A little dictionary English-Ivrit

Lesson 1
Todays menu: Good and Goodbye
Lets start with your morning and with the positive word Good.
Good morning will be the first thing you say after: Wake up! Its late,
already
English: Good morning
Hebrew: Boker tov.
Good Tov.

TOV

Here are some examples using the word Good:

Good boy Yeled tov
Good dog Kelev tov
Good day Yom tov
Goodnight Laila tov

When we want to say hello, we use either hi (yes, even in Israel) or do you
want to guess? You are right: shalom.

- We use shalom or hi for hello: Hi everybody, shalom everybody

Lots of my American friends use the word Shalom when they want to say
goodbye.
Here, I have to admit that we, the Israelis, do not use shalom to say goodbye,
unless its a formal meeting or were leaving someplace or ending a phone call
when we are angry yes, its funny but thats the truth.

When we want to say goodbye we use either bye or lehitraot which is like
see you.
The le of the le-hit-ra-ot sounds like the le of leg.
- Lehitraot and bye, then, are the common words in Israel to say goodbye.
Examples:
- Ill be right back, bye
- Lehitraot, we have to leave now.
- See you next month, lehitraot bye
- Lehitraot

*) The words hi and bye took root unofficially in Israel, and became part of
our common spoken language.

SHALOM AND LEHITRAOT

Lesson 2
Todays menu: Morning, night, thank you and OK

In our last lesson the words good morning were on the blackboard, but we
emphasized only the word good (tov). Now lets look at the other word in this
phrase, morning.
Morning
In December we learned what you say at the beginning of your morning, Boker
tov.
English: Good morning.

Hebrew: Boker tov.

Morning Boker.
The e sounds like the e in the word egg.
Here are more examples, using the word Morning:
- We have had a wonderful morning Haya lanu boker nifla
- They are drinking juice in the morning Hem shotim mits baboker
- What a beautiful morning Eize boker yafe
- I have a meeting in the morning Yesh li pgisha baboker

Night
In English you say goodnight, a combination of the words good and night.
In Hebrew we say: Laila tov two separate words.

Here are more examples, using the word Night:

- It was a short night Ze haya Laila katsar
- It was very cold last night Haya Meod kar Balaila hakodem
- This is a beautiful night Ze laila yafe

Thank you
The word thanks in Hebrew is toda.
You say thanks or thank you and we say toda.

Usually we dont say you after thank, however, sometimes we need to use it.
We will talk about it in another lesson, when we teach you the difference between
male and female words in Hebrew
For now, thanks and thank you in Hebrew will be only toda, thats the
common usage here in Israel.
Before we go on, lets make an agreement: every time I write e in a Heblish
word, the sound will be like the e in the word egg, exercise or example.

Alright & OK
Alright or ok are very useful words and expressions in English and also in
Hebrew.
The Hebrew word for okay and for alright is beseder (be-se-der).
- Remember our remark above; the e sounds like the e in the word egg.
Examples:
- It is Ok ze beseder
- Thats OK ze beseder
- Everything is alright - hakol beseder
But, if you forget the word beseder, in Israel you can also say OK; its a
common word here.
Beseder?

Now you can say laila tov when you are going to sleep and boker tov in the
morning when you are awaken.
When someone says How are you? you can respond: Toda (thank you), Im
feeling tov (good) and everything is beseder (OK).

POSTED BY: YARON

Attention!! : The underlined letters represent the accent.
(f) Feminine, (m) Masculine, (v) Verb.

A
Afternoon Ahar hatsohoraim
Air Avir (m) - (There is no plural)
Air conditioner Mazgan (m) (plural: mazganim)
Airplane Matos (m) (plural: metosim)
Alright Beseder
Also Gam
And Ve
Asking Bakasha (f) (plural bakashot)
I asked (for) Bikashti (A request for some kind of action)
I asked (a question) Shaalti (sha-al-ti)

B
Baked potato Tapuah adama afui (m) (plural: tapuhey adama afuim)
Bank Bank (m) (plural: bankim)
Big Gadol (m) (plural: gdolim)
Gdola (f) (plural: gdolot)
Bird Tsipor (f) (plural: tsiporim)
Birthday Yom Huledet (m) (plural: yemei-huledet)
Book Sefer (m) (plural: sfarim)
Bottle Bakbuk (m) (plural: bakbukim)

Bouquet Zer (m) (plural: zerim)

Bracelet Tsamid (m) (plural: tsmidim)
Break To break Lishbor (v)
Singular: Shover (m), shoveret (f)
Plural: Shovrim (m), shovrot (f)
Breakfast Aruhat boker (f) (plural: aruhot boker)
Brother Ah (m) (plural: ahim)
Bus Otobus (m) (plural: otobusim)

C
Cake Uga (f) (plural: ugot)
Tomcat hatul (m) (plural: hatulim)
Cat hatula (f) (plural: hatulot)
Celebration hagiga (f) (plural: hagigot)
Clock Shaon (m) (plural: sheonim)
Close
To close Lisgor (v)
Singular: Soger (m), sogeret (f)
Plural: Sogrim (m), sogrot (f)
Cold Kar (m) (plural: karim)
Kara (f) (plural: karot)
Count
To count Lispor (v)
Singular: Sofer (m), soferet (f)
Plural: Sofrim (m), sofrot (f)

D
Daughter Bat (f) (plural: banot)
Day Yom (m) (plural: yamim)

Do
To do Laasot (v) (la-a-sot)
Singular: Ose (m), osa (f)
Plural: Osim (m), osot (f)
Dress Simla (f) (plural: smalot)
Drive To drive Linhog (v)
Singular: Noheg (m), noheget (f)
Plural: Nohagim (m), nohagot (f)
Dry Yavesh (m) (plural: yeveshim)
Yevesha (f) (plural: yeveshot)

E
Earth Adama (f) (plural: adamot)
Eat :
To eat Leehol (v) (should pronounce as: le-e-hol)
Singular: Ohel (m), ohelet (f)
Plural: Ohlim (m), ohlot (f)
Eight Shmone (f), shmona (m) - {The accent in the feminine should be shmone,
but most Israelis say shmone}.
Eleven Ahat-esre (f), ahad-asar (m)
Eve Erev (m)
Evening - Erev (m)
Everyone Kulam
Excuse me Sliha

F
Father Aba (m) (plural: avot)
Fish Dag (m) (plural: dagim)
Five hamesh (f), hamisha (m)
Fire Esh (f) (There is no plural)
Flight Tisa (f) (plural: tisot)

Flower Perah (m) (plural: prahim)

Flower shop hanut prahim (f) (plural: hanuyot prahim)
Fly Zvuv (m) (plural: zvuvim)
Four Arba (f), arbaa (arba-a) (m) {The accent in the feminine should be arba,
but most Israelis say arba}.
For Bishvil
For her Bishvila
For him Bishvilo
For me Bishvili
Forgiveness Day (holy days name) Yom Kippur
French fries Chips (m)
From Min, mi, me
From the table mehashulhan
From Sharon- miSharon

G
Good Tov (m) (plural: tovim)
Tova (f) (plural: tovot)
Goodbye Lehitraot
Grandfather Saba (m) (plural: savim)
Grandmother Savta (f) (plural: savtot)

H
Half hetsi (m) (plural: hatsaim)
Half an hour hetsi shaa
Two and half shtaim vahetzi
Hand Yad (f) (plural: yadaim)
Hello Shalom
Hers shela
His Shelo
Holocaust Memorial Day Yom HaShoa

