חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material Can’t read Hebrew yet? Review, practice and test yourself on this week’s doses of Hebrew! Flashcards Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
עוּגַת שְׁמָרִים Can’t read Hebrew yet? I have a Hungarian-Israeli grandmother. She makes delicious goulash, paprika chicken and other signature Hungarian dishes. But the best of her kitchen is her neighborhood-famous yeast cake – עוּגַת שְׁמָרִים . Broken down: עוּגָה means cake, while עוּגַת means cake of …
מְאֹד טָעִים Can’t read Hebrew yet? Yesterday, we saw that the ah-EE vowel pattern makes a Hebrew concept “-able” or “-ible”, as in the word for edible (“eat-able”) – אָכִיל . Another word of the same structure is the one for tasty, or worthy of being tasted, able to…
אָכִיל Can’t read Hebrew yet? In English, to express that an object or concept is capable of doing something, we usually add the suffix -able or -ible, as in reasonable and edible. Sometimes we add -ous as a suffix to express the same, as in poisonous – something that is…
פִּטְרִיּוֹת, אִטְרִיּוֹת Can’t read Hebrew yet? Some words are good to learn in pairs. The Hebrew words for mushroom and noodles are a great example. Mushrooms in Hebrew are פִּטְרִיּוֹת , while a single mushroom is a פִּטְרִיָּה . Noodles are אִטְרִיּוֹת , while a noodle is an…
לְהַאֲכִיל Can’t read Hebrew yet? Since the topics in this week’s Torah portion tend to revolve around food, I’ll dedicate this week’s entries to that favorite pastime – eating. To eat is לֶאֱכוֹל . The root is א.כ.ל (a.k.l), and it’s a simple verb. Plugging that root into the causative verb form, we get,…
חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material Can’t read Hebrew yet? Review, practice and test yourself on this week’s doses of Hebrew! Flashcards Game Test שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!
הַגְרָלָה Can’t read Hebrew yet? The ancient Hebrew root ג.ר.ל (g.r.l) appears already in Torah, where it refers to lots – גּוֹרָלוֹת . In Modern Hebrew we use the word גּוֹרָל to mean destiny or fate. As a raffle is something given to chance or fate, the Hebrew word for it is הַגְרָלָה …
אֲנַחְנוּ לֹא מְשַׁדְּרִים עַל אֹתוֹ גַּל Can’t read Hebrew yet? In English, we talk about people thinking differently by invoking metaphors such as not quite seeing eye to eye, or not being on the same page. Hebrew invokes the metaphor of broadcasting: .אֲנַחְנוּ לֹא מְשַׁדְּרִים עַל אֹתֹו גַּל We don’t broadcast on…
כּוֹכַב לֶכֶת Can’t read Hebrew yet? For a while, Hebrew speakers would simply call a planet פְּלָנֶטָה . That is, until the makers of Modern Hebrew came up with a better term: כּוֹכַב לֶכֶת, or a walking star. כוכב לכת brings together the old and the new, beautifully illustrating two facts:…
קָהָל Can’t read Hebrew yet? The Hebrew word for audience is quite an ancient one, as Moses would address the audience – הַקָּהָל – of the wandering People of Israel for forty years in the desert. A modern example: הַקָּהָל מַקְשִׁיב. The audience is listening. The root ק.ה.ל (k.h.l)…