how to say “needless to say” in Hebrew
מְיֻתָּר לוֹמַר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מיותר-לומר-1.mp3″ /]
If meant literally, needless to say wouldn’t be said at all – after all, there’s no need to say it. The emotional content in the expression makes up for its logical lack of… well, necessity.
Hebrew’s expression for this is מְיֻתָּר לוֹמַר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מיותר-לומר-1.mp3″ /] – literally, it’s extra or unnecessary to say. You might also hear מְיֻתָּר לְצַיֵּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מיותר-לומר-2.mp3″ /] – it’s unnecessary to point out – as in:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מיותר-לומר-3.mp3″ /]מְיֻתָּר לְצַיֵּן כִּי הַזוֹכָה בָּאוֹסְקַר הִיא שַׂחְקָנִית מְעֻלָּה.
Needless to say, the winner of the Oscar is an excellent actress.
The word מיותר, meaning unnecessary, is an adjective of the passive-intensive verb form, whose root is י.ת.ר (y.t.r) meaning more. What other words do you know with this root? Post them as comments.
