how to say “to be jealous” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/לקנא-#.m4a” /]לְקַנֵּא
Like most of the emotions, to be jealous or to envy is a verb in Hebrew – the פיעל verb לקנא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/לקנא-#.m4a” /].
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/לקנא-#.m4a” /]איזה צרות יש לו – אני לא מקנא בו.
What problems he has – I (a male) don’t envy him.
The word for jealousy is קנאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/לקנא-#.m4a” /]. It also has a secondary meaning of zeal (in biblical times, this was the primary meaning), so that a zealot is a קנאי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/לקנא-#.m4a” /] if he’s a male and קנאית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/לקנא-#.m4a” /] if she’s a female.
