Author: Ami Steinberger

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/זרוע-1.m4a” /]זְרוֹעַ Though יד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/זרוע-2.m4a” /] refers not only to the hand but also to the entire limb stretching out from the shoulder to the fingertips, the Hebrew word זרוע, sometimes called זרוע היד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/זרוע-3.m4a” /], refers specifically to the arm. You may recognize it from the Biblical verse: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/זרוע-4.m4a” /]אוֹ הֲנִסָּה אֱלֹהִים לָבוֹא לָקַחַת לוֹ…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שרירי-1.m4a” /]שְׁרִירִי The Hebrew word for muscle is שריר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שרירי-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שרירי-3.m4a” /]מתחתי שריר ברגל, אני לא רוצה לזוז. I pulled (stretched) a muscle in my (the) leg, I don’t want to move. Likewise, someone muscular is שרירי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שרירי-1.m4a” /] if he’s a male, and שרירית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שרירי-4.m4a” /] if she’s a female. For…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תקשורת-1.m4a” /]תִּקְשֹׁרֶת Another useful Hebrew root is ק.ש.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תקשורת-2.m4a” /] meaning tying or binding, so that a bond is a קשר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תקשורת-3.m4a” /], as is the knot in your shoelaces. One of the applications of ק.ש.ר is the word for the act of tying people together in ideas, or communication – תקשורת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תקשורת-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/תקשורת-4.m4a” /]יש…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להכתיב-1.m4a” /]לְהַכְתִּיב Yesterday we saw a couple of words formed from the very useful Hebrew root כ.ת.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להכתיב-2.m4a” /] meaning writing. Another application of that root is להכתיב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להכתיב-1.m4a” /] – to dictate. להכתיב falls into the category of active-causative verbs. Generally speaking, these verbs take a basic act and add a causative quality to it. For example, the…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/התכתבות-1.m4a” /]הִתְכַּתְּבוּת, תִּכְתּוֹבֶת My first serious exposure to the French language was at Yeshiva University, where I took a class on the poets Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Mallarme and encountered the poem, Correspondances. French at the time was quite elusive to me – one of the only concrete things I learned was that in English we end the word with…