Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

הֶגֶה While a wheel in general is גלגל, there’s a special word for steering wheel: הגה. The word finds its roots in Biblical Hebrew but came into use as steering wheel in the Middle Ages, when it referred to the helm of a ship. Imagine a driving instructor saying: צריך להחזיק את ההגה בשתי ידיים! You have…

שְׁנָתִי The Hebrew word for year is שנה, which ends in the letter ה. Since the letter ה turns into a ת when a word ending with it gets expanded, the word for yearly or annual is שנתי. For example: השבוע הכיתה שלי יוצאת לטיול שנתי בצפון. This week my grade is going on a yearly…

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-1.mp3″ /] Review Material You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep.      To take full advantage of the review material, click on “Choose a study mode” in the bottom right corner of the box above. [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שבת שלום, וסוף…

לְהוֹסִיף To add in Modern Hebrew is להוסיף, a הפעיל verb (in Biblical times they used לספת, a simple verb). For example: תוסיף לי בבקשה קצת טחינה לפלאפל. Add some tahini to my falafel please. Now, this is to add in the general sense. But if we’re talking about addition in the arithmetic sense, the expression is…

אָדָם עֶרְכִּי This phrase is fairly common in Israel – אדם ערכי, a person of values or a value-based person. It’s similar in meaning to אדם איכותי – a quality person. More than one אדם ערכי are אנשים ערכיים. For example: אנחנו מחפשים אנשים ערכיים להדריך נוער בסיכון. We are looking for value-based people to…