Hotel Malon (m) - (plural: melonot)

Hour Shaa (sha-a) (f) (plural: shaot)
How Kama
How much Kama ole
How much is this Kama ze ole

L
Lamb Keves (m) - (plural: kvasim)
Left smol
Luggage Mitan (m) or mizvadot (f) (plural: mitanim)

M
Meat Basar (m) - (plural: besarim)
Mine Sheli
English

Heblish

Mine

Sheli

Yours (masculine)

Shelha

Yours (feminine)

Shelah

His

Shelo

Hers

Shela

Ours

Shelanu

Yours (plural masculine)

Shelahem

Yours (plural feminine)

Shelahen

Their (masculine)

Shelahem

Their (feminine)

Shelahen

Minute Daka (f) (plural: dakot)

Money Kesef (m)- (only one form of this word)

Morning Boker (m) - (plural: bkarim)
Mother Ima (f) (plural: imaot)

N
New hadasha (f), hadash (m) (plural: hadashot (f), hadashim (m))
New Year (holidays name) Rosh Hashana
Night Laila (m) (plural: leilot)
Nine Tesha (f), tishaa (m)
No Lo
Noon Tsohoraim (tso-ho-raim)
Not - Lo
Number Mispar (m) (plural: misparim)

P
Page Amud (m) (plural: amudim) / Daf (m) (plural: dapim)
Pasta Pasta / itriyot
Peacock Tavas (m) (plural: tavasim)
Pharmacy Beit-merkahat (m) (plural: batei-merkahat)
Phone (slang) Telephone (m) - (plural: telephonim)
Plane Matos (m) (plural: metosim)
Plastic bag Sakit (f) (plural: sakiyot)
Please Bevakasha
Potato Tapuah adama (plural: Tapuhey adama)
Quarter Reva (m) (plural: revaim)

R
Red Adom (m) (plural: adumim)
Aduma (f) (plural: adumot)
Restaurant Misada (f) (plural: misadot)
Right Yamin
Ring - Tabaat (f) (plural: tabaot)

S
Salad Salat (m) (plural: salatim)
Say Leaghid
I say Ani omeret (f) / ani omer (m)
I said Amarti
See Lirot
I see Ani roa (f) / ani roe (m) (roe should pronounce as ro-e)
I saw Raiti (ra-i-ti)
See you Lehitraot
Sell :
To sell Limkor (v)
Singular: Moher (m), moheret (f)
Plural: Mohrim (m), mohrot (f)
Seven Sheva (f), shivaa (shiv-aa) (m)
Shop- hanut (f) (plural: hanuyot)
Shopping Kniyot
Side Tsad (m) (plural: tsdadim)
Side dishes - Tosafot
Sister Ahot (f) (plural: ahayot)
Six Shesh (f), shisha (m)
Sky Shamaim (m)
So Az
Son Ben (m) (plural: banim)

Station of bus Tahana (f) (plural: tahanot)

Stem (a flower stem) Givol (m) (plural: givolim)
Store hanut (f) (plural: hanuyot)
Straight Yashar
Suitcase Mizvada (f) (plural: mizvadot)
Supermarket Supermarket (m) (also: Markol)

T
Taxi Monit (f) (plural: moniyot)
Telephone Telephone (m) (plural: telephonim)
Ten Eser (f), asara (m)
Thanks Toda
Thanks a lot Toda raba
The Ha
The same Oto davar
Their Shelahem (m)
Then Az
There are no Ein
There is Yesh
There is no Ein
This Ze
Time Zman (m) - (plural: zmanim)
To say Lehagid, lomar
To see Lirot (should pronounce as: lir-ot)
I see - Ani roa (f)
I see - Ani roe (m)
To understand Lehavin

I understand Ani mevina (f)

I understand - Ani mevin (m)
Today Hayom
Toilet Sherutim (m) (there is no plural)
Took lakahat
I took Lakahti
Three Shalosh (f), shlosha (m)
Train Rakevet (f) (plural: rakavot)
Twelve Shteim-esre (f), shneim-asar (m)
Two Shtaim (f), shnaim (m)

U
Understand lehavin
I understand Ani mevina (f)
I understand Ani mevin (m)
I understood Hevanti

V
Vase Agartal (m) (plural: agartalim)
Vegetable salad Salat (m) / Salat yerakot (m)
Very Meod
W
W.C. (water closet) Sherutim (m)
Want Rotsa (f), rotse (m)
I want ani rotsa (f) / ani rotse (m)
I wanted ratsiti
Was I was Haiti
He was Hu haya
She was Hi hayta
It was Zot hayta (f) / ze haya (m)
Watch (clock) Shaon (m) - (plural: sheonim)

Water Maim (m- plural form) (There is no singular)

Wear To wear Lilbosh (v)
Singular: Lovesh (m), loveshet (f)
Plural: Lovshim (m), lovshot (f)
What Ma
When Matay
Where Eifo or Lean (when its indicated the direction)
Who Mi
Why Lama

Hebrew lessons: Day 51

Hebrew accents

In our previous lesson I gave you a refresher for lessons 1 through 8. In that
lesson, I also taught you some new words,
like ish (man), isha (woman), shahor (black (m)) and lavan (white (m)).
Today, we will have an important lesson.
Todays menu: Hebrew accents
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
(How many times have you seen this sentence in our lessons? More than a few,
Im sure!)
As I promised you last lesson, today we will talk about the accent in Hebrew. Up
to this point, I only asked you to pay attention that the underlined letters
represent the accent, but today we will learn more about it.
Hebrew words are only accented on the last syllable or on the next to
the last syllable.
In other words, if we have a word with three syllables, the first syllable can never
get the accent.

So, what are the names for these two accents?

Since there are only two places where the accent can be placed in a word, it is
easy to give them names.
If the accent comes on the last syllable, we call it mil-ra.
If it comes on the next to the last syllable, we call it mil-el.
Most Hebrew accents are mil-ra, meaning, most Hebrew words have the accent
on the LAST syllable.
Lets see some examples for the mil-ra accent:
- Ani (a-ni) I / I am
- Ata (a-ta) You / you are (m)
- Etmol (et-mol) Yesterday
- Hayom (ha-yom) Today
- Mahar (ma-har) Tomorrow
- Rotse (ro-tse) (m) / rotsa (ro-tsa) (f) Want
- Shelha (shel-^a) (m) / shelah (she-lah) (f) Yours
- Sheli (she-li) My / mine
- Simla (sim-la) Dress
- Tsamid (tsa-mid) Bracelet
In the examples above, you can see that all of the words have the accent on the
last syllable, meaning mil-ra.
Now lets see some examples for the mil-el accent:
- horef (ho-ref) Winter
- Anahnu (a-nah-nu) We / we are
- Laila (lai-la) Night
- Lama (la-ma) Why
- Maim (ma-im) Water
- Safarti (sa-far-ti) I counted
- Sefer (se-fer) Book
- Sheleg (she-leg) Snow
- Tabaat (ta-ba-at) Ring
- Yeled (ye-led) Child
Here you can see that all of the accents come on the next to the last syllable.
But what about the word telephone which I taught you in lesson 3?
- Telephone (te-le-phone) Telephone
Even though the Hebrew name for telephone is sah rahok, the word
telephone and some other English words have become popular in the Hebrew
language, and we use them as is, without changing them.
You might think all this talk about accents is not that important, but, look at this:
In English you were (m) is haita (ha-ee-ta) in Hebrew.
In English she was is hi haita (ha-ee-ta) in Hebrew.

