ספרון If you’ve had even a bit of experience with the Hebrew language, chances are you know the word for book – סֵפֶר (SEH-fehr). Now, in English, we add -let to a noun to make it small and cute. For example, we add -let to pig to make piglet. Likewise, we add -let to book to make…
מְבַדֵּחַ listen to this word pronounced There are a few words for entertaining in Hebrew. There’s מְבַדֵּר (meh-vah-DEHR), coming from the more common word, בִּדּוּר (bee-DOOR). There’s מַצְחִיק (mahts-KHEEK), meaning funny. There’s מְשַׁעְשֵׁע (meh-shah-ah-SHEH-ah), meaning amusing (I did an entry on משעשע this past January). Here’s a word that doesn’t get used as often as the others… except…
having trouble seeing the print? רֶקַע highly recommended for further vocabulary growth The word background in English might refer to the visual background of an image or the conceptual background of someone’s past. So too in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for background is רֶקַע. For example: כְּכָל הַנִּרְאֶה, נַחַל עוֹבֵר בָּרֶקַע שֶׁל הַמּוֹנָה לִיזָה. It appears that a riverbed passes through the…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/בכושר-#.m4a” /]בְּכֹשֶׁר (בְּכֹּשֶׁר) We may tend to think of the Hebrew word כשר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/בכושר-#.m4a” /] as meaning edible by observant Jews – in other words, kosher. And indeed, כשר means fit to be consumed or done. So it makes sense that the word for fitness is כושר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/בכושר-#.m4a” /]. Likewise, to be in shape is להיות בכושר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/בכושר-#.m4a” /], or…
having trouble seeing the print? גָּבוֹהַּ, נָמוּךְ listen and repeat The recent snow storm affected Jerusalem, Samaria to the north and Judea to the south, because these are: מְקוֹמוֹת גְּבוֹהִים high-up places listen A man who is tall or “high up” is an אִישׁ גָּבוֹהַּ listen and repeat, while a tall woman is an אִשָּׁה גְּבוֹהָה listen…