how to say “handyman” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-1.m4a” /]שִׁפּוּצְנִיק

Perhaps you know the Hebrew word for to improve something – לשפר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-2.m4a” /]. The word’s root – ש.פ.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-3.m4a” /] – means beauty, so that we might understand לשפר as to make something more beautiful or good.

Another word that has to do with improvement, whose root starts with the first two letters in לשפר, is לשפץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-4.m4a” /] – to renovate.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-5.m4a” /]אנחנו משפצים את חדר האמבטיה.

We are renovating the bathroom.

Following the active-intensive verb form, renovations are שיפוצים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-6.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-7.m4a” /]הקניון סגור לרגל שיפוצים.

The mall is closed for the event of renovations.

And a handyman? That’s an איש תחזוקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-8.m4a” /], or more colloquially, a שיפוצניק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-1.m4a” /]:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/שיפוצניק-9.m4a” /]לא הצלחנו לפתוח את הסתימה בכיור, אז קראנו לשיפוצניק.

We didn’t manage to unclog (open the blockage in) the sink, so we called a handyman.