how do you say “ground floor” in Hebrew?

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-1.m4a” /]קוֹמַת קַרְקַע

What we refer to in English as a floor of a building or a storey, in Hebrew is קומה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-2.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-3.m4a” /]באיזו קומה אתם גרים?

What floor do you guys live on?

They might answer you with:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-4.m4a” /]אנחנו גרים בקומת קרקע.

We live on (the) ground floor.

Note that I pronounced קרקע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-5.m4a” /] – ground – the way most Israelis do. A more proper but rarer pronunciation is קרקע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-6.m4a” /].

קומה means floor only when speaking about a floor in a series. The floor on which we walk and babies drop things is רצפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קומת-קרקע-7.m4a” /].