לְהִזָּהֵר, לָגוּר If you’ve had conversations in Hebrew with children, you probably know how to say, be careful! (literally, caution!) – זְהִירוּת (zeh-hee-ROOT). “Beware! Dog in yard!” To be careful is לְהִזָּהֵר (leh-hee-zah-HEHR). It’s a verb of the נפעל (neef-AHL) variety – not really active or passive, or even reflexive. There’s another way…
לָלֶכֶת לַיָּם If you know a bit of Hebrew, these words probably aren’t new to you. So consider this a lesson in idiom. In English we talk about going to the beach. If that were translated literally to Hebrew, it would be לָלֶכֶת לַחוֹף (lah-LEH-khet lah-KHOHF). But often expressions are not…
נוֹחַ This one’s for Abi S, who asked to know the difference between comfortable and convenient in Hebrew. Truth is, we use the same word for both: נוֹח (NOH-ahkh). For example, you could say either: נוֹחַ לִי עַל הַסַּפָּה (NOH-ahkh lee ahl hah-sah-PAH) – I’m comfortable (literally, it’s comfortable for me) on the sofa. or תֵּשַׁע…
מֵידָע If you know some basic Hebrew, look at the word above and try to spot its root. The שֹׁרֶש or root (SHOH-resh) of the word מֵידַע (meh-ee-DAH) is י.ד.ע (y.d.a), the concept of knowledge. Using that root, מידע means information. In contrast, the word for data is נְתוּנִים (neh-too-NEEM) – literally, givens….
אֱמוּנִים, נֶאֱמָנוּת In elementary school at Emek Hebrew Academy, we used to say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…” Since today is the independence day of the United States, I think it appropriate to highlight one of the words in that expression. Allegiance to a cause,…
הֲפָקָה Yesterday around the Shabbat table at the absorption center in Beit Alpha, someone asked me whether as a child I dreamed of teaching Hebrew and running an ulpan. I replied that I actually dreamed of becoming a film director. As a kid, I used to make short films with friends…
חֻקָּה In honor the 4th of July (come celebrate it this Monday with AACI in Jerusalem!)… and this week’s Torah portion It took eleven years for the United States to ratify a constitution that would represent “the people.” Israel, after 63 years, has yet to ratify one. Two Jews, three opinions;…
רֶשֶׁת רֶשֶׁת (REH-shet) in Biblical Hebrew means net. If you’ve been receiving your daily dose of Hebrew since March of 2010, perhaps you remember that entry. Today the word רשת is also used to refer a chain of establishments, such as רֶשֶׁת מַחְסָנֵי חַשְׁמַל, Chain of Electronic Warehouses (REH-shet mahkh-sah-NEH-ee khahsh-MAHL). It’s…
לוֹעֲזִית Yesterday I introduced the Hebrew term for foreign language – שָׂפָה זָרָה (sah-FAH zah-RAH). Today I’m going to introduce a caveat to that entry. When describing something written in a foreign language, Israelis are less likely to say זֶה כָּתוּב בְּשָׂפָה זָרָה – it’s written in a foreign…
שָׂפָה זָרָה זָר (zahr) is the Hebrew core word for strange. The word you may know that means odd or weird – מוּזָר (moo-ZAHR) – comes from the same root. A foreign language – a strange language – is a שָׂפָה זָרָה. At Ulpan La-Inyan we work to make Hebrew less and less of a…