There is no difference at all in the way you were and she was is spelled in
Heblish: haita.
The only difference is where the accent is placed in haita. As you can see
above, for you were (m), the accent is mil-el, (haita) and for she was the
accent is mil-ra, haita (on the last syllable).
In Hebrew (using the Hebrew alphabet), there is a difference in the way these two
words are written (spelled), but when we use English letters (Heblish), the words
are spelled identically. This requires memorization on your part; you must
remember which syllable is accented.
Dont let this throw you I simply wanted to give you this information to help you
understand how important it is to pay attention to the accents on the Heblish
words I am teaching you.

All About Adjectives Part II

In our previous lesson we learned about adjectives. We learned about good
and bad (tov vera), big and small (gadol vekatan) and also about happy
and sad (sameah veatsuv).
Today we will continue with some new Hebrew adjectives.
Todays menu: All About Adjectives Part II.
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
I want to remind you that, although its not so important in English, gender is
very important in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew a masculine noun requires a
masculine adjective, and a feminine noun requires a feminine adjective.
1)
In English you say heavy.
In Hebrew you should say kaved.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Heavy

kveda

kaved

English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Light*

kala

kal

In English you say light.

In Hebrew you should say kal.

* Of course, in English there is another meaning for light, but here we are
talking about light as opposed to heavy.
Example:
The rock is heavy Hasela kaved, (rock is masculine)
But this little stone is light Aval haeven haktana hazot, kala. (Stone
(even) is feminine, thats why we must use the feminine form, ktana, for
little).
We learned that small is katan for (m) and ktana for (f). Now you can see that
little has the same meaning.
More words: Rock- sela, but- aval, stone- even.
2)
In English you say beautiful.
In Hebrew you should say yafe.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Beautiful

Yafa

yafe

English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Ugly

mehoeret

mehoar

In English you say ugly.

In Hebrew you should say mehoar.

Example:
The princess is beautiful Hanesiha yafa,
But the witch is ugly Aval hamehashefa mehoeret.
More words: Princess-nesiha, witch-mehashefa.
3)
In English you say long.
In Hebrew you should say aroh.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Long

aruka

aroh

In English you say short.

In Hebrew you should say katsar.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Short

ktsara

katsar

Example:
We had a long vacation Aita lanu hufsha aruka. (Vacation, hufsha, is
feminine)
The spring in Israel is short Haaviv beIsrael katsar. (Spring, aviv, is
masculine)
More words: Vacation-hufsha, spring-aviv.

Hebrew lessons: Day 64

All About Adjectives
Shalom lekulam (Hi everyone),
Today we will learn some new Hebrew adjectives.
All About Adjectives.
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
First, although its not so important in English, gender is very important in the
Hebrew language. We appreciate our ladies
So, in Hebrew a masculine noun requires a masculine adjective, and a feminine
noun requires a feminine adjective.
1)
In English you say good.
In Hebrew you should say tov. I taught you this word in our first lesson.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Good

Tova

Tov

In English you say bad.

In Hebrew you should say ra.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Bad

Raa (ra-a)

Ra

Example:
This boy is a good boy Hayeled haze hu yeled tov,
But his brother is bad Aval ah shelo ra.
More words: Boy-yeled, but-aval, brother-ah, his-shelo.
2)
In English you say big.
In Hebrew you should say gadol.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Big

Gdola

Gadol

English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Small

Ktana

Katan

In English you say small.

In Hebrew you should say katan.

Example:
His cake is big Hauga shelo gdola, (uga is feminine, thats why we must
use the feminine form, gdola, for big)
So, why is mine small? Az lama sheli ktana?
More words: Cake-uga, so-az, why-lama, mine sheli.
3)
In English you say happy.
In Hebrew you should say sameah.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Happy

Smeha

sameah

In English you say sad.

In Hebrew you should say atsuv.
English

Hebrew Feminine

Hebrew Masculine

Sad

Atsuva

Atsuv

Example:
Now I have a big cake too, so I am happy Ahshav gam li yesh uga gdola, az
ani sameah.
But why is my brother sad? Aval lama ah sheli atsuv?
More words: Now-ahshav, I have-yesh li, too-gam.

At and on
Shalom haverim, (Hello friends)
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the liberation of
Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp from WWII. Of course, this is a
very important day in Israel, and to Jews all over the world. Please join me in
celebrating the courage and strength of Holocaust survivors everywhere.
In our previous lesson we mentioned the Tu Bishvat holiday and talked about
in and on.
We have learned that on, which indicates position, is al in Hebrew. We also
learned when to use be and ba instead of in.
Here I have to admit that in the case of in, on and at, Hebrew and English act
differently. It is not like comparing apple to apple, but I want to show you how we
use these words, so at least you get an idea how they work in Hebrew.
Today we will continue to talk about at and on.
Todays menu: At & on
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
At & be
In our previous lesson I gave you some examples for in and be, as in: There
is an elephant in a zoo Yesh pil began hayiot. Here are some examples for at
and be:
- I woke up at nine Hitorarti betesha (I woke up hitorarti hit-o-rar-ti).
- She will come at five Hi tavo behamesh (will come (f) tavo).

Here you can see that when we are talking about time we use be instead of
at.
At & ba
One of the concepts we learned last week was in the and ba.
I also gave you some examples for in the and ba, such as: She will come in
the morning Hi tavobaboker.
When we say she will come: In the morning / at noon or at night, we use ba,
since the at for noon and night is actually in the, like you use in English
for in the morning.
- She will come in the morning Hi tavo baboker.
- She will come at noon Hi tavo batsohoraim.
- She will come at night Hi tavo balaila.
On & ba
- I saw a great movie on TV Raiti seret tov batelevizia (movie seret).
- Im on my bed Ani bamita sheli (bed mita)
- I am talking on the telephone Ani medaberet batelephone.
On & ba/be
- I have a test on Tuesday Yesh li mivhan beyom shlishi.
- She will come on June 13 Hi tavo ba13 beYuni (June Yuni. In Hebrew we put
the day before the month).
Summary
We have seen that at can be either be or ba in Hebrew, and I can tell you
that sometimes we use etsel instead of at, as in: I will be at Susans Ani
eheye etsel Susan
Confusing?
Yes, it is confusing.
As I said last week, When I write in English, I make a lot of mistakes when using
in and on, but thats life nothing is perfect, and it is the same with the
translation between languages.

Hebrew lessons: Day 52

In and on
Ma shlomhem hayom? How are you (plural) today?
Today is Tu Bishvat holiday.
Tu Bishvat is the fifteenth in the Hebrew month Shvat. In Hebrew numerology,
tu is fifteen.

