Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/שמש-שקרנית-#.m4a” /]שֶׁמֶשׁ שַׁקְרָנִית The icon for the sun today on the Jerusalem weather app, ירושמיים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/שמש-שקרנית-#.m4a” /], is pale blue. Had I taken this screenshot yesterday, you would have seen the text שמש שקרנית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/שמש-שקרנית-#.m4a” /] – a lying sun – next to the icon (now it says שמשי, פחות קר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/שמש-שקרנית-#.m4a” /] –…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ברירת-מחדל-#.m4a” /]בְּרֵירַת מֶחְדָּל, דִּיפוֹלְט While Israelis certainly use דיפולט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ברירת-מחדל-#.m4a” /] to mean default, there’s also the properly-Hebrew expression, ברירת מחדל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ברירת-מחדל-#.m4a” /] – literally, option of lack of action – since the default is what happens when we don’t take action. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ברירת-מחדל-#.m4a” /]צבע ברירת המחדל של הרקע הוא לבן. The default…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/נכוויתי-#.m4a” /]נִכְוֵויתִי, נִשְׂרַפְתִּי While the נפעל verb להישרף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/נכוויתי-#.m4a” /] means to get burned in the sense of being consumed by flames, להיכוות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/נכוויתי-#.m4a” /] – also a נפעל verb – means to get burned by something very hot other than fire, such as: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/נכוויתי-#.m4a” /]נגעתי בטעות ברדיאטור ונכוויתי. I touched the radiator by…

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/לבד-#.m4a” /]לְבַד The basic word for alone is לבד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/לבד-#.m4a” /], as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/לבד-#.m4a” /]השאירו אותו לבד בבית. They left him home alone (alone, at home). If you’re writing something a bit flowery, you might want to pin an ending on לבד as in: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/לבד-#.m4a” /]כל אנשי הצוות המקוריים עזבו, והיא נותרה לבדה….