להשתחרר Here’s a word that our Level 3 students get a kick out of getting their mouth around: לְהִשְׁתַּחְרֵר (le-heesh-tahkh-REHR). It means, to get liberated. It’s used in many contexts, such as מָתַי אֲתָּה מִשְׁתַּחְרֵר מֵהַצָּבָא? (mah-TAH-ee ah-TAH meesh-tahkh-REHR meh-hah-tsah-VAH) – When are you getting released from the army?; אֲנִי רוֹצֶה קְצַת לְהִשְׁתַּחְרֵר…
having trouble seeing the print? מְשִׁיבוֹן Check out Ulpan La-Inyan’s winter course offerings! If you’ve called someone in Israel on their cell phone and didn’t manage to get through, chances are you’ve heard the following message: שָׁלוֹם, הִגַּעְתֶּם לַמְּשִׁיבוֹן הַסֶּלוֹלָרִי שֶׁל… (shah-LOHM, hee-GAH-tem lah-meh-shee-VOHN hah-seh-loh-LAH-ree shel…) Hello, you’ve reached the cellular answering…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/הסרת-משקפיים-#.m4a” /]הֲסָרַת מִשְׁקָפַיִם Lasik is a brand, but like Kleenex, it also refers to the thing itself – laser eye surgery. In Hebrew people call this ניתוח להסרת משקפיים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/הסרת-משקפיים-#.m4a” /] – surgery for removing glasses, or simply הסרת משקפיים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/הסרת-משקפיים-#.m4a” /] – glasses removal. Sometimes the expression has the word לייזר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/הסרת-משקפיים-#.m4a” /] – laser – in…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/עיר-בירה-#.m4a” /]עִיר בִּירָה The Hebrew term for capital city is עיר בירה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/עיר-בירה-#.m4a” /], or simply בירה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/עיר-בירה-#.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/עיר-בירה-#.m4a” /]איש יהודי היה בשושן הבירה (אסתר ב’, ה’) A Judean man was in Shushan the capital (Esther 2:5) How can you tell the difference between בירה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/עיר-בירה-#.m4a” /] as in capital and…