Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-1.m4a” /]פַּח The common Modern Hebrew word for garbage or rubbish is זבל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-3.m4a” /]דני, תוציא את הזבל! Danny, take out the garbage! But historically, זבל referred specifically to fertilizer of animal droppings. The more generic term for waste, from Biblical times and on, is אשפה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-4.m4a” /]. Then there’s פח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/פח-1.m4a” /], which…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-1.m4a” /]כֵּלִים The Hebrew word for dishes is כלים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-2.m4a” /]אני לא שומע אותך, אני שוטף כלים. I (a male) can’t hear you (a female), I’m washing (the) dishes. But כלים means dishes only in the plural. In the singular, כלי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כלים-3.m4a” /] means vessel or tool, and is often used in conjunction with…

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/בדיחה-1.m4a” /]בְּדִיחָה While to laugh is לצחוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-2.m4a” /], a joke is בדיחה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-3.m4a” /]באופן מפתיע, היא פרצה בצחוק מהבדיחה שלי. Surprisingly, she burst out laughing from my joke. בדיחה came to Hebrew via Aramaic, where in the Talmud we have the expression מילתא דבדיחותא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בדיחה-4.m4a” /] – words of entertainment.

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-1.m4a” /]בְּאֹפֶן מַפְתִּיעַ You may know the Hebrew word for a surprise – הפתעה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-3.m4a” /]עשינו לו מסיבת הפתעה. We made him a surprise party.  הפתעה comes from the active-causative הפעיל verb להפתיע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-5.m4a” /] – to surprise, so that surprising is מפתיע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/באופן-מפתיע-6.m4a” /]. One way to add the equivalent of -ly to Hebrew…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-1.m4a” /]מִשְֹחַק יְלָדִים As the 2017 version of the movie It (in Hebrew, זה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-2.m4a” /]) has generated clown terror around the world with Israel being no exception, I’ll take this opportunity to remind at least some of you of another movie from about 30 years ago: Child’s Play, rendered in Hebrew as משחק ילדים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/משחק-ילדים-1.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-1.m4a” /]מֶטֶאוֹרוֹלוֹגְיָה, חַזָּאוּת As with other sciences, Hebrew uses the international word for meteorology (weather forecasting): מטאורולוגיה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-3.m4a” /]היא הלכה ללמוד מטאורולוגיה באוניברסיטה העברית. She went to study meteorology at the Hebrew University. But there’s also a proper Hebrew term: חזאות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-4.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/חזאות-5.m4a” /]המילה “מטאורולוגיה”, בעברית…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-1.m4a” /]עִבְרִית טְהוֹרָה The Academy of the Hebrew Language makes an effort to introduce pure Hebrew words for otherwise foreign words that Hebrew speakers tend to use. Here’s a complete list. Some of these have caught on: analysis (אנליזה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-2.m4a” /]) became ניתוח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-3.m4a” /], arena (ארנה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-4.m4a” /]) became זירה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-5.m4a” /], and absolute (אבסולוטי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עברית-טהורה-6.m4a” /]) became מוחלט[audioclip…

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/כביש-מתפתל-1.m4a” /]כְּבִישׁ מִתְפַּתֵּל While רחוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-2.m4a” /] is street, כביש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-3.m4a” /] is road. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-4.m4a” /]לא הולכים ברגל בכביש המהיר. (You/they/we) don’t walk on the highway (fast road).  A winding road is כביש מתפתל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-1.m4a” /], where מתפתל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-5.m4a” /] comes form the reflexive התפעל verb להתפתל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-6.m4a” /] of the root פ.ת.ל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/כביש-מתפתל-7.m4a” /]….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הבא-1.m4a” /]הַבָּא If you’ve taken our Level 1 course, you know the Hebrew word for to come – לבוא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הבא-2.m4a” /], a simple hollow verb of the root ב.ו.א[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הבא-3.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/הבא-4.m4a” /]אתם רוצים לבוא איתנו? Do you guys want to come with us? Using this word, Hebrew expresses the idea of next…