This holiday is the holiday of the trees. We plant many new trees and eat a lot of
fruit, like: Teenim (te-e-nim) figs, tsimukim raisins, tmarim palms

In our previous lesson we talked about the Hebrew accent, and I showed you
how important it is.
Today, we will talk about something that causes me lots of trouble in English
It is not easy, therefore, we will learn it in two lessons, today and next Thursday,
so please be focused.
Todays menu: In and on
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
When I write in English, I make a lot of mistakes when I use in and on.
For example, I cant see the difference between June and June 13, but you
say in June, and on June 13.
I will start with on since its easier
On
You say on and I say al.
But when I say al, in most cases I mean that something is laying on something
else:
- The book is on the table hasefer al hashulhan (table shulhan).
- I have a hat on my head Yesh li kova al harosh sheli (a hat kova, head
rosh).
- I (f) sit on the chair Ani yoshevet al hakise. (sit (f) yoshevet, chair kise
pay attention to the e sound).
In
For in in Hebrew, we say be (pay attention to the e sound) and ba.
Before we start, lets understand the difference between be and ba.
In Hebrew be and ba is only one letter (the letter b), and its always
connected to the next word.
Be and ba is the translation for in and sometimes also for at and on
(Dont panic, I will teach you about it next lesson).
Be represents in.
Ba usually represents two words in + the or, as Bob said in our Facebook group:
Ba, I understood, means in the, where the aaa sound represents the word
the , like in the garden as opposed to in Kew Gardens.
Yes, usually, but not always!

Examples for be:

- My necklace is in a green box Hasharsheret sheli bekufsa yeruka (necklace
sharsheret, box kufsa, green (f) yeruka)
- There is an elephant in a zoo Yesh pil began hayiot (elephant pil, zoo gan
hayiot. The meaning is a garden for animals)
- I have a ring in my right pocket Yesh li tabaat bekis yamin sheli (pocket
kis [sounds like "kiss"])
- I want (m) coffee in a big glass Ani rotse cafe bekos gdola (glass kos,
big (f) gdola)
As you can see, in Hebrew we actually say in a box green / in pocket right mine
and in a glass big {For example: bekos (in a glass) big (gdola)}. That is
because in Hebrew the adjective comes after the noun.
Examples for ba:
- She will come in the morning Hi tavo baboker
- I have a ring in the pocket Yesh li tabaat bakis (pocket kis).
- He puts the ball in the basket Hu sam et hakadur basal (puts (m) sam, ball
kadur, basket sal)
- She is standing in the bus Hi omedet baotobus (standing (f) omedet)

New words weve mentioned today (a good opportunity to learn them):

English

Hebrew (Heblish)

How are you (plural) ?

Ma shlomhem?

Fig / figs

Teena (f) / teenim (p) (sounds like tee-nim)

Raisin / raisins

Tsimuk (m) / tsimukim (p)

Palm / palms (the fruits)

Tamar (m) / tmarim (p)

On

Al

Table

Shulhan (m) (table is masculine in

Hebrew)

Hat

Kova (m)

Head

Rosh (m)

Sit

Yoshev (m), yoshevet (f)

Chair

Kise (m)

Necklace

Sharsheret (f)

Box

Kufsa (f)

Green

Yarok (m), yeruka (f)

Elephant

Pil (m), pila (f)

Zoo

Gan hayiot (m)

Pocket

Kis (m)

Glass

Kos (f)

Big

Gadol (m), gdola (f)

Puts (third person)

Sam (m), sama (f)

Ball

Kadur (m)

Basket

Sal (m)

Stand (standing)

Omed (m), omedet (f)

Hebrew lessons: Day 46

Special letters b, p, k
Shalom, ma shlomhem? (Hi, how are you [plural] doing?)
Today I will introduce you to three special Hebrew letters.
In our previous lesson we started to talk We built many sentences using
words we previously learned and some verbs that weve learned lately. At the end
of the lesson I said that you may have some questions and if you didnt,
something was wrong because I used some inflections you havent seen before.
I received many e-mails and a few comments on Facebook and our Heblish
website. I highly recommend that you use our Heblish group on Facebook or
simply place a comment here.
Anyway, most of you asked me how it can be, that a verb such as break
shover, becomes eshbor in the future tense?
Today, we will review three special Hebrew letters which will answer this
question.

Todays menu: Special letters b, p, k

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent!!!

In Hebrew there are six letters called the begged-keffet letters which, in some
cases, can get a special emphasis, a dagesh (a dot in the middle of the letter).
When these letters get this special emphasis, they have a different pronunciation.
However, in the last 60 years, three of these six begged-keffet letters lost their
uniqueness, so in Hebrew we pronounce them the same, whether they have that
emphasis or not.
The other three letters which have two different sounds are: b, p and k.
As I mentioned before, this will happen only in certain conditions, but we wont
learn the conditions since we are not learning Hebrew Punctuation, yet.
In this special condition, the letter b can also be pronounced as v; the p as
f and the k can also be h. You can review the use of h and listen to the
sound it makes

If you remember from our last lesson, one of our examples was:
Present Tense: Ani shover et habakbuk I break the bottle.
Past tense: Shavarti et habakbuk I broke the bottle.
You see that I used shoVer and shaVarti for present tense and past tense,
even though the root is sh.b.r., but when I say these words in the future tense, I
say: eshBor I will break
In Hebrew its the same letter b, but the special condition I talked about causes
that letter to be pronounced differently.
Some of you asked me if this happens only in the future tense. The answer is
no, and the reason is that we are teaching simple Hebrew using English letters.
People who need to learn complex Hebrew will need to study and master the
Hebrew alphabet to fully learn the language. Our goal here is to teach students
some useful words and phrases, and introduce basic Hebrew.
Here is another example for p (p/f): sofer count:
Ani sofer, ata sofer, at soferet, hu sofer, hi soferet.. (I, you (m), you (f), he, she)
count(s).
Safarti, safarta, safart, hu safar, hi safra (I, you (m), you (f), he, she) counted.

Espor, tispor, tisperi, hu ispor, hi tispor (I, you (m), you (f), he, she) will count.

Lets see what happens to the following words (these words are new for you):
- I build ani bone.
- I want to build ani rotse livnot.
- Im writing ani kotev.
- I want to write ani rotse lihtov.
- The balls have been counted hakadurim (kadurim = balls) nisperu.
- I counted them again safarti otam shuv (shuv = again).
The same verbs, the same letters, but a different sound for one of the
letters: b, p and k.
In this lesson I only wanted to show the idea, even though I didnt teach you
why it happens. I want to remind you that all the rules in Hebrew have been
taken from you guessed it, the Bible. So when you think about it that way,
every Thursday you are touching a piece of history

Hebrew lessons: Day 19

Clock Part II
Shalom lekol (to all) hatalmidim (the students),
In our previous lesson we talked about zman (time), and I showed you how to
ask Ma hashaa? (What is the time?). We also mentioned some possible
responses, like hashaa shalosh (its three oclock), but we could get hundreds of
different responses for the simple question, ma hashaa?so, today well learn
more about time.
We will continue learning about the clock, and we will also learn some new words
to enrich our vocabulary.

Todays menu: Clock & watch, minute, time, hour, quarter, half, fifteen,
thirty
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
For the first step today I want to show you the difference between English and
Hebrew when referring totime and hour.
In Hebrew we ask: Ma hashaa?
Translating this question word-for-word into English will give us: what is the

hour, because shaa is hour.

English

Hebrew

Hour

Shaa (sha-a)

Time

Zman

I only have an hour

I only have shaa

It will take an hour

It will take shaa

Give me an hour

Give me shaa

I have no time

I have no zman

Time is money

Zman is money

I have a lot of time

I have a lot of zman

What is the time?

Ma hashaa?

Why?

