how to say “go!” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/yo-#.m4a” /]סַע! לֵךְ! קָדִימָה!

In English, to give someone a green light to do something, you might say go! or go ahead!

In Hebrew, you’re likely to hear people saying !סע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /], which means literally travel!

For example, the motto of one of Israeli’s shared car services (CityCar) is:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /]פשוט קח וסע.

Just take and go.

סע means go when speaking to a male. To a female, it’s סעי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /], and to more than one person it’s סעו[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /].

סע, סעי and סעו come from the verb לנסוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /] – to travel. To tell someone to go somewhere in particular, or to go away, it’s לך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /], [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /]לכי, [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /]לכו.

And to push someone into action – go ahead, start moving! – it’s !קדימה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/סע-#.m4a” /].