how to say “treasure hunt” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-1.m4a” /]חַפֵּשׂ אֶת הַמַּטְמוֹן

Suppose there’s a piece of מצה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-2.m4a” /] – matzah – hidden somewhere in the house. Kids know this game as searching for the אפיקומן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-3.m4a” /].

But in the broader sense, this game is an example of חפש את המטמון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-1.m4a” /] – treasure hunt, or literally, search for the treasure.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-4.m4a” /]ילדים אוהבים לשחק את המשחק “חפש את המטמון.”

Kids like playing the game “treasure hunt.”

The phrase broken down:

חפש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-5.m4a” /] – search, an imperative form of the active-intensive פיעל verb לחפש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-6.m4a” /] – to search

את[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-7.m4a” /] – the direct-object indicator that doesn’t exist in English

המטמון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-8.m4a” /] – the treasure. The root of מטמון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-9.m4a” /] is ט.מ.נ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-10.m4a” /] meaning hidden. Likewise, להטמין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-11.m4a” /] means to conceal.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חפש-את-המטמון-12.m4a” /]חג פסח שמח!

Happy Passover holiday!