רֶבַע שָׁעָה I as an American grew up saying fifteen minutes. Only as I crossed the Atlantic and moved to Israel did I encounter English speakers saying a quarter hour. Hebrew favors the latter construction, so that fifteen minutes is רבע שעה, where רבע means a quarter and שעה means hour. For example: אני אגיע…
עֲנָווָה Moses is described as עניו מכל אדם – the humblest among people. The trait of humility is ענווה, as in: קצת ענווה לא יזיק לו. A little humility won’t hurt him. ענווה is related to עוני – poverty: like a poor person, someone humble is down to earth, simple.
פֶּלַח תַּפּוּז An orange, in Hebrew, is תפוז (one of my favorite fruits). This modern word combines תפוח – apple and זהב – gold, because an orange’s skin is “golden”. The slice of a fruit such as an orange – really more a segment – is פלח, as in: היא לא תאכל את כל התפוז,…
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מִזְרָח A few generations ago, my family lived in מזרח אירופה – eastern Europe. The Hebrew word for east is מזרח, called such because the sun rises – השמש זורחת – in the east. Here’s מזרח in another context: הם גרים במזרח ירושלים. They live in East Jerusalem. The word for west also has to…
לִסְפּוֹר, לִמְנוֹת How do you say to count in Hebrew? Two options: לספור and למנות, both simple verbs, the first of the root ס.פ.ר, and the second, מ.נ.י. לספור is the everyday word, as in: אני סופר את הימים עד החופשה! I’m counting the days until my (the) vacation! למנות is used in more formal…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-1.mp3″ /] Review Material You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep. To take full advantage of the review material, click on “Choose a study mode” in the bottom right corner of the box above. [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שבת שלום, וסוף…