saying “human being” in Hebrew
Also, happy birthday to my brother, Danny!
בֶּן/בַּת אַרְבַּע עֶשְׂרֵה In English, if you want to tell someone your age, you might say I’m twenty five. But if you say אני עשרים וחמש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בן-ארבע-עשרה-2.m4a” /] in Hebrew, you’ll sound awkward and your non-native status will be picked up immediately. Hebrew’s way of expressing age is to say son – בן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בן-ארבע-עשרה-3.m4a” /] – or daughter –…
תְּשׂוּמֶת לֵב Can’t read Hebrew yet? In English we talk about paying attention, directing our attention to something. Meaning the same, Hebrew invokes the metaphor of placing our heart on something – לָשִׂים לֵב . For example: שַׂמְתִּי לֵב שֶׁהִיא מַגִּיעָה לְפֹה כָּל בֹּקֶר. I noticed that she comes…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/סכנה-1.m4a” /]סַכָּנָה If you’ve spent enough time around kids in Israel, you almost certainly know the word מסוכן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/סכנה-2.m4a” /] – dangerous, as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/סכנה-3.m4a” /]אסור לחצות את הכביש בלי להסתכל – זה מסוכן! It’s not allowed to cross the street without looking – it’s dangerous! A related word is the one for danger itself:…