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לוֹעֲזִית listen to this word pronounced Yesterday I introduced the Hebrew term for foreign language – שָׂפָה זָרָה (sah-FAH zah-RAH). Today I’m going to introduce a caveat to that entry. When describing something written in a foreign language, Israelis are less likely to say זֶה כָּתוּב בְּשָׂפָה זָרָה –…
גָּשׁוּם, לְהַגְשִׁים listen to this word pronounced Today was a rainy one here in Jerusalem. from jerusalemshots.com A rainy day is יוֹם גָּשׁוּם (yohm gah-SHOOM). Now גֶּשֶׁם (GHEH-shem) is rain, but it’s also the concept of materialism in certain contexts. To materialize or realize a dream – or to make a dream come true – is לְהַגְשִׁים חָלוֹם…
לְמַנֵּף listen to this word pronounced A crane or a lever in Hebrew is a מָנוֹף (mah-NOHF). To leverage – to use resources to gain a desired outcome (rough definition) – is לְמַנֵּף (leh-mah-NEF) in Hebrew. It’s an active-intensive פיעל (pee-EL) verb. Check out our Summer 2011 classes for…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-1.m4a” /]מְנֻמָּס Some might scoff and say there’s no word in Hebrew for polite. And, in a way, they’d be right, since the word מנומס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-1.m4a” /] – polite – comes to Hebrew via the Greek word νομος (nomos) meaning law or custom. Thus manners in Hebrew are נימוסים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-3.m4a” /]אין להם נימוסים. They have no manners. Here’s מנומס…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אבטיח-1.m4a” /]אֲבַטִּיחַ This word appears already in Biblical Hebrew, as אבטיח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אבטיח-1.m4a” /] – watermelon – native to southern Africa, was cultivated in Egypt and eaten by the People of Israel. In researching the word, I spotted the root ב.ט.ח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אבטיח-2.m4a” /], which normally means safety as the word ביטחון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אבטיח-3.m4a” /] – security. I started pondering possible…
