Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

  סַמִּים  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The Modern-Hebrew word for drugs is סַמִּים  listen and repeat, while one drug is סַם  listen and repeat. These refer to street drugs only – the word for medicine is תְּרוּפָה  listen and repeat.   For example:   סַמִּים בְּדֶרֶךְ כְּלָל מְמַכְּרִים. (Street) drugs are usually addictive….

  מָחֳרָתַיִם  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     If you’ve got some basic Hebrew, you know that the word for tomorrow is מָחָר  listen and repeat.    But you may not know that there’s a special word for the day after tomorrow: מָחֳרָתַיִם  listen and repeat.   For example:   מָחֳרָתַיִם כְּבָר פּוּרִים! Two…

  מִשְׁקוֹלוֹת  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Modern Israel’s currency is the New Shekel – הַשֶּׂקֶל הֶחָדָשׁ  listen and repeat, but the word שֶׁקֶל  listen and repeat goes way back to Biblical times, when it referred to the value of a gold or silver coin based on its weight.    The root שׁ.ק.ל (sh.k.l)…

  מִלּוּי, סְתִימָה  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     With Purim coming up, some of you may already be thinking about those special holiday cookies, hamentaschen (Yiddish, literally, Haman’s pockets) – in Hebrew, אָזְנֵי הָמָן  listen and repeat (literally, Haman’s ears) and the various fillings they come with.   The Hebrew word for filling when…

  בּוֹ זְמַנִּית, בַּד בְּבַד  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     While Israelis sometimes say בְּאֹפֶן סִימוּלְטָנִי  listen and repeat to express simultaneously or at the same time, they’re also likely to use the expression בּוֹ זְמַנִּית  listen and repeat – literally, at that moment. Likewise, בּוֹ-זְמַנִּי  listen and repeat means simultaneous.   For example:   הוּא מְסֻגָּל לְנַגֵּן…

  מִצַּד שֵׁנִי, לְעֻמַּת זֹאת  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     On the one hand, the snow is pretty. But on the other hand, it’s cold and I prefer warmth.   English uses the metaphor of hands to speak about the two sides of a dilemma. Hebrew uses sides:   מִצַּד אֶחָד –…

  תַּשְׁבֵּץ  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The root שׁ.ב.צ (sh.b.ts) means checkered or plaited.   Thus a slot on a calendar is called a מִשְׁבֶּצֶת  listen and repeat, and an informal way of saying to book an appointment is לְשַׁבֵּץ פְּגִישָׁה  listen and repeat.   For example:   שִׁבַּצְתִּי אֶת הַפְּגִישָׁה שֶׁלָּךְ…

  סֶרֶט תִּעוּדִי  listen and repeat Can’t read Hebrew yet?     A film is a סֶרֶט  listen and repeat, invoking the Biblical Hebrew word for ribbon (film fed through a projector is a ribbon).   And while a (male) witness is an עֵד  listen and repeat, documentation – the written account of that which is witnessed…