Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בקבוקי-מים-1.m4a” /]בַּקְבּוּקֵי מַיִם Some Hebrew words are onomatopoeias – they’re named after the sound they make. One such word is בקבוק[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בקבוקי-מים-2.m4a” /]. Imagine pouring a lot of wine and you’ll understand what I mean. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/בקבוקי-מים-3.m4a” /]כשמטיילים, חשוב להביא בקבוק מים. When (you) hike, it’s important to take a bottle of water. Bottles…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/יהיה-כיף-1.m4a” /]יִהְיֶה כֵּיף A few months ago a video went viral in Israel, crossing all cultural, religious and political barriers. Sung by an Arab schoolteacher in Taibeh along with her young Hebrew-language learners, the words to the song featured in the video go: גשם, גשם מטפטף! [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/יהיה-כיף-2.m4a” /]גשם, גשם, איזה כיף! Rain, rain dripping! Rain, rain,…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מסע-1.m4a” /]מַסָּע If you’ve traveled anywhere in the world, you have probably met an Israeli traveling too. Israelis love to travel. The Hebrew word for to travel when on vacation is לטייל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מסע-2.m4a” /]. But the generic word for to travel is לנסוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מסע-3.m4a” /]. And while in modern times לנסוע refers to travel by vehicle, in Biblical times it meant simply 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!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קר-שם-1.m4a” /]קָר שָׁם Though summer is approaching in the northern hemisphere, there are places on earth where it’s pretty cold. If you’ve got even the most basic Hebrew under your belt, you probably know the word for cold – קר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/קר-שם-2.m4a” /]. To say it’s cold there, you might try translating literally from English, coming up with…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/תנאים-1.m4a” /]תְנָאִים “Sure, you can join. On one condition…” The Hebrew word for condition is תנאי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/תנאים-2.m4a” /], so that the sentence above reads: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/תנאים-3.m4a” /]בטח, אתה יכול להצטרף, בתנאי אחד… …assuming it’s a male being spoken to. תנאי first appears in Mishnaic Hebrew. Its plural is תנאים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/תנאים-1.m4a” /], in the connected (construct) state…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להצטרף-1.m4a” /]לְהִצְטָרֵף Tal, a teenager, is going hiking with a few friends. He calls up his younger cousin Shimon and says: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להצטרף-2.m4a” /]אתה רוצה להצטרף אלינו? Do you want to join us? The word להצטרף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להצטרף-1.m4a” /] – to join – is a reflexive verb of the root צ.ר.פ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להצטרף-3.m4a” /] meaning to meld together, to…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רכס-הרים-1.m4a” /]רֶכֶס הָרִים The Alps, the Carpathians and the Himalayas are all mountain ranges. In Hebrew, each is a רכס הרים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רכס-הרים-1.m4a” /], where רכס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רכס-הרים-2.m4a” /] means range and הרים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רכס-הרים-3.m4a” /] are mountains. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רכס-הרים-4.m4a” /]גם הרכמל נחשב רכס הרים. The Carmel is also considered a mountain range. Mountain ranges are רכסי הרים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/רכס-הרים-5.m4a” /].

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לטפס-1.m4a” /]לְטַפֵּס One of my Arik Einstein favorites, אוהב להיות בבית [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לטפס-2.m4a” /] (I Like to Be Home) is a gem of a song for people looking to get a sense of Hebrew’s so-called present tense (I say so-called, because really such “present-tense verbs” in Hebrew are participles). The song begins: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/לטפס-3.m4a” /]יש אנשים שמטפסים…

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/נפש-האדם-1.m4a” /]נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם In English the word mind usually conjures up thought and cognitive processes. But the human mind is more than that: it includes emotions, aspirations, memories. It might even be considered the individual or the soul, which is why Hebrew uses the word נפש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נפש-האדם-2.m4a” /] to refer to it. For example, בריאות הנפש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/נפש-האדם-3.m4a” /]…