We have learned that hour is shaa and time is zman. So, why dont I say ma
hazman? for what is the time? The answer is thats just the way it is In
English you ask what is the time? and in Hebrew I ask ma hashaa?.
It is not translated word-for-word.
Clock & watch
You say clock and watch, and I say shaon. (m) (plural: sheonim)
- You have a beautiful watch Yesh lah shaon yafe.
Note: From time to time I will give you new Heblish words which are not
highlighted in blue. This is because its not yet time to learn them - but if you
have time and a passion to know more Hebrew, heres an opportunity to learn
more words on your own.
More examples:
There is a big clock on the wall Yesh shaon gadol al hakir.
My watch doesnt work Hashaon sheli lo poel.
Please watch out no, its not the same watch
Quarter

You say quarter and I say reva. (m) (plural: revaim).

Give me two and one quarter kilos of tomatoes Ten li shnaim
vareva kilo agvaniot.
We only have one quarter hour to finish Yesh lanu rak reva shaa lesayem.
Lets see how to say this: It is 7:15 For 7:15 you say it is quarter pa
st 7 or it is seven fifteen. Lets see how I say it. It is not quite the same.
You say It is quarter past 7 when the meaning is: it is quarter after 7. In
Hebrew we say the time is 7and a quarter: Hashaa sheva vareva. Lets take it
step by step:
The time is 7:15

Meaning

How to say 2
possibilities

It is quarter past
7

The time is 7 and a

quarter

Hashaa sheva vareva

Or just
Sheva vareva

Minute
You say minute and I say daka (f) (plural: dakot).
- I have two minutes until I leave Yesh li shtey dakot laazov.
When you say it is seven fifteen you dont add the word minutes at the end of
the sentence but since I do add it, lets see how that looks:
The time is 7:15

How to say 3 possibilities

It is seven fifteen

Hashaa sheva vehameshesre dakot

Hashaa sheva vehamesh-esre

Sheva vehamesh-esre

Lets see how to say: It is 7:30 For 7:30 you say it is half past 7 or it is seven thirty. Lets see how I say it.
- It is half past 7 means it is half an hour after 7 oclock. We say the time is
7 and a half: Hashaa sheva vahetsi. Lets take it step by step:
The time is 7:30
Meaning

How to say The possibilities

It is half past 7

The time is 7 and a half

Hashaa sheva vahetsi

Or just
Sheva vahetsi *

It is seven thirty

Hashaa sheva
veshloshim dakot
Hashaa sheva veshloshim
Sheva veshloshim **

* This is the useful answer.

** If you want to use proper Hebrew, you should say: Sheva ushloshim.
In the next lesson I will give you a boring table showing the first shloshim
dakot (30 minutes), which I will add to the Numbers tab. Maybe it will be too
much for you to learn, but it is also a great opportunity to learn the numbers 13
through 29 which we have not learned yet.

Hebrew lessons: Day 18

Clock Part I
This is a special week. Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoa) was on Monday,
the IDF Fallen Remembrance Day (Yom Hazikaron) is next Monday, and Israeli
Independence Day (Yom Haatsmaut) is on Tuesday.
In Israel, sadness and happiness sometimes come together, like Yom
Haatsmaut following Yom Hazikaron, because we know that we wouldnt be safe
and happy without the sacrifice of those who fell in battle. But Im sure thats not
just in Israel. In another example, one day you can receive good news and be
happy all day, and the next day you can lose your beloved dog

Thats life. In Israel we have a saying: Time buries the sadness beside the dead.

In our previous lesson we talked about directions. We read Judys story and
learned some new words like yesh for there is, az for so and then,
^anut for store and shop and some other words like bank, supermarket
and misada (restaurant).
If we return to the sentence time buries the sadness beside the dead, we can
see how much time (zman, in Hebrew) controls our life. Thats why our lesson
today will be about time
Todays menu: Clock
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
In Hebrew lesson 11 we learned the numbers 1-12, and I kept that table for you
here, at the Numbers tab.
When talking about time, we use feminine numbers.
The time is
For the time is one oclock or it is one oclock we say hashaa ahat.
Examples:
What is the time? Ma hashaa? (sha-a)
Its two oclock. Hashaa shtaim (or just shtaim).
When? Matay?
At three oclock Beshaa shalosh (or just beshalosh).
What time is breakfast? Matay aruhat haboker? (breakfast aruhat boker)
Breakfast is at 8:00 A.M. Aruhat haboker beshmone.
You use A.M. and P.M., but we dont. If breakfast is at 8 it cant be at night, so we
dont use A.M. but if there is any doubt, we add the following
words: Boker (morning), tsohoraim (noon), ahar
hatsohoraim(afternoon), erev (evening) and laila for night.
Hours

Time of Day

4 A.M. to 11 A.M.

Morning boker (lesson 2)

12 P.M. to 2 P.M. Noon tsohoraim (tso-ho-raim)

2 P.M. to 4 P.M.

Afternoon ahar hatsohoraim

5 P.M. to 9 P.M.

Evening erev

10 P.M. to 3 A.M.

Night laila (lesson 2)

The table above is general (approximate).

Lets see more examples:
- I finish work at 5:00 P.M. Ani finish work behamesh.
- Please call me at 7:00 P.M. Bevakasha call me Beshaa sheva baerev.
- I have an appointment at 11:00 A.M. I have an appointment beahat-esre.
- The mail comes at 9:00 A.M. The mail comes betesha.
- The restaurant opens at 1:00 P.M. Hamisada opens beaht (you can
add batsohoraim if its not clear that you mean to say 1:00 P.M.).
- The bank closes at 6:00 P.M. Habank closes beshesh.
Note: Remember that it is acceptable to omit the word shaa.
If we talk about six oclock, for example, we can say beshaa shesh or just
beshesh, exactly as you say at six oclock or just at six.

Lesson: Day 8
Conjunctions
Now that we have completed one month of lessons, I must admit that preparing
the lessons is taking more time than I had anticipated. Also, several students
have mentioned that they are struggling to keep up. With that in mind, I have
decided to have only one lesson a week (on Thursdays) beginning in February. I
really want to keep the lessons of high quality and free of charge, so I think this
change in our schedule will be beneficial to all.
But, this is not to say that you are going to take a vacation! Im still waiting to
read your questions of how should I say _______ in Hebrew. As I mentioned in
Lesson 7, you can Leave a Reply at the bottom of the page, and I will respond
to you.
In our previous lesson we talked about the conjunctions and, (ve) and the
(ha) and we also looked at some new words regarding food, like dag, chips

So what we are going to learn today?

Todays menu: Also, and for me

Also
For also we say gam.
Therefore, to say: Fish and French fries and also ketchup, you should say: Dag
vechips vegam ketchup.
In Hebrew we use the same word as you do for ketchup.
If you want to be polite, you can add the word bevakasha (please) which we
learned in Lesson 3: Dag vechips vegam ketchup, bevakasha.
More examples:
I have a car and also a truck I have a car vegam a truck.
The fish is good, and also the salad hadag tov vegam hasalat

For me
In Hebrew for me is only one word: bishvili
Bishvil is for. The last i makes it for me.
For me bishvili
For him bishvilo
For her bishvila
Example:
For me, lamb and baked potatoes, and for her, fish and French fries and also
ketchup, please.
Wow, what a long sentence
Bishvili, lamb and baked potatoes,
vebishvila dag vechips vegam ketchup, bevakasha.
Lets learn two more words before we go on:
Lamb keves
Baked potatoes tapuhey adama

Now lets do it again, but slowly:

For me, lamb and baked potatoes, and for her, fish and French fries and also
ketchup, please.
For me bishvili
Lamb keves
And baked potatoes vetapuhey adama
And for her vebishvila
Fish dag
And French fries vechips
And also vegam
Ketchup ketchup
Please bevakasha.
Bishvili, keves vetapuhey adama, vebishvila dag vechips vegam ketchup,
bevakasha.

