Your Daily Dose of Hebrew

כּוֹבַע מִצְחִיָּה The Hebrew word for a hat is כובע. The word refers to a hat of any kind, even a stocking cap – כובע גרב. A baseball cap or visor is כובע מצחייה – literally, a hat-forehead cover, as מצח means forehead. Mind you, baseball is not a big deal in Israel like it is in North America, so כובע בייסבול […]

הֲגַנָּה The Hebrew word for defense is הגנה, derived from the verb להגן – to defend. For example: צבא ההגנה לישראל הוקם שבועות ספורים אחרי הכרזת העצמאות. The Israel Defense Force was established just a few weeks after the declaration of independence. Now, הגנה means defense in the general sense. But in court, “the defense” or a defense attorney is […]

חֳדָשִׁים סְפוּרִים Now, you may have looked at the title of this post and said, “I know how to say just a few months in Hebrew – it’s רק כמה חודשים”. You would be right. But there’s a slightly more formal expression that you’re very likely to hear in the media: חודשים-ספורים – literally, counted months. For example: שוב […]

תּוֹךְ שְׁנִיָּה Like the English word second, Hebrew’s שנייה refers to both to the smallest unit of time that is used in day to day life, as well as that which comes after the first. In a second is תוך שנייה – literally, within a second. For example: תוך שנייה אני מגיע. I’ll be there (arrive) in a second.

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, […]

צְפִירָה The Hebrew word for siren is צפירה. Although it might make sense that the word comes from ציפור – bird, that’s not the case. Rather, צפירה comes from the Aramaic word צפרא – morning: a siren is a wakeup call. Here’s the word in context: לא כל פעם ששומעים צפירה זאת אזעקת שווא. Not every time that […]

אַזְעָקַת שָׁוְא The Hebrew word for alarm is all too well known to people living along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip: אזעקה, from the root ז.ע.ק meaning to scream. A false alarm is אזעקת שווא, as in: לא הייתה תקרית – זו הייתה אזעקת שווא. There was no incident – it was a false alarm. שווא, […]

תַּקְרִית If you’ve got some basic conversational Hebrew down, you probably know how to ask what happened – מה קרה? The root ק.ר.ה gives form as well to the word for incident or something (bad) that has happened – תקרית. For example: שמעתם על התקרית אתמול בשכונה? Did you guys hear about the incident yesterday in the neighborhood? […]

גְּנֵבָה The Hebrew word for to steal is לגנוב. Take, for example, the biblical commandment: לא תגנוב. Thou shalt not steal. and the more modern: הוא גנב לי את הרכב! He stole my car! The word for theft is גניבה, as in: בשורה טובה: יש ירידה במספר הגניבות בעיר. Good news: There is a decline in the […]

לֹא תִרְצָח You may recognize לא תרצח – thou shalt not murder – from the Ten Commandments, which in Hebrew is literally the Ten Statements – עשרת הדברות. For example: בעשרת הדברות כתוב “לא תרצח”. In the Ten Commandments, it says “thou shalt not murder.” Nowadays, you’ll only hear such language as thou shalt from a preacher or an […]