Weekly Hebrew Review – excited about summer in Israel, but a few hazards…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a” /]מִילִּים גַּסּוֹת, קְלָלוֹת I grew up in Los Angeles, where half of my class in school spoke Farsi. As a youth, which words did I naturally I pick up? The curse words – in Hebrew, מילים גסות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a” /] – literally coarse words, or simply קללות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a” /] – curses. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/קללות-#.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/דמשק-#.m4a” /]דַּמֶּשֶׂק The English name of Syria’s capital and one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world is Damascus. This name came to English via the Hebrew Bible, דמשק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/דמשק-#.m4a” /], which is the name used in Modern Hebrew as well. Here’s an example of the word in a Modern-Hebrew context: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/דמשק-#.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/שמרן-#.m4a” /]שַׁמְרָן, שַׁמְרָנִית In the US, conservative is almost synonymous with politically right-wing. In Israel, someone conservative – שמרן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/שמרן-#.m4a” /] or שמרנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/שמרן-#.m4a” /] – refers to the personality trait meaning of the word, while ימני[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/שמרן-#.m4a” /] (masculine) or ימנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/שמרן-#.m4a” /] (feminine) is someone right-wing. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/שמרן-#.m4a” /]הוא מאוד…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתייבש-1.m4a” /]לְהִתְיַבֵּשׁ You may know the basic Hebrew word for dry – יבש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתייבש-2.m4a” /]. This word forms the root of related words such as the active-intensive לייבש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתייבש-3.m4a” /] – to dry something and the reflexive intensive להתייבש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתייבש-1.m4a” /] – to dry up… or to dehydrate. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתייבש-4.m4a” /]מאוד קל להתייבש בארץ בקיץ. It’s very…