Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסקה-1.m4a” /]פִּסְקָה, קֶטַע Most Israelis are likely to use the word קטע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסקה-2.m4a” /] to refer to a paragraph. The word means literally, section or part. It also means something to the effect of riot as in the exclamation איזה קטע![audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסקה-3.m4a” /] – What a riot! Another word for paragraph is פסקה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פסקה-5.m4a” /]. You may recognize the root…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-שאלה-1.m4a” /]סִימַן שְׁאֵלָה An exclamation point or exclamation mark in Hebrew is סימן קריאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-שאלה-2.m4a” /]. Likewise, a question mark is סימן שאלה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-שאלה-1.m4a” /]. Sometimes both marks are used together, as in: The term is used literally as well as figuratively: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-שאלה-3.m4a” /]אחרי השערוריה, האמינות של כל הפוליטיקאים בסימן שאלה. After the scandal, the reliability of all the…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-קריאה-1.m4a” /]סִימַן קְרִיאָה The Hebrew term for exclamation point or exclamation mark is סימן קריאה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-קריאה-1.m4a” /] – literally, mark of calling out. The term harks back to the original meaning of the simple verb לקרוא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/סימן-קריאה-2.m4a” /] – to call out. The word took on the meaning of to read when those few scholars who were literate would read texts out loud…

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″ /]שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להוריד-1.m4a” /]לְהוֹרִיד The Hebrew root י.ר.ד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להוריד-2.m4a” /] means going down. Plugged into the active-causative form, the root yields the word להוריד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להוריד-1.m4a” /] – to take down or to lower. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להוריד-3.m4a” /]תוריד את הווליום! Lower the volume! (to a male) Another way of saying the same thing is תנמיך את הווליום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/להוריד-4.m4a” /]. With the…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-עד-סוף-דעתו-1.m4a” /]לָרֶדֶת עַד סוֹף דַּעְתּוֹ This week we’ve seen several expressions with לרדת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-עד-סוף-דעתו-2.m4a” /] – to get off: לרדת מהאוטובוס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-עד-סוף-דעתו-3.m4a” /] – to get off the bus לרדת מנושא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-עד-סוף-דעתו-4.m4a” /] – to drop a subject/topic לרדת מהעץ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-עד-סוף-דעתו-5.m4a” /] – to get off one’s high horse (literally, to get off the tree) One more expression with…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-1.m4a” /]רֵד מֵהָעֵץ We’ve seen that the word לרדת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-2.m4a” /] means to get off, as in לרדת מהאוטובוס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-3.m4a” /] – to get off the bus. In the imperative – get off! – this is רד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-4.m4a” /] when speaking to a male, רדי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-5.m4a” /] to a female and רדו[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-6.m4a” /] to a group. לרדת מנושא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/רד-מהעץ-7.m4a”…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-מהאוטובוס-1.m4a” /]לָרֶדֶת מֵהָאוֹטוֹבוּס The Hebrew word לרדת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-מהאוטובוס-2.m4a” /], whose root is י.ר.ד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-מהאוטובוס-3.m4a” /], means to go down. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-מהאוטובוס-4.m4a” /]ירדנו לים המלח. We went down to the Dead Sea. לרדת is also used to mean to get off, so that to get off the bus is לרדת מהאוטובוס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/לרדת-מהאוטובוס-1.m4a” /]. Thus if the stop button…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ירידה-בטמפרטורות-1.m4a” /]יְרִידָה בַּטֶּמְפֶּרָטוּרוֹת There is a proper Hebrew term for temperature. It’s a logical one: דרגת חום[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ירידה-בטמפרטורות-2.m4a” /] – literally, degree of heat. But what you’ll hear on the weather report is the Hebrew word borrowed from the Latin through European languages: טמפרטורה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ירידה-בטמפרטורות-3.m4a” /]. A drop in temperatures is ירידה בטמפרטורות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ירידה-בטמפרטורות-1.m4a” /]. The word ירידה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ירידה-בטמפרטורות-4.m4a” /], a decline,…

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″ /]שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/משמעותי-1.m4a” /]מַשְׁמָעוּתִי The Hebrew word משמעות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/משמעותי-2.m4a” /] – significance – comes from the word משמע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/משמעותי-3.m4a” /], which means meaning. משמע itself comes from the root ש.מ.ע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/משמעותי-4.m4a” /] meaning hearing: an idea becomes meaningful when we first hear it (or see it in print, now that most Westerners can read) – only then can we internalize it. For example,…