לחסל Suppose you’ve got a tub of חוּמוּס (KHOO-moos) – hummus – in the fridge, and you’re having guests over that love to dip into it. You might say, together, we’ll polish off this חומוס. In Hebrew, you’d say, בְּיַחַד, נְחַסֵּל אֶת הַחוּמוּס הַזֶּה (be-YAH-khahd, ne-khah-SEHL et hah-KHOO-moos hah-ZEH). The word for to finish…
מתכון This word is related to the word for a plan or a program we had the other day – תָּכְנִית (tohkh-NEET). The Hebrew word for recipe is מַתְכּוֹן (maht-KOHN). You can listen to and watch the video of a cute song about Israel’s national snack right here. And you can find all kinds of מתכונים…
חשבון It’s all the same word. The root is ח.ש.ב (kh.sh.b), which means thinking. So your account at the bank, the study of mathematics and the bill at the restaurant are all חֶשְׁבּוֹן (khesh-BOHN).
לחזר In English we used to call this courting. Somehow I think the modern-day rendition – to pursue – sounds less romantic than the contemporary Hebrew – לְחַזֵּר (le-khah-ZEHR). For example, הוּא חִזֵּר אַחֲרֶיה (hoo khee-ZEHR ah-khah-REH-hah) – He courted/pursued her. You can listen to this word conjugated in context, in Ehud Banai’s רוּחוֹת הַצָּפוֹן (roo-KHOHT…
הקפאה The Biblical Hebrew root ק.פ.א (k.p.a) is the concept of congealment or thickening, but the root has evolved to the point where today it means frozenness. Thus a מַקְפִּיא (mahk-PEE) is the Modern Hebrew word for freezer – the place where one places ice cream. To freeze something is לְהַקְפִּיא (le-hahk-PEE). To say, I’m…
תכנית The Hebrew word for content is תּוֹכֵן (TOH-khen). Likewise, the word for activated content – or a plan/program – is תָּכְנִית (tohkh-NEET). For example, לְבֵית הַסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה יֵשׁ תָּכְנִית לִמּוּדִים מְצוּיֶּנֶת (le-VEHT hah-SEH-fehr hah-ZEH yesh tohkh-NEET lee-moo-DEEM me-tsoo-YEH-net) – This school has an excellent program of study (curriculum). Our תכנית… We…
ספרון If you’ve had even a bit of experience with the Hebrew language, chances are you know the word for book – סֵפֶר (SEH-fehr). Now, in English, we add -let to a noun to make it small and cute. For example, we add -let to pig to make piglet. Likewise, we add -let to book to make…
רכישת שפה To buy something is לִקְנוֹת (leek-NOHT). To acquire something, or to purchase, is לִרְכוֹש (leer-KHOHSH). The act of acquiring or purchasing is רְכִישָׁה (re-khee-SHAH). So the acquiring of a language is רְכִישַׁת שָׂפָה (re-khee-SHAHT sah-FAH). The ה in the word רכישה becomes a ת, as the word is connected to the following word in a linguistic…
לפרק Yesterday we had the word for to assemble – לְהַרְכִּיב (le-hahr-KEEV). What about to disassemble, or to take something apart? That’s לְפָרֵק (le-fah-REK). For example, אֲנַחְנוּ פֵּרַקְנוּ אֶת הָאָרוֹן (ah-NAHKH-noo peh-RAHK-noo et hah-ah-ROHN) – We took apart the closet (closets in Israel are usually not walk-in. לפרק comes from the root, פ.ר.ק…
להרכיב You may have just heard this word on RustyMike Radio on the Adam in the Morning Show. If you need to assemble a piece of furniture – or a team of people, for that matter – the word you’d use in Hebrew is לְהַרְכִּיב (le-hahr-KEEV). For example, אֲנַחְנוּ מַרְכִּיבִים צֶוֶת מִקְצוֹעִי…
Early registration deadline Today is the last day to receive a 50-shekel discount on our November-December conversational Hebrew classes. Our courses will be taking place in Jerusalem and Raanana starting a week from today. Get our schedule at calendar.ulpan.com… and sign up at register.ulpan.com! And if you’re not yet familiar with…