מָאתַיִם, אַלְפַּיִם Can’t read Hebrew yet? Yesterday we saw the Hebrew terms for three hundred and three thousand – שְׁלֹשׁ מְאוֹת and שְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים , respectively. Higher multiples of those numbers follow a pattern: אַרְבַּע מְאוֹת, אַרְבַּעַת אֲלָפִים – 400, 4000 חֲמֵשׁ מְאוֹת, חֲמֵשֶׁת אֲלָפִים – 500, 5000 …
שְׁלֹשׁ מְאוֹת, שְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for hundred is feminine, as its ah ending hints – מֵאָה And since numbers are adjectives, three hundred is שְׁלֹשׁ מְאוֹת – literally, three of hundred. For example: מִבְחַן נְהִיגָה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל עוֹלֶה שְׁלֹשׁ מְאוֹת שְׁקָלִים! A driving test in Israel costs three hundred…
מַעֲצָמָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? Last week we saw the word for empowerment – הַעֲצָמָה – of the root ע.צ.מ (a.ts.m) meaning might or fortitude. Here’s a similar-sounding word, the one for world power – מַעֲצָמָה . For example: בָּעוֹלָם הַקָּדוּם, מִצְרַיִם הָיְתָה מַעֲצָמָה. In the ancient world,…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן 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 Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
הַעֲצָמָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? Everyone likes feeling powerful. And it’s a pleasure to help someone else feel it. The Hebrew word for empowerment is הַעֲצָמָה . It is the noun version of the active-causative verb לְהַעֲצִים – to empower – of the root ע.צ.מ (a.ts.m). For example: …
יְרוּשַׁלְמִי Can’t read Hebrew yet? One of the things that make residents of this city unique is their response to snow. While Torontonians and New Yorkers and Parisians get on with their daily lives when it snows, Jerusalemites scramble for days before the cold white stuff starts coming down, stocking up…
גֵּרוּשִׁין Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for to expel or to banish is the (not surprisingly) active-intensive verb לְגָרֵשׁ . It’s the same word used already in Biblical Hebrew for the unfortunate circumstance where a man asks his wife to leave – when he divorces her. Since today divorce is seen…
עוֹד לֹא, עֲדַיִן לֹא, טֶרֶם Can’t read Hebrew yet? As in most languages, Hebrew has various registers – different words meaning something similar, but functioning in different contexts. For example, the expression not yet has a common expression – עוֹד לֹא or עֲדַיִן לֹא – and synonym for more educated-sounding effect…
לְהִתְרַבּוֹת Can’t read Hebrew yet? If you know a bit of Hebrew, you probably know the word for a lot or much – הַרְבֵּה – as in: אֲנִי רוֹצֶה לָדַעַת הַרְבֵּה עִבְרִית. I (a male) want to know a lot of Hebrew. The root ר.ב.ה (r.b.h) also finds…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן 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 Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
פּוֹשֵׁעַ, פְּלִילִי Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for crime in general is פֶּשַׁע , as in: גִּבּוֹרֵי-עַל נִלְחָמִים בַּפֶּשַׁע. Superheroes fight (the) crime. Thus a criminal is a פּוֹשֵׁעַ (a male) or a פּוֹשַׁעַת (a female). Now that’s criminal as a noun. As an adjective,…