Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשקות-1.m4a” /]לְהַשְׁקוֹת אֶת הַפְּרָחִים The simple word for a drink in Hebrew is שתייה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשקות-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשקות-3.m4a” /]בא לי שתייה קרה. I feel like (having) a cold drink. But a higher-register word, corresponding to the English beverage, is משקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשקות-4.m4a” /], of the root ש.ק.ה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להשקות-5.m4a” /] – drink. This root also plugs…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מתבייש-1.m4a” /]מִתְבַּיֵּשׁ The Hebrew word for shame is בושה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מתבייש-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מתבייש-3.m4a” /]בושה וחרפה. A disgrace. (literally, shame and dishonor) בושה also means embarrassment, with its root ב.ו.ש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מתבייש-4.m4a” /] (interchangeable with ב.י.ש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מתבייש-5.m4a” /]) plugging into the reflexive-intensive התפעל verb form, producing להתבייש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מתבייש-6.m4a” /] – to be embarrassed. For example, a Bar…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טובה-1.m4a” /]אֲנִי צָרִיךְ מִמְּךָ טוֹבָה The Hebrew word for favor is טובה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טובה-2.m4a” /] – literally, a good. This Biblical-Hebrew word is the original good deed, before מצווה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טובה-3.m4a” /] – mitzvah usurped that title. (For the record, מצווה means literally commandment, not good deed.) For example, a man needing to borrow money might say to his friend: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טובה-4.m4a” /]אני…

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! =”410″> Flashcards . Scatter . Gravity . Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-1.m4a” /]עָשָׁן Smoking, in Hebrew, is עישון[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-3.m4a” /]העישון אסור. No smoking. (literally, the smoking is forbidden) עישון comes from לעשן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-4.m4a” /], an active-intensive פיעל verb deriving from the word עשן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-1.m4a” /] – smoke. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עשן-5.m4a” /]יש פה ריח של עשן. It smells like smoke here.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-1.m4a” /]לִמְשׁוֹךְ To pull might include pulling something physical, such as a door with a sign on it: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-2.m4a” /]משוך!  Pull! …or something non-physical such as attention – to attract. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-3.m4a” /]היא מושכת את תשומת הלב של כולם. She attracts everyone’s attention. Thus attraction is משיכה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/למשוך-4.m4a” /]… as in gravity, as…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-1.m4a” /]לְשַׁחְרֵר The word לשחרר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-1.m4a” /] is all about freedom and liberation, deriving from the root ח.ו.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-2.m4a” /] as in בן חורין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לשחרר-3.m4a” /] – free person. לשחרר means to release, to liberate, to let go. Here’s an illustration of the concept (in English) from the 1991 version of Father of the Bride. It’s also used colloquially…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-1.m4a” /]מִכְסֶה, כִּסּוּי No, this is not about a cover song – that’s קאוור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-2.m4a” /] (also called by the rare academician, גרסת כיסוי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-3.m4a” /]). This post is about the cover of a pot or a car – otherwise known as a lid or a hood. The word for these is מכסה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-4.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מכסה-5.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-1.m4a” /]מָנוֹעַ Though in English an engine and engineering come from the same root, in Hebrew this is not the case. While the profession of egineering is הנדסה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-2.m4a” /] and an engineer is a מהנדס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-3.m4a” /] (a male) or מהנדסת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנוע-4.m4a” /] (a female), an engine or a motor is a מנוע. While the הנדסה probably derives from…

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/הלוך-ושוב-1.m4a” /]הָלוֹך וָשׁוֹב, הָלוֹך חָזוֹר When you get on the bus in Israel and want to ask for a round-trip ticket, you should say: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-2.m4a” /]כרטיס הלוך ושוב, בבקשה. A round-trip ticket, please. “בבקשה”[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-3.m4a” /] is optional. הלוך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-4.m4a” /] means going, and ושוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הלוך-ושוב-5.m4a” /] means and returning. But you could also use a…