how to say “they died that we might live” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /]בְּמוֹתָם צִיוּוּ לָנוּ אֶת הַחַיִּים

Today is יום הזיכרון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen. At ceremonies all over the country you’ll hear במותם ציוו לנו את החיים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – literally, with their death they commanded us life, similar to the expression in English, they died that we might live.

Here’s the expression broken down:

במותם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – in their death, where the prefix -ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] means in, מות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] means death when appearing as part of a phrase (the standalone version of this word is מוות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /])  and the suffix ם-ָ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] means their

ציוו[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – (they) commanded, a form of the פיעל verb לצוות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – to command

את[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – an auxiliary word that helps specify the object of a sentence

החיים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – life – literally, the life

The Hebrew poet Hayim Nahman Bialik coined במותם ציוו לנו את החיים in his 1898 poem אִם-יֵשׁ אֶת-נַפְשְׁךָ לָדַעַת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/במותם-#.m4a” /] – If You Dare to Know.