how to say “math” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /]מָתֶמָטִיקָה
Yesterday we saw that one of the meaning of the word חשבון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /] is arithmetic, which comes from the authentic Hebrew root ח.ש.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /] meaning thinking.
Unlike חשבון, the word for math in general is the international one: מתמטיקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /].
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /]הנושא הראשון שלומדים במתמטיקה הוא חשבון.
The first subject that (people) study in mathematics is arithmetic.
Note the spelling of מתמטיקה: the first t sound has a ת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /], while the second has a ט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/מתמטיקה-#.m4a” /]. That’s because the ת represents the th sound (mathematics), while the ט represents the t sound (mathematics). Generally, when transliterating from foreign languages, Hebrew uses ט for t and ת for th, with the exception of Arabic, where ת sometimes represents the t sound.
