Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להיות-1.m4a” /]לִהְיוֹת Hebrew doesn’t have words for is, are and am – forms of to be – so that she is tall gets translated to היא גבוהה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להיות-2.m4a” /] – literally, she tall. To be itself, however, does have a Hebrew equivalent: להיות. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להיות-3.m4a” /]מחר אנחנו צריכים להיות שם בשעה עשר. Tomorrow we need to…

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/לעוף-לטוס-1.m4a” /]לָעוּף, לָטוּס How do you say to fly in Hebrew? Depend on who’s flying. If it’s a bird or another organism, the word is לעוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לעוף-לטוס-2.m4a” /]. For example:   [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לעוף-לטוס-3.m4a” /]עוף, גוזל. Fly away, little bird. But if what’s flying (or the one doing the work involved in flying) is an inanimate object,…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להכניס-1.m4a” /]לְהַכְנִיס אֶת הַדֹּאַר Yesterday we saw that להשקות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להכניס-2.m4a” /] means to water or to cause to drink. Hebrew does the same with the root כ.נ.ס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להכניס-3.m4a” /] meaning gather, using the active-causative הפעיל verb form to yield להכניס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להכניס-4.m4a” /] – to take in or to bring in. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להכניס-5.m4a” /]תעשי לי טובה, תכניסי הביתה את…

[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…