Blog – Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

  שָׁנָה טוֹבָה!   Can’t read Hebrew yet?   Watch the video for translation and more.    

  סְגִירַת מַעֲגָל   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Tomorrow evening, Jews around the world will be celebrating רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה   – Rosh Hashana, the head of the year – thus coming full circle seasonally and religiously.   The Hebrew expression for coming full circle borrows from applied physics, where a closed circuit is a מַעֲגָל סָגוּר  .  …

  כּוֹתֶרֶת   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The word title has a few meanings in English. Here I’ll focus on the one that you find on the cover of a book or at the top of a newspaper article… also called a headline.   The word is כּוֹתֶרֶת  , whose root is the letters…

  לֶאֱכוֹל אֶת הָעוּגָה וּלְהַשְׁאִיר אֹתָהּ שְׁלֵמָה   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Sometimes we want it all. But you can’t have your cake and eat it too… or   אִי אֶפְשָׁר לֶאֱכוֹל אֶת הָעוּגָה וּלְהַשְׁאִיר אֹתָהּ שְׁלֵמָה. Literally – It’s not possible to eat the cake and leave it complete.     Broken down:…

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן 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   Game   Test       שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם, וְסוֹף שָׁבוּעַ נָעִים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!  

  זִכּוּי כַּסְפִּי   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     If you’re not happy with a product you bought in Israel, you’ll find many shops reluctant to give a refund, but happy to give store credit.   The term for such credit is זִכּוּי כַּסְפִּי   (literally, monetary credit) or simply זיכוי  , of the root…

  הֶחְזֵר כַּסְפִּי   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     A refund in Hebrew is הֶחְזֵר כַּסְפִּי   – literally, a returning of funds. But more often than not, you’ll hear people abbreviating the expression to simply החזר  .   For example:   תִּרְאִי אִם תּוּכְלִי לְקַבֵּל הֶחְזֵר מֵהַחֲנוּת. See if you can get a refund from…

  לָשִׂים   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     The word לָשִׂים   – to put or to place – is a simple verb of the hollow variety, of the root שׂ.י.מ (s.y.m).   For example:   שִׂימִי אֶת הַשַּׂקִּיּוֹת עַל הַשֻּׁלְחָן. Put the bags on the table. (to a female)     This word is at least as old…

  סַל, סַלְסִלָּה, טֶנֶא   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Hebrew has several words for basket, each with a distinct meaning:   1. סל   סַל   is your typical weaved basket that can hold several kilos of fruit and other items. A metaphoric usage familiar to those of you who have made aliyah (immigrated…

  שַׂקִּית   Can’t read Hebrew yet?     Hebrew has different words for the various types of bags, but we’ll focus here on the ones you find at (or bring to) the supermarket or the department store.   The Modern-Hebrew word for this modern invention is שַׂקִּית  . The word derives from the Biblical…