Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

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 Game Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

מוֹשֵׁךְ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-1.mp3″ /] Hebrew borrows lots of words from English and the Romance languages, such as telephone – טֶלֶפוֹן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-2.mp3″ /], function – פוּנְקְצְיָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-3.mp3″ /], and metaphor – מֶטָפוֹרָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מושך-4.mp3″ /]. In all these cases, the meaning is the same in both English and Hebrew. In the case of the word attractive – imported…

טֶלֶפוֹן חָכָם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סמארטפון-1.mp3″ /] You’re likely to hear Israelis referring to their Apple or Android devices as סְמַארְטְפוֹנִים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סמארטפון-2.mp3″ /]. But more and more you’re like to also hear a smartphone referred to as טֶלֶפוֹן חָכָם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סמארטפון-1.mp3″ /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סמארטפון-3.mp3″ /]רַק לְהַיּוֹם, מִבְצַע עַל כָּל הַטֶּלֶפוֹנִים הַחֲכָמִים. For today only, a sale on all…

חֵרֶם, לְהַחֲרִים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חרם-1.wav” /] The English word boycott is named for a 19th-century Irishman, Charles C. Boycott, who was ostracized after refusing to lower rent for his tenant farmers (see Online Etymological Dictionary). The Hebrew word for this social (or antisocial) action goes further back, all the way to the Bible. The word is חֵרֶם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/חרם-2.wav”…

טֶלֶפוֹן נַיָּח, טֶלֶפוֹן קַוִּי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נייח-1.wav” /] More and more people don’t these anymore, but many still do, so it’s worth an entry. While a mobile phone is a טֶלֶפוֹן נַיָּד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נייח-2.wav” /], a land line is called either a טלפון נַיָּח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נייח-3.wav” /] – literally, stationary phone, or טלפון קַוִּי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נייח-4.wav” /] – a line or wire…

רַע, גָּרוּעַ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רע-1.mp3″ /] I tend to veer away from presenting negative doses of Hebrew so as not to ruin your day, but this one’s far too שִׁמּוּשִׁי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רע-2.mp3″ /] – useful – to hold back from. The basic Hebrew word for bad is רַע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רע-3.mp3″ /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רע-4.mp3″ /]הוּא יֶלֶד רַע. He’s…

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 Game Test [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/review-2.mp3″ /]שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

הָעֲלִילָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עלילה-1.mp3″ /]   With the action heating up in the Torah portions, I figure that now’s a good time to introduce the Modern-Hebrew word for a story’s plot – עֲלִילָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עלילה-2.mp3″ /]. To be sure, עלילה comes from Biblical Hebrew, where it means deed and wantonness. But Modern Hebrew lowers the flames on this…

הַלַּהֲקָה הָאֲהוּבָה עָלַי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להקה-1.mp3″ /] The English word for band (something bonded), in the interpersonal sense, might refer to a group of brothers, a group of thieves or a group of musicians playing in sync. Hebrew’s got a parallel word – לַהֲקָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להקה-2.mp3″ /] – that has been used since biblical times, where לַהֲקוֹת נְבִיאִים[audioclip…

נְתוּנִים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/נתונים-1.mp3″ /] I remember from high-school geometry that we had to rely on the givens to solve or a problem or to prove something. With my family’s moving to Israel and then back to the States, I benefited from taking geometry twice, thus learning the terms in both languages. Givens in Hebrew is a…

עֲסִיסִי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עסיסי-1.mp3″ /] The Modern-Hebrew word for juice, מִיץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עסיסי-2.mp3″ /], came into being relatively late. In Biblical Hebrew, sweet wine (the closest thing to juice) is called עָסִיס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עסיסי-3.mp3″ /], while in Mishnaic Hebrew, fruit juice is מֵי פֵּרוֹת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/עסיסי-4.mp3″ /] – literally, water of fruit. To express the idea of juicy (both physically…