Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ניחוח-1.m4a” /]אָרוֹמָה, נִיחוֹחַ Anyone who’s spent more than a week in Israel probably knows the cafe chain ארומה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ניחוח-2.m4a” /], which means… you guessed it, aroma, which came to English via Greek. But there’s another word, an authentic Hebrew one, for aroma or scent that appears in the Bible: ניחוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ניחוח-3.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ניחוח-4.m4a” /]יש…

Note: the other day I taught that אונייה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/יסמין-3.m4a” /] and ספינה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/יסמין-4.m4a” /] were interchangeable words for ship. It turns out that אונייה refers to a larger ship and ספינה to a smaller one. [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/יסמין-1.m4a” /]יַסְמִין The jasmine flower is named after a perfume from the Persian empire: jasmine – in Hebrew, יסמין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/יסמין-1.m4a” /] – originates…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-1.m4a” /]רֵיחַ The basic Hebrew word for a smell is ריח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-1.m4a” /]. The ריח can be pleasant: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-2.m4a” /]על טעם וריח אין להתווכח. You can’t argue about (personal) taste and smell. Or it could be nasty: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ריח-3.m4a” /]יש כאן ריח של דג רקוב. There’s a smell here of rotten fish. And to smell?…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רקוב-1.m4a” /]רָקוּב Even the word itself sounds kind of rotten: רקוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רקוב-1.m4a” /]. Here’s the word in action: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רקוב-2.m4a” /]זרוק לפח את הבננות – הן רקובות. Throw the bananas into the garbage – they’re rotten. (spoken to a male) To rot is להירקב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רקוב-3.m4a” /], a nifal verb. This is one of many…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לזרוק-1.m4a” /]לִזְרוֹק Unlike some actions, such as to print – להדפיס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לזרוק-2.m4a” /] – that came into existence only in the modern era, to throw throws us back to Biblical times: לזרוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לזרוק-1.m4a” /] appears already in ספר שמות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לזרוק-3.m4a” /] – the Book of Exodus. Here’s a Modern-Hebrew example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לזרוק-4.m4a” /]זרוק את הכדור! Throw…

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-1.mp3″ /] Review Material Can’t read Hebrew yet? You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep.  Flashcards . Scatter . Gravity . Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אונייה-1.m4a” /]אֳנִיָּה, סְפִינָה Hebrew has two words for ship, both appearing in Biblical Hebrew: אונייה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אונייה-2.m4a” /] and ספינה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אונייה-3.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אונייה-4.m4a” /]לחברת השייט הזאת יש עשר אונייות נוסעים. This cruise company has ten passenger ships. and [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אונייה-5.m4a” /]הוא שירת בחיל הים בספינת טילים. He served in the navy on a…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נמל-1.m4a” /]נָמֵל While Israelis usually refer to an airport as שדה תעופה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נמל-2.m4a” /], this means literally airfield. The proper term for airport is נמל תעופה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נמל-3.m4a” /] – literally, port of flight. The word נמֵל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נמל-1.m4a” /] (more commonly pronounced נמָל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נמל-4.m4a” /]) means port. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נמל-5.m4a” /]נמל תל אביב הוא מקום הומה אדם. Tel Aviv…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הומה-אדם-1.m4a” /]הוֹמֶה אָדָם Yesterday we saw a Hebrew word for crowded or dense – צפוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הומה-אדם-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הומה-אדם-3.m4a” /]אנחנו לא אוהבים את המסעדה כי היא תמיד צפופה. We don’t like the restaurant because it’s always crowded. Now, Israelis use צפוף to mean crowded in a negative sense, or at best, in a neutral sense. But…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צפיפות-1.m4a” /]צְפִיפוּת One of the Hebrew words for crowded is צפוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צפיפות-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צפיפות-3.m4a” /]צפוף מאוד ברכבת התחתית. It’s very crowded in the subway. Likewise, crowdedness (also the physics term in Hebrew for density) is צפיפות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צפיפות-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צפיפות-4.m4a” /]צפיפות יתר מהווה בעיה של העידן המודרני. Overcrowdedness constitutes a problem of the…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אכילת-יתר-1.m4a” /]אֲכִילַת יֶתֶר Hebrew doesn’t have a verb like the English to overeat. Instead, Israelis are wont to say: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אכילת-יתר-2.m4a” /]אכלתי יותר מדי. I ate too much. But there is a word for overeating the thing: אכילת יתר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אכילת-יתר-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/אכילת-יתר-3.m4a” /]אכילת יתר יכולה להגיע להתמכרות. Overeating can become (arrive at) addiction.