail – the nifal verb להיכשל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-3.m4a” /]הוא נכשל במבחן. He failed (in) the test. A failure, however, has more than one word: while כשל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-4.m4a” /] refers to a failure as in a lapse or simply a fail, such as a כשל מכני[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-5.m4a” /] – a mechanical…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חסר-תקדים-1.m4a” /]חֲסַר תַּקְדִּים A precedent, in Hebrew, is תקדים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חסר-תקדים-2.m4a” /], of the root ק.ד.מ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חסר-תקדים-3.m4a” /] meaning first or early. You may recognize the root from words such as מוקדם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חסר-תקדים-4.m4a” /] – early and !קדימה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חסר-תקדים-5.m4a” /] – let’s go (ahead)! תקדים in context: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חסר-תקדים-6.m4a” /]החלטת בית המשפט מהווה תקדים חשוב. The court’s decision constitutes…