Lesson: Day 7
Conjunctions
I need to clarify something about shalom and lehitraot.
There is no word for goodbye in Hebrew, except for shalom. However, shalom
is a formal word and because we are very optimistic here in Israel, we use see
you, which is lehitraot.
In our previous lesson we talked about the sound of the letter tsadey (ts),
and the unusual sound of the letter(s) het/haf . We agreed to mark the sound of
the letter(s) het/haf with an ^. Remember, were just using the sign ^ here
on Free-Hebrew. Written in Hebrew the het/haf would look like , or
but I promised you an easy way to learn Hebrew no teeth pulling.
Now that you have learned how to pronounce the 5 Heblish vowels and the
sounds of the ts and ^, we can go ahead and learn more Hebrew words and
conjunctions.
Todays menu: The, and, and some words around the table
First, we will add more Hebrew words in order to use the conjunctions.
After you arrive in Israel you will probably want something to eatdoes that
make you hungry?
Ok, go and get something from your refrigerator, Ill be waiting
When you learn new words in our Heblish lessons, you dont have to remember
all of them. This system will first teach you to pronounce the Hebrew letters and
vowels correctly, and how to use the common conjunctions. I will also show you
the difference between masculine and feminine in plural and singular.
But, if you really want to learn and remember the Hebrew words, you have three
ways to do it:
1. Be patient, because Im going to teach you a lot of them
2. Use the Tabs at the top of each page: Dictionary, Expressions, Lessons
and Subjects. These pages contain words, information and lessons you have
learned, and are updated with every lesson. Use these tools to help you study
and recall previous lessons.
3. Talk to me after every lesson. If there is a specific phrase or word that you
want to learn in Hebrew, you dont have to wait for a lesson. If you dont have a
question invent one! Our back and forth correspondence is the best way to
learn. So Leave a Reply at the bottom of the page, write your question and I will
respond to you. Who knows, your question might be the basis for a new lesson
You can do that here, or on my Facebook wall. Im waiting for your questions.

Lets have more words:

You are sitting near the table and the waiter gives you the menu and says: What
would you like to eat? You ask him What kind of meat and what side dishes do
you have? Then he will say: We have no pork, but we have chicken, schnitzel,
lamb and fish. Our side dishes are baked potatoes, French fries, mashed
potatoes, rice and pasta. Every entree comes with vegetable salad, orange juice
and bread.
Well, this is a long list, and you dont really need to learn all these words now.
Lets just take a few.
Meat basar
Side dishes tosafot
Fish dag
French fries chips
Pasta pasta
Vegetable salad salat (or salat yerakot)

The
In Lesson 3 I promised you we would talk about the word the, like in the
sentence: Where is the toilet?
The word the is very useful in every language and now you will learn how to
use it in Hebrew.
You say the in English, and I say ha in Hebrew.
In Hebrew the is only one letter, but in Heblish it would be two letters that
always connect to the next word. I will explain, so just stay with me
You already know that where is eifo and toilet is sherutim, therefore, for
Where is the toilet? youre going to say Eifo hasherutim?
Please note that the apostrophe is only to show you the separation between the
two words the and toilet. In Hebrew its considered only one word.
Examples:
The hotel hamalon
The phone- hatelephone
The meat habasar
The fish is good hadag tov

And
Next will be the conjunction and.
You say and and I say ve (if you forgot the sound of the e)
Examples:
Dan and Alice Dan veAlice
Meat and side dishes basar vetosafot
Pasta and Vegetable salad Pasta vesalat

Now look at the following example:

The meat habasar
The vegetable salad hasalat
The meat and the vegetable salad ha basar vehasalat

Hebrew lessons: Day 17

Directions
In our previous lesson we talked about stations, sides and directions: yamina
for go to the right, smola for go to the left and yashar for go straight
ahead.
Todays menu: Then/so, there is, shop/store & some more places
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Today well take a short story written by one of you (thanks, Judy) and mark the
Heblish words (in blue, as usual) which we have already learned.
Afterwards we will learn some new words about places. From now on I hope to
teach you at least 5 new nouns in every lesson.
Note: The story lesson below is another way to teach you Hebrew and I would
be glad to get your comments about this method.
OK, lets start:
My Trip to Atlanta by Judy Short:
Good morning. I want to tell you about my day. I wanted to go shopping, so I
went to the bus station where I took bus number 4 to Atlanta. When I arrived I
saw a woman and I said excuse me, where is a good store? She said go right,
turn left at the traffic lights, then go straight ahead to Peachtree Street. There is
a fine store on the corner. I said thanks a lot.
Lets see how many words we already know in Hebrew, by replacing the English
words with Heblish words. (If you have time, try doing that by yourself before
reading further)
Good morning. I want to tell you about my day. I wanted to go shopping, so I
went to the bus stationwhere I took bus number 4 to Atlanta. When I
arrived I saw a woman and I said excuse me, where is a good store? She
said go right, turn left at the traffic lights, then go straight ahead to
Peachtree Street. There is a fine store on the corner. I said thanks a lot.

Boker tov. Ani rotsa to tell you about my day. Ratsiti to go shopping, so I went to
the tahanat otobus, where lakahti otobus mispar arba to Atlanta. When I
arrived raiti a woman veamarti Sliha, eifo is a good store? She said lehi
yamina, tifni smola at the ramzorim, then lehi yashar to Peachtree Street. There
is a fine store on the corner. Amarti toda raba.

Now, lets learn some new words from the story.

A store/ a shop
You say store and I say ^anut.
Our story mentioned good store and fine store. We have already learned that
the word for good or fine is tov, but tov is for masculine nouns
When we want to describe feminine nouns as good or fine, we use the
word tova. Therefore good store is hanut tova and good hotel (hotel is
masculine) is malon tov.
Lets see some examples:
Feminine
The cake is good

Masculine

Hauga tova

The book is good

Hasefer tov

The meat is fine

Habasar tov

The dress is fine for me

Hasimla tova bishvili

There is
In lesson 10 we learned how to say there is no, which is ein.
For there is we say yesh.
There is

There is no

There is

Yesh

There is no

Ein

There is a book

Yesh sefer

There is no cake

Ein uga

There is a taxi

Yesh monit

There is no bus

Ein otobus

There is a bookstore in the

hotel

Yesh
hanut sfarim bamalon

There is no
ketchup

Ein ketchup

Then / so
For then and so there are at least two different words in Hebrew. Today well
learn the word az, meaning then or so.
Examples:
Turn left and then go straight Talking to a man: Pne smola veaz leh yashar.
If the dress is good for her then I want two dresses a woman
says: If hasimla tova bishvila az ani rotsashtey smalot.
The cake is good, so I want three cakes a man says: Hauga tova, az ani
rotse shalosh ugot.
Recall this sentence and video from Lesson 14:
I said (that) I took two dresses but I also wanted a ring, so I bought two
dresses and one ring.
Amarti that lakahti shtey smalot, but ratsiti gam tabaat, az kaniti shtey
smalot vetabaat ahat.
Here is Judys story again:
Boker tov. Ani rotsa to tell you about my day. Ratsiti to go shopping, az I went to
the tahanat otobuswhere lakahti otobus mispar arba to
Atlanta. When I arrived raiti a woman veamarti Sliha, eifo yesh hanut tova?
She said lehi yamina, tifni smola at the ramzorim, az lehi yashar to Peachtree
Street. Yesh hanut tova on the corner. Amarti toda raba.

