how to say “to say” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-1.mp3″ /]לְהַגִּיד, לוֹמַר, לֵאמֹר
The most common way of saying to say in Hebrew is לְהַגִּיד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-2.mp3″ /], an active-causative verb of the root נ.ג.ד (n.g.d).
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-3.mp3″ /]אֲנִי רוֹצֶה לְהַגִּיד לְךָ כַּמָּה דְּבָרִים.
I (a male) want to say a few things to you.
In spoken Hebrew, this verb is used in the infinitive, as well as in the future tense:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-4.mp3″ /]הִיא לֹא תַּגִּיד לִי מָה לַעֲשֹוֹת!
She won’t tell me what to do!
In the past and present tenses, a different verb – לוֹמַר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-5.mp3″ /] (a simple verb whose root is א.מ.ר – a.m.r) is used:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-6.mp3″ /]אָמַרְתִּי לוֹ, לֹא!
I told him, no!
and
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-7.mp3″ /]מָה אַתָּה אוֹמֵר?
What do you (a male) say?
לומר is another version of the biblical form לֵאמֹר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להגיד-8.mp3″ /], which is sometimes used in very formal situations.
