having trouble seeing the print? מִבְרֶשֶׁת שִׁנַּיִם listen and repeat A tooth is a שֵׁן (listen and repeat), while teeth are שִׁנַּיִם (listen and repeat) (a double form, even though many teeth are spoken of, not just two). A brush is a מִבְרֶשֶׁת (listen and repeat), though when the word was created in the 19th century, it may have been intended…
מפגש There are several words in Hebrew for a meeting. One is יְשִׁיבָה (yeh-shee-VAH), which comes from the root י.ש.ב. (y.sh.b), sitting. This refers to a formal meeting, usually among colleagues. For example, when the Israeli cabinet convenes, it’s called יְשִׁיבַת הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה (yeh-shee-VAT hah-mem-shah-LAH) – the meeting of the government. Another term…
קִדֹּמֶת listen to this word pronounced הַקִּדֹּמֶת בְּאֵזוֹר יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, יְהוּדָה וְשֹמְרוֹן הוּא אֶפֶס שְׁתַּיִם (hah-kee-DOH-met beh-eh-ZOHR yeh-roo-shah-LAH-yeem, yeh-hoo-DAH veh-shohm-ROHN hoo EH-fes SHTAH-yeem) – the area code in the Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria region is 02. הקידומת באיזור הַמֶּרְכַּז הוא אפס שָׁלוֹש (hah-kee-DOH-met beh-eh-ZOHR hah-mehr-KAHZ hoo EH-fes shah-LOHSH) – the area code in the center region (of…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/שטרודל-#.m4a” /]שְׁטְרוּדֶל, כְּרוּכִית The at sign resembles the Austrian pastry, the strudel. Hebrew renders the s in its German pronunciation, so the common word for @ in Hebrew is שטרודל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/שטרודל-#.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/שטרודל-#.m4a” /]המייל לא נשלח כי שכחו להוסיף שטרודל. The email wasn’t sent because they forgot to add an at sign….
having trouble seeing the print? כִּרְטוּס Adam from RustyMike Radio likes to poke fun at the Israeli tendency to turn any noun into a verb – as in the case of the internet-derived slang term, לְפַסְבֵּק (leh-fahs-BEK) – to Facebook someone. As banal as that example may be, it points out a morphological process more sophisticated than…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-1.m4a” /]כֶּשֶׁל, כִּשָּׁלוֹן Hebrew has one word for to fail – the nifal verb להיכשל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-3.m4a” /]הוא נכשל במבחן. He failed (in) the test. A failure, however, has more than one word: while כשל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-4.m4a” /] refers to a failure as in a lapse or simply a fail, such as a כשל מכני[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/כשל-5.m4a” /] – a mechanical…