Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/לפרוח-#.m4a” /]לִפְרוֹחַ If you’ve got some basic Hebrew (or have studied at an Israeli university and received a scholarship for tutoring via the program of this name), you probably know the word for flower – פרח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/לפרוח-#.m4a” /]. To flower or to blossom/bloom is the simple verb לפרוח. For example, you may recall the ט”ו בשבט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/לפרוח-#.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמיא-#.m4a” /]מַחְמִיא לְךָ We’ve seen that the word for compliment in Hebrew is מחמאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמיא-#.m4a” /]. To pay a compliment is either לתת מחמאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמיא-#.m4a” /] – literally, to give a compliment, or the הפעיל verb להחמיא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמיא-#.m4a” /], for example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמיא-#.m4a” /]תחמיא לי, דוד. Give me a compliment, David. But להחמיא is not just…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמאה-#.m4a” /]מַחְמָאָה The Hebrew word for compliment – מחמאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמאה-#.m4a” /] – comes from the word חמאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמאה-#.m4a” /] meaning butter. מחמאה appears (in the plural) in a Biblical verse (Psalms 55:22) where it means of butter but has been mistaken to mean compliment. Basically, the word מחמאה was born by mistake.  מחמאות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/מחמאה-#.m4a” /] – compliments – can…

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…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/העלאה-#.m4a” /]הַעֲלָאָה The word עלייה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/העלאה-#.m4a” /] means ascent. When someone immigrates to Israel, they’re said to ascend, so their process is called עלייה. Now, עלייה is a noun form of לעלות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/העלאה-#.m4a” /], a simple פעל verb meaning to ascend or to go up. But to cause something to go up – to raise it – is להעלות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/העלאה-#.m4a” /],…