how to say “capable” in Hebrew
But enough about grammar.
Suppose you’re with a friend at the British Museum, and your friend doesn’t know how to read the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone. You might say about yourself, I can! or I’m capable!
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מסובך-1.m4a” /]זֶה מְסֻבָּךְ For those of you who don’t know, Facebook allows people to show their relationship status with tags like “single”, “married”, “divorced”, and others. The one that might spark the most curiosity is the status, “it’s complicated.” In Hebrew, that’s זה מסובך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מסובך-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מסובך-2.m4a” /]סטטוס מערכת היחסים שלי? זה מסובך….
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…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סולמית-1.m4a” /]סֻלָּמִית You may know the word סולם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סולמית-2.m4a” /] – ladder – from the dream of Jacob: (וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה וְרֹאשׁוֹ מַגִּיעַ הַשָּׁמָיְמָה… (בראשית כ”ח י”ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סולמית-3.m4a” /] And behold, a ladder resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven… (Genesis 28:12) To name the number sign that appears on the bottom-right of…
לְהִסְתַּכֵּל עַל חֲצִי הַכּוֹס הַמְּלֵאָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? Is the glass half empty or half full? Conventional wisdom dictates: see the glass as half full. Hebrew joins a slew of languages that translate that important phrase, producing the dictum: צָרִיךְ לְהִסְתַּכֵּל עַל חֲצִי הַכּוֹס הַמְּלֵאָה, וְלֹא עַל חֲצִי הַכּוֹס הָרֵיקָה. Literally –…
מוֹשֵׁךְ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-1.mp3″ /] Hebrew borrows lots of words from English and the Romance languages, such as telephone – טֶלֶפוֹן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-2.mp3″ /], function – פוּנְקְצְיָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-3.mp3″ /], and metaphor – מֶטָפוֹרָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-4.mp3″ /]. In all these cases, the meaning is the same in both English and Hebrew. In the case of the word attractive – imported…
הִתְחַמְּמוּת עוֹלָמִית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/global-warming-4.mp3″ /] This week is hot in Israel (here’s a video we’ve made about that), more so than usual for the season. Some blame it on global warming. As is the case with many terms that didn’t exist in antiquity, Modern Hebrew has three for global warming: הִתְחַמְּמוּת גְּלוֹבָּלִית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/global-warming-2.mp3″ /] borrows global from…