Treasure Found at the Bottom of the Sea!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-1.m4a” /]רֵיחַ The basic Hebrew word for a smell is ריח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-1.m4a” /]. The ריח can be pleasant: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-2.m4a” /]על טעם וריח אין להתווכח. You can’t argue about (personal) taste and smell. Or it could be nasty: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-3.m4a” /]יש כאן ריח של דג רקוב. There’s a smell here of rotten fish. And to smell?…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מראש-1.m4a” /]מֵרֹאשׁ The word ראש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מראש-2.m4a” /] – head – also means first or beginning in Hebrew. Take for example ראש השנה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מראש-3.m4a” /] – Rosh Hashanah (the head/first of the year), בראש ובראשונה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מראש-4.m4a” /] – first and foremost (literally, at the head and at the first) and ראשית המאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מראש-5.m4a” /] – the head/beginning of the century. So in advance or ahead…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-1.m4a” /]סַקְרָנוּת The Hebrew word סקר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-2.m4a” /] means survey – something involving checking things out, satisfying curiosity. Someone curious is סקרן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-3.m4a” /] (a male) or סקרנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-4.m4a” /] (a female). For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-5.m4a” /]אני סקרן לדעת מה קרה אתמול. I’m curious to know what happened yesterday. Likewise, curiosity is סקרנות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סקרנות-1.m4a” /]. For example:  …

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נהיה-בקשר-1.m4a” /]נִהְיֶה בְּקֶשֶׁר Having been living in Israel for close to a decade now, I’m finding that my English has taken on some Hebraic forms. When I lived in the States, I might close a conversation with “we’ll be in touch,” but now I occasionally find myself saying “we’ll be in contact.” That’s because the Hebrew expression is…