עֹמֶק Last night I stayed up late with my roommates translating the Irish band U2’s hit from the 90’s, “One.” Here’s what we came up with. The lyrics to the song display depth – עומק (OH-mek) – יֵשׁ לָשִּׁיר הַזֶּה עֹמֶק (yesh lah-SHEER hah-ZEH OH-mek) – this song has depth. We plan to perform our…
רֶשֶׁת חֶבְרָתִית This one’s for EL – thanks for introducing me to The Social Network! The aforementioned is the Oscar-winning film you’ve more than likely heard of, about Mark Zuckerberg and his monumental contribution to the world, Facebook. My roommates and I found the movie exciting, even inspiring – we…
בִּלְתִּי הָפִיךְ How you can help a family of orphans THANK YOU to those who have already helped! The word בִּלְתִּי (beel-TEE) comes before another word to do what the prefixes “un-” and “in-” do in English. Some examples of such phrases that have already appeared on Ktzat Ivrit are בִּלְתִּי חֻקִּי (beel-TEE…
אַדְרַבָּה One way of saying on the contrary in Hebrew is לְהֶפֶך (leh-HEH-fekh) – literally, to the opposite. A word that will make you sound really smart is אַדְרַבָּה (AHD-rah-bah). It comes from Babylonian Aramaic and is used mostly in academic circles… and in the בֵּית מִדְרָש (beit meed-RAHSH) – religious house of study, where it…
תַּחֲזִית If you’ve listened at all to Israeli radio, you’ve certainly heard the announcers utter the words הַתַּחֲזִית, מִיָּד (tah-khah-ZEET mee-YAHD) – The forecast, right away. The word תחזית comes from the root ח.ז.ה (kh.z.h), a root close in meaning to ר.א.ה (r.a.h), seeing. A forecast is that which is foreseen. The prophets of Biblical times would…
לְהִתְחַרְפֵן Here’s a useful slang word. לְהִתְחַרְפֵן (le-heet-khahr-FEN) means to freak out. For example, כְּשֶׁהִיא הִגִּיעָה לַמְּסִבָּה, הוּא הִתְחַרְפֵן (keh-sheh-hee hee-GHEE-ah lah-meh-see-BAH, hoo heet-khahr-FEN) – When she arrived at the party, he freaked out. According to וִיקִימִלּוֹן (vee-kee-mee-LOHN) – Wiktionary in Hebrew, this word comes from the Arabic root خ.ر.ف (kh.r.f), meaning confused or senile. להתחרפן falls into the התפעל…
לִשְׁכּוֹן This is one is for Mr. and Mrs. Worms. If you’ve got some Hebrew, you likely know how to say “He lives in… (Israel, Los Angeles, Argentina, etc…)” – הוּא גָּר בְּ… (hoo gahr beh…). The word לָגוּר (lah-GOOR) means to reside, in colloquial Hebrew. There is also a more refined word, not used…
לְהַסְפִּיק We’ve had סַפָּק (sah-PAHK) – supplier/provider. We’ve had סִפּוּק (see-POOK) – satisfaction. We’ve had לְהִסְתַּפֵּק (leh-hees-tah-PEK) – to make do with what is. Today we’ve got one word more from this versatile Hebrew root: לְהַסְפִּיק (leh-hahs-PEEK). The two most common meanings are to suffice and to get succeed in doing something on time. You may…
לְהִסְתַּפֵּק Over the past couple of days we’ve seen words from the root ס.פ.ק (s.p.k), meaning, enough or satisfaction. Today’s word doesn’t have a literal translation in English. It means, roughly, to have enough or to make due. The word is the התפעל (heet-pah-EL) form of the root, namely, לְהִסְתַּפֵּק (leh-hees-tah-PEK). A well-known saying from the Ethics of…
סִפּוּק Yesterday we had the word for supplier or provider, סַפָּק (sah-PAHK). The “ah-AH” vowel scheme of that word is common among professional terms. For example, a carpenter is a נַגָּר (nah-GAHR), one of the words for a butcher is קַצָּב (kah-TSAHV), etc. סַפָּק derives from the פיעל (pee-EHL) verb to provide or to satisfy – לְסַפֵּק (leh-sah-PEHK). So satisfaction is סִפּוּק…
סַפָּק, סַפָּקִית If you have spent some time in Israel, you likely have come across one of the ways of saying “enough” – מַסְפִּיק (mahs-PEEK). The root of this word is ס.פ.ק (s.p.k). Someone who supplies a product or provides a service fulfills a need or want, so that the recipient can say, “I have enough.”…