Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

צַעַד צַעַד The Hebrew expression for one at a time is אחד אחד – literally, one one. For example: הילדים נכנסו לכיתה אחד אחד. The children entered the classroom one at a time. Now suppose you want to say something like one step at a time. That’s צעד צעד – literally, step step. For example: למה אתם ממהרים עם […]

פִּתְרוֹן If you’ve spent even a little time in Israel, you probably know the expression אין בעיה – no problem! While בעיה means problem, פתרון (pronounced correctly as means פִּתְרון and almost unanimously as פִּתָּרון) means solution. For example: לאכילת היתר של ראש השנה יש פתרון מצויין – יום כיפור. For the overeating of Rosh Hashanah there […]

קָבַעְנוּ I use date not only in the romantic sense, but also in the broader sense to include things like lunch dates and play dates. To say it’s a date in Hebrew, use the word קבענו – literally, we’ve set. For example: יום שלישי בקפה גרג בקניון הדר – קבענו! Tuesday at Cafe Greg at the Hadar Mall – […]

לָלֶכֶת לְבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת, לְהִתְפַּלֵּל The literal meaning of to go to synagogue (or shul, as many Jews say) in Hebrew is ללכת לבית הכנסת. For example: אנחנו הולכים לבית הכנסת בעוד שעה. We’re going to shul in an hour. בית הכנסת means the synagogue, while בית כנסת means just synagogue, literally, house of gathering. Then there’s going to shul in […]

אֲרוּחַת חַג, סְעוּדַת חַג The predominant word for meal in Modern Hebrew is ארוחה, related to the word אורח meaning guest, both words deriving from the root א.ר.ח meaning path or way. But ארוחה does not appear in Biblical Hebrew except for a couple of instances. Neither does סעודה, the word for meal appearing all over Mishnaic and later Rabbinic […]

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 . Scatter . Gravity . Test שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים! Shabbat Shalom, and have a nice weekend!

אַתָּה חַי בְּסֶרֶט Someone makes you an offer that in their mind you can’t refuse – but you can, and easily. You might say to them, “dream on” (well, in the 90’s you might have), indicating that they’re are living in a dream world and are totally wrong in their judgment. A Hebrew equivalent to dream […]

Note: Monday’s dose had a typo: מעטמי ביטחון – for security reasons – should read מטעמי ביטחון. לְהָפִיק סֶרֶט Those versed in Talmud will surely recognize the Hebrew root פ.ו.ק meaning come out, so that in the causative הפעיל verb form, להפיק means to bring out or to produce (in the Talmud’s Aramaic the root is actually נ.פ.ק). להפיק today generally […]

אַל תַּפְרִיעַ לִי The title of an ancient Egyptian king is Pharaoh, פרעה in Hebrew. But though it’s composed of the letters פ.ר.ע, the authentically Egyptian word פרעה has nothing to do with the authentic Hebrew root פ.ר.ע meaning loose, let go. The Hebrew פ.ר.ע forms, among others, the root of the active-intensive verb להפריע – to […]

נֵהָג צָמוּד As you may recognize, chauffeur comes directly from French. Hebrew does not borrow the word for such a personal driver from another language, but rather comes up with its own term: נהג צמוד – literally, linked driver, where נהג means driver and צמוד means linked or stuck to. For example: מטעמי ביטחון, הוא יתנייד במוסקווה עם נהג צמוד. […]

בַּמַּאי קוֹלְנוֹעַ The word for a director who orchestrates the production of a play or a movie is במאי for a male and במאית for a female. They derive from the word במה, which once referred to the platform on which people would perform religious rituals including sacrifice (containing a מזבח – an altar), but today it […]