how to say “nothing” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /]כְּלוּם, שׁוּם דָּבָר
Modern Hebrew has two ways to say nothing in Hebrew: כלום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] and שום דבר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /]. Biblical Hebrew has a third: מאומה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /].
Like אף אחד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /], the words כלום and שום דבר take לא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] in a sentence:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /]אף אחד לא יודע כלום על התיק.
No one knows anything about the case.
and
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /]אין לי שום דבר במקרר.
I don’t have anything in the fridge.
And like אף אחד, people think that the use of the word לא in these sentences makes a double negative: I don’t know nothing and I don’t have nothing.
But like אף אחד, this is not the case. Rather, the word כלום is probably a combination of כל מאום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] – every little bit, while שום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] in שום דבר is a variation of the word שם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] – name or something worthy of a name. Thus אין לי שום דבר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] means literally I don’t a thing (something), and אין לי כלום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/כלום-#.m4a” /] probably means literally I don’t have a little bit.
