how to say “to clean up a mess” in Hebrew

Note: This will be the last Dose of Hebrew until after Passover, except for tomorrow’s weekly review.
חג שמח![audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-9.m4a” /]

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-1.m4a” /]לַעֲשׂוֹת סֵדֶר

You may know the Hebrew slang word for a mess – בלגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-2.m4a” /]. Contrary to popular belief, this word is not borrowed from Arabic, but rather from Slavic languages such as Russian and Polish.

The opposite of a mess is order – סדר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-3.m4a” /]. To make order is לעשות סדר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-1.m4a” /], and to tidy up a mess or to make order of a mess (literally, in the mess) is לעשות סדר בבלגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-4.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-6.m4a” /]היום עושים סדר בבלגן של העסק.

Today we’re making order of the mess in the business.

Another way of saying to tidy up is simply לסדר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-7.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-10.m4a” /]ילדים, אתם צריכים לסדר את החדר!

Kids, you need to tidy up your (the) room!

סדר is a versatile word, also appearing in contexts such as:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-8.m4a” /]מחר עושים סדר פסח.

Tomorrow we’re making a Passover Seder (an order of items).

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לעשות-סדר-9.m4a” /]חג שמח!

Happy holiday!