Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/חברות-#.m4a” /]חֲבֵרוּת If you’ve got some basic Hebrew under your belt, you probably know the word for friend – חבר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/חברות-#.m4a” /] for a male and חברה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/חברות-#.m4a” /] for a female. The word for friendship is חברות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/חברות-#.m4a” /], as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/חברות-#.m4a” /]חברות טובה היא דבר שלא הולך ברגל. Good friendship is not something to…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/לא-הולך-ברגל-#.m4a” /] לֹא הוֹלֵךְ בָּרֶגֶל A colorful way of saying that something shouldn’t be taken lightly, in Hebrew, is לא הולך ברגל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/לא-הולך-ברגל-#.m4a” /] – literally, doesn’t go by foot. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/לא-הולך-ברגל-#.m4a” /]עציץ שצומח בתוך משרד זה דבר שלא הולך ברגל. A house plant that blooms inside an office is not something to be taken lightly. (see full…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/עציץ-#.m4a” /]עֲצִיץ Technically, the word עציץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/עציץ-#.m4a” /] refers to the pot where the house plant lives, but people also use it to mean the plant itself. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/עציץ-#.m4a” /] עציצים לא נפטרים, הם מתים. House plants don’t pass away, they die. That example is based on a true story, which you…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נפטר-#.m4a” /]נִפְטָר, נִפְטְרָה Yesterday we saw that להיפטר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נפטר-#.m4a” /] can mean to get rid of something, but also to pass away. But unlike most Hebrew verbs that can appear in all kinds of tenses (past, present, etc.) and persons (first, second, third), you’re likely to hear להיפטר in the sense of to pass away only…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להיפטר-מ-#.m4a” /]לְהִפָּטֵר מִ- The Hebrew word for to get rid of something is להיפטר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להיפטר-מ-#.m4a” /]. It always has -מ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להיפטר-מ-#.m4a” /] – from or of – before the next word. It’s a נפעל verb, so that in the past tense it looks like this: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להיפטר-מ-#.m4a” /]נפטרתי מכל הדברים המיותרים שישבו במחסן. I got…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נדמה-לי-#.m4a” /]נִדְמֶה לִי Hebrew has several ways of saying I think. There’s אני חושב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נדמה-לי-#.m4a” /] (for a male) and אני חושבת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נדמה-לי-#.m4a” /] (for a female). These mean literally I think. There’s נראה לי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נדמה-לי-#.m4a” /] – it appears to me. And there’s נדמה לי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/נדמה-לי-#.m4a” /] – very close to נראה לי, but…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/אשליה-#.m4a” /]אַשְׁלָיָה If להשלות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/אשליה-#.m4a” /] is to delude or to raise false hopes, אשליה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/אשליה-#.m4a” /] is a delusion or an illusion. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/אשליה-#.m4a” /]אנשים מעטים מצליחים לפענח את האשליות האופטיות האלה. Few people manage to decipher these optical illusions. The א[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/אשליה-#.m4a” /] at the beginning of אשליה is an Aramaic prefix….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להשלות-#.m4a” /]לְהַשְׁלוֹת The הפעיל verb להשלות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להשלות-#.m4a” /] – to delude or to raise false hopes – is probably related to the word שלווה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להשלות-#.m4a” /] – peace or tranquility: someone who has false hopes lives in a state of peace, not aware of danger outside of their presumed reality. Here’s להשלות in context: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/להשלות-#.m4a” /]אנחנו…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ליישב-#.m4a” /]לַיַּשֵּׁב A human settlement of any kind is a יישוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ליישב-#.m4a” /]. Its root is י.ש.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ליישב-#.m4a” /], meaning sitting or dwelling. Now, יישוב is a verbal noun: it derives from the פיעל verb ליישב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ליישב-#.m4a” /], to settle. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ליישב-#.m4a” /]האירופאים הראשונים התחילו ליישב את אמריקה לפני אלף שנה. The first Europeans…