Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep.      To take full advantage of the review material, click on “Choose a study mode” in the bottom right corner of the box above. שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים! Shabbat Shalom, […]

הֶכֵּרוּת While English has one basic word for to know, Hebrew has two: לדעת and להכיר. And while לדעת, in Modern Hebrew, means to know information, להכיר means to know a person or to be familiar with someone or something. Thus getting to know each other is היכרות. For example: המפגש הראשון הוא מפגש היכרות. The first meetup is a […]

רֹשֶׁם רִאשׁוֹנִי While לכתוב is to write, לרשום is to jot down, essentially to make an impression on a piece of paper. Likewise, רושם is an impression. And a first impression is רושם ראשוני, literally initial impression. For example: החיוך שלך יעשה רושם ראשוני טוב, רונה. Your smile will make a good first impression, Rona.

חִיּוּךְ To smile is the פיעל verb לחייך, for example: דוד, אל תשכח לחייך! David, don’t forget to smile! Likewise, a smile is חיוך. For example: איזה חיוך טבעי ונינוח! What a natural, easygoing smile! לחייך  and חיוך follow the same verb-noun pattern as לדבר – to speak and דיבור – speech. These are characteristic of the פיעל […]

בְּאֹפֶן טִבְעִי The Hebrew word for natural is טבעי. For example: אנחנו מבשלים עם רכיבים טבעיים בלבד. We cook with natural ingredients only. To say naturally, add the word באופן before טבעי. For example: באופן טבעי אנחנו מתחברים עם מי שמרגישים איתו בנוח. Naturally we connect with people whom we feel comfortable with. Add באופן before most […]

לְהַרְגִּישׁ בְּנֹחַ Communication can be such a complex human activity. In order for communication to flourish, people need to feel at ease or feel comfortable with each other. To feel comfortable in Hebrew is להרגיש בנוח – literally, to feel with comfort. For example, David might say to Sarah: אני מרגיש איתך בנוח, ולכן אני מעלה את הנושא. […]

חֹמֶר לְשִׁנּוּן Review Material You spent time on your Hebrew this week. Use these review materials to make it yours to keep.      To take full advantage of the review material, click on “Choose a study mode” in the bottom right corner of the box above. שבת שלום, וסוף שבוע נעים! Shabbat Shalom, […]

גָּמִישׁ The Hebrew word for flexible is גמיש, or גמישה when referring to something or feminine or to a female. For example: אני לא יודע באיזו שעה בדיוק אני מגיע – את גמישה? I don’t know exactly at what time I’m arriving – are you flexible? And flexibility? That’s גמישות, for example: אחת התכונות שאנחנו מחפשים היא […]

תְּכוּנוֹת אֹפִי We’ve seen that the word for character is אופי. What about character trait? The word for that is תכונת אופי, where תכונה means trait or characteristic. For example: איזה תכונות אופי יש לה? What personality traits does she have? But remember that in Hebrew, אישיות (personality) and אופי are more or less synonymous. Thus תכונות אופי also […]

אֹפִי Yesterday we saw that the Hebrew word for personality – אישיות – comes from the basic Hebrew word איש meaning man, or more essentially, person. What about character – the parts of a person that are in some ways less personal but are nevertheless essential to who s/he is? That word in Hebrew is אופי. For example: אופי […]

אִישִׁיּוּת Though אדם refers to today to human being and גבר is the most commonly-used word for man, איש is the most basic Hebrew word for man. The word’s counterpart is אישה, the basic word for woman in biblical as well as modern times. So it could be argued that איש is the most basic Hebrew word for person. […]