Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טרי-1.m4a” /]טָרִי Although you might have eaten at a restaurant in Jerusalem called פרש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טרי-2.m4a” /], the true Hebrew word for fresh is טרי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טרי-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/טרי-3.m4a” /]בשוק מחנה יהודה קונים ירקות טריים וטעימים. At the Mahane Yehuda market, (you can) buy fresh, tasty vegetables. There, you a seller might try to…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ביתי-1.m4a” /]בֵּיתִי If you’ve had even minimal contact with Hebrew or the Jewish world, the word בית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ביתי-2.m4a” /] (in the construct state, pronounced beit) probably sounds familiar to you. It means house or home. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ביתי-3.m4a” /]ברוכים הבאים לבית שלי. Welcome to my home. By extension, something homemade is ביתי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ביתי-1.m4a” /] in the masculine and ביתית[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/ליבה-1.m4a” /]לִבָּה The English word core comes from the French coeur meaning heart. Thus the Hebrew word for core – ליבה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ליבה-1.m4a” /] – makes sense, as it is derived from לב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ליבה-2.m4a” /] – heart. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ליבה-3.m4a” /]חשבון ואנגלית הם מקצועות ליבה. Arithmetic and English are core subject. and [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ליבה-4.m4a” /]היא עושה אימון ליבה פעמיים בשבוע….

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עלי-1.m4a” /]עָלַי! An essential Hebrew preposition is על[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עלי-2.m4a” /] – on, as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עלי-9.m4a” /]שב על התחת! Sit on your butt! (to a boy) על can be found everywhere in Hebrew texts from biblical to modern. Its more ancient full version עלי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/עלי-3.m4a” /] appears in its pure form only in poetry. But in…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/סיבולת-לב-ריאה-1.m4a” /]סִבֹּלֶת לֵב-רֵאָה The Hebrew expression סיבולת לב-ריאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/סיבולת-לב-ריאה-1.m4a” /] is a lot longer than cardio, but looks can be deceiving: cardio is a shortened version of cardio-vascular exercise. סיבולת לב-ריאה translates literally as heart-lung endurance, where סיבולת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/סיבולת-לב-ריאה-2.m4a” /] means endurance, לב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/סיבולת-לב-ריאה-3.m4a” /] means heart and ריאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/סיבולת-לב-ריאה-4.m4a” /] means lung (lungs are ריאות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/סיבולת-לב-ריאה-5.m4a” /]). For example: [audioclip…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתנשף-1.m4a” /]לְהִתְנַשֵּׁף You may know the Hebrew word for to breathe – לנשום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתנשף-2.m4a” /]. More specifically, to exhale is לנשוף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתנשף-3.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתנשף-4.m4a” /]לשאוף, לנשוף… Inhale, exhale… When someone breathes heavily, people around them hear them exhale. To breathe heavily or to pant is להתנשף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתנשף-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתנשף-5.m4a” /]אם אתה מתנשף, סימן שאתה…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתאמן-1.m4a” /]לְהִתְאַמֵּן Last Friday, the streets of Jerusalem were closed to traffic and, instead, open to thousands of runners and spectators participating in the Jerusalem Marathon (we at Ulpan La-Inyan proudly support AACI’s Shira Pransky Project). The Hebrew word for to work out is the reflexive verb להתאמן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתאמן-1.m4a” /] – literally, to train. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/להתאמן-2.m4a” /]הוא מתאמן שלוש…

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/דוגרי-1.m4a” /]דּוּגְרִי Here’s another word that arrived in Hebrew via a foreign language: the slang word דוגרי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/דוגרי-1.m4a” /], straight up or direct. It originated in Turkish (doğru meaning right or correct), traveled south and came to Hebrew via the local Arabic word دُغْرِيّ (dughri) meaning straight (this I learned in a cab with an Arab driver). Imagine you’re an…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-1.m4a” /]מְנֻמָּס Some might scoff and say there’s no word in Hebrew for polite. And, in a way, they’d be right, since the word מנומס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-1.m4a” /] – polite – comes to Hebrew via the Greek word νομος (nomos) meaning law or custom. Thus manners in Hebrew are נימוסים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-2.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/מנומס-3.m4a” /]אין להם נימוסים. They have no manners. Here’s מנומס…