Places:
Lets learn about some more places:
English

Heblish

There is a
good restaurant on the
right side

Yesh misada tova

betsad yamin

There is a good
restaurant on the right

Yesh
misada tova miyamin

There is a flower
shop on the left side

Yesh hanut
prahim betsad smol

There is a flower shop on

the left

Yesh hanut
prahim mismol

There is no pharmacy

Ein beit-merkahat

Where is

Eifo hasupermarket?

Remarks

Pay attention to the

difference

Pay attention to the

difference

The correct word in Hebrew

the supermarket?

ismarkol, but most of us

saysupermarket like you do.

There is a bank

Yesh bank

Its the same in Hebrew, but

the a is pronounced like
the a in our lessons.

Hebrew lessons: Day 16

Directions
Hag Sameah Happy holidays,

What are we going to do a few days before Passover? Our home is almost clean
for Pesah (Passover),vekaniti matanot (and I bought gifts) for my family, so now I
have enough time to sit and write a new lesson.
In our previous lesson we talked about the questions ma (what), lama
(why), mi (who), and matay (when).
Todays menu: Sides, stations & directions
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
When we go out to shop or just to sightsee, we must be prepared for the answers
of the local citizens when we ask eifo (where) something is located. (You
already learned the word eifo in lesson 3.)
So before we go out, lets learn some new words.
Station tahana.
Singular

Plural

Proximity

Station

Tahana

Tahanot

Bus

Otobus

Otobusim

Taxi

Monit

Moniyot

Train

Rakevet

Rakavot

Tahanat *

* When we say station, meaning a station of something, like a train station or

bus station (in the proximity), the word is tahanat.
- Where is the bus station, please? Eifo tahanat haotobus, bevakasha?

Pay attention to the fact that we are using the proximity form of the word
(tahanat) for station, instead of tahana.
Lama (why) are we doing that?
Because the word order of the Hebrew sentence is literally: Where is the station
of the bus Eifo tahanathaotobus?

Lets talk about sides and directions:

Sides

Examples

Left

Smol

Left hand

Yad smol

Right

Yamin

Right side

Tsad yamin

Straight

Yashar

Directions
To the left

Smola

To the right

Yamina

Straight

Yashar

- Where is the taxi station, please? Eifo tahanat hamoniyot,

bevakasha? (moniyot is plural the plural form is used when talking about a taxi
station).
- Where is the train station, please? Eifo tahanat harakevet,
bevakasha? (rakevet is singular).
Answers:
Directions

Speaking to a woman

Speaking to a man

Go straight

Lehi yashar

Leh yashar

Turn left

Pni smola

Pne smola

And after two traffic

lights

Veaharey
shney ramzorim

The same

Turn right

Pni yamina

Pne yamina

The table above gives the most common responses to your question about
directions. However, you could hear either of the words in the table below for the
words go and turn. This is not a mistake, just another way to say the words
go and turn, so you should know they exist.
Speaking to a woman

Speaking to a man

Go (by walk)

Lehi, telhi

Leh, teleh

Go (by car)

Si (s-ee), tisi (tis-ee)

Sa, tisa

Turn

Pni, tifni

Pne, tifne

Hebrew lessons: Day 26

Family II
Today well talk about the most important subject in our life our kids.
In our previous lesson I simply showed you 4 pictures a cat (hatul), a bird
(tsipor), fly and flies (zvuv/zvuvim) and a beautiful photo of a peacock (tavas).
In lesson 21 I taught you how to say ima (mother / mom), aba (father /
daddy), ah (brother), ahot (sister),savta (grandmother / grandma)
and saba (grandfather / grandpa). But thats only part of our family
Todays menu: Our sweetest treasure
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Note: Remember, the h has an unusual sound. Listen to it again:
Daughter
For daughter you should say bat in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew / Heblish

Short
Form

Daughter

Bat

My daughter

Habat sheli

Biti

Your daughter (a mans

daughter)

Habat shelha

Bitha

Your daughter (a womans

daughter)

Habat shelah

Biteh

His daughter

Habat shelo

Bito

Her daughter

Habat shela

Bita

Examples:
This is my daughter zot habat sheli.
Your daughter (speaking to a man) is beautiful habat shelha yafa. (yafa for
a beautiful feminine).
His daughter is clever habat shelo nevona. (nevona for a clever feminine).
Her daughter bought a dress habat shela kanta simla. (kanta for she
bought)

Son
For son you should say ben in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew / Heblish

Short
Form

Son

Ben

My son

Haben sheli

Bni

Your son (a mans son)

Haben shelha

Binha

Your son (a womans son)

Haben shelah

Bneh

His son

Haben shelo

Bno

Her son

Haben shela

Bna

Examples:
My son loves basketball haben sheli ohev kadur-sal (ohev for he
loves. Kadur-sal for basketball).
Your son (speaking to a woman) is tall haben shelah gavoha. (gavoha for a
tall masculine).
His son is fat haben shelo shamen (Shamen for a fat masculine).
Her son is handsome haben shela nae (na-e) (nae for handsome).

Hebrew lessons: Day 21

Family
Shalom ima (hello, Mom)!
In our previous lesson we read the beginning of Connys story, corrected her
Heblish and also learned many new Hebrew words such
as: yom (day), hayom (today), hadash (new), kniyot (shopping), kesef(money),
etc If you need a refresher, please go back to the end of lesson 20 and look at
the table of new words we learned in that lesson.
Today I planned to continue with Connys story but since Sunday is the Mothers
Day holiday, we will take a break and continue with Connys story next week.
Todays menu: Family
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Mother
For mother and mom you should say ima in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew / Heblish

Short Form

Mother / mom

Ima

My mother

Ima sheli

Imi

Your mother (a mans mother)

Ima shelha

Imha

Your mother (a womans

mother)

Ima shelah

Imeh

His mother

Ima shelo

Imo

Her mother

Ima shela

Ima

Father
For father and daddy you should say aba in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew / Heblish

Short Form

Father / daddy

Aba

My father

Aba sheli

Avi

Your father (a mans father)

Aba shelha

Aviha

Your father (a womans father)

Aba shelah

Avih

His father

Aba shelo

Aviv

Her father

Aba shela

Aviha

Brother
For brother you should say ah in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew / Heblish

Short Form

Brother

Ah

My brother

Ah sheli

Ahi

Your brother (a mans brother)

Ah shelha

Ahiha

Your brother (a womans

brother)

Ah shelah

Ahih

His brother

Ah shelo

Ahiv

Her brother

Ah shela

Ahiha

Note: Remember, the ^ has an unusual sound. Listen to it

again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTJoip09FnU&feature=related
Sister
For sister you should say ahot in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew / Heblish

Short Form

Sister

Ahot

My sister

Ahot sheli

Ahoti

Your sister (a mans sister)

Ahot shelha

Ahotha

Your sister (a womans sister)

Ahot shelah

Ahoteh

His sister

Ahot shelo

Ahoto

Her sister

Ahot shela

Ahota

Grandmother
For grandmother and grandma you should say savta in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew /
Heblish

Short Form

Grandmother / grandma

Savta

My grandmother

Savta sheli

Savati

Your grandmother (a mans

grandmother)

Savta shelha

Savatha

Your grandmother (a womans

grandmother)

Savta shelah

Savateh

His grandmother

Savta shelo

Savato

Her grandmother

Savta shela

Savata

Grandfather
For grandfather and grandpa you should say saba in Hebrew.
English

Hebrew /

Short Form

Heblish
Grandfather / grandpa

Saba

My grandfather

Saba sheli

Savi

Your grandfather (a mans grandfather)

Saba shelha

Savha

Your grandfather (a womans

grandfather)

Saba shelah

Saveh

His grandfather

Saba shelo

Savo

Her grandfather

Saba shela

Sava

Lesson: Day 9
Gender Basics
In our two previous lessons we talked about the conjunctions and, (ve) and
the (ha). We learned how to say for, for me, for him and for her (bishvil,
bishvili, bishvilo and bishvila), and we also learned some words about food.
The goal of this course is not to teach you mountains of words, but the main
conjunctions and some useful terms for a simple day in Israel. You wont be a
politician or a writer after this course, but hopefully you will be able to speak
Hebrew well enough for the needs of your stay in Israel.
If you dont remember the sound of the symbol (h), go back to lesson 6, read the
explanation and listen to the videos. You wont be able to learn Heblish without
listening to the videos of lessons 4, 5 and 6.
Today we have an interesting but complex lesson
Todays menu: One (masculine), I, I want, I see and I understand
Attention: The underlined letters under a Heblish word represent the accent.
One (masculine)

One fish dag ehad.

In English you say I ate ONE fish but in Hebrew we say I ate fish ONE. (I
ate dag ehad). One (ehad) has an unusual usage in the structure of the Hebrew
sentence it comes after the noun.

Examples:
For me one fish bishvili dag ehad.
There is only one cat around the aquarium There is only hatul ehad around
the aquarium.
Since fish is a masculine word in Hebrew, we say: dag ehad. The feminine
numbers are different, but today we are only going to learn this.
I
It wont be easy, so stay focused.
In English you have three different words for talking about yourself: I, me and
myself.
In Hebrew it is more complex and well do it step by step, lesson after lesson.
In our previous lesson (Lesson 8) you saw one usage of I (me) when we learned
that for is bishvil and for me is bishvili. By adding just the i vowel at
the end of the word, it changes to for me.
Today well learn about I (as simply, I).
The Hebrew word for I is ani.
Ani is the word for I whether you are a man or a woman; the gender difference
will be in the word following ani. We can see that in the next example.
I want
You say I want and I say ani rotse this is because Im a man, but a woman
should say ani rotsa.
Most of you are women, so feminine will always come before masculine in our
lessons. Look at the following table.
English
Heblish

I want

Feminine

Masculine

Ani rotsa

Ani rotse

I want French fries

Ani rotsa chips

Ani rotse chips

I want one bracelet

Ani rotsa tsamid ehad

Ani rotse tsamid ehad

I want a pizza

Ani rotsa pitsa

Ani rotse pitsa

I want ketchup

Ani rotsa ketchup

Ani rotse ketchup

Hey, sorry about the noisy radio in the background of the videos. I was
concentrating so hard on the words of the lesson that I didnt even realize it was
on.
Listen to this video Ani rotse (22 seconds on YouTube).
I see
In English, you sometimes
say I see to also indicate I understand, but you cant use those terms
interchangeably in Hebrew.
In Hebrew, to see is what you do with your eyes see, thats all.
English

Heblish
Feminine

Masculine

I see

Ani roa

Ani roe

I see a fish

Ani roa dag

Ani roe dag

I see one fish

Ani roa dag ehad

Ani roe dag ehad

I see a cat

Ani roa hatul

Ani roe hatul

I see a cat and a fish

Ani roa hatul vedag

Ani roe hatul vedag

I see a cat and one fish

Ani roa hatul vedag

ehad

Ani roe hatul vedag

ehad

Hmmm two vowels together how should you say it? Listen to this video Ani
roe (23 seconds on YouTube).
I understand
And finally, here is how you would say I understand in Heblish.
English
Heblish

Feminine

Masculine

I understand

Ani mevina

Ani mevin

I understand what you

say

Ani mevina what you

say

Ani mevin what you say

Hebrew lessons: Day 22

Connys story Part II
In our previous lesson we celebrated Mothers Day and learned how to talk
about members of our family, such
as: ima (mother/mom), aba (father/daddy), ah (brother), ahot (sister), savta (gran
dmother) and saba(grandfather).
Today lets continue with Connys story, which we started in Lesson 20. You will
remember that we read the beginning of Connys story, corrected her Heblish and
also learned many new Hebrew words such
as: yom(day), hayom (today), hadash (new), kniyot (shopping), kesef (money),
etc If you need a refresher, please go back to the end of lesson 20 and look at
the table of new words we learned in that lesson.
Reminder for part I of Connys story:
English:
A new day!
This is a new day. First, I had breakfast at the Hilton Hotel at nine. So, the
beginning of the day was good. At ten I wanted to go to the bank for money.
Why? For shopping, of course! There was no bus, so I took a taxi. I asked the
receptionist to call the taxi for me.
Heblish:
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha. Az,
hahathala shel hayom haita tova. Beeser ratsiti lalehet labank
bishvil lehotsi kesef. Lama? Lekniyot bevadai! Lo haya otobus, az lakahti monit.
Bikashti mipkid hakabala lehitkasher lamonit bishvili.
Now we will continue with Connys story.
Todays menu: Connys story Part II

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

As we did in our previous lesson, lets look at Connys paragraph as is and
afterwards we will analyze it.
Lets start:
A New Day by Conny Part II:
The taxi driver drives smola, yamina ve yashar for 5 miles to habank. After
shopping ani go to hamisada. Ze thohoraim, hazman for lunch. Ani ratsiti dag ve
chips aval lo ketjup. Ze hamisada tova. Amarti toda raba ve ani asked
hameltzar:ma hashaa? Amarta(?) hashaa arba. Hazman to go home. Lakachti
haotobus to hamalon. It was hayom tov!
Now lets translate it into English and fix Connys Heblish.
The taxi driver drove left, right, then straight ahead for 5 miles to the bank. After
shopping I went to a restaurant. It was noon, time for lunch. I wanted fish and
French fries, but no ketchup. The restaurant was good. I said thanks a lot and
asked the waiter what is the time? He said the time is four oclock. It was
time to go home. I took a bus to the hotel. It was a good day.
Note: We have not yet learned all of the Heblish words presented in this story,
but this will be a good opportunity for you to learn more words.
Connys story: The taxidriver drives smola, yamina ve yashar
English: The taxi driver drove left, right, then straight ahead
Heblish: Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar. (taxi driver
is nahag monit, but the taxi driver is nehag hamonit, drove is nasa)

Connys story: for 5 miles to habank.

English: for 5 miles to the bank.
Heblish: lemesheh hamisha miles labank (we will learn the word for another
time, to the bank islabank)
Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar lemesheh
hamisha miles labank.
Connys story: After shopping ani go to hamisada.
English: After shopping I went to a restaurant.
Heblish: A^arey hakniyot hala^ti lemisada. (After is a^arey, I went
is hala^ti)
Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar lemesheh
hamisha miles labank. Aharey hakniyot halahti lemisada.
Connys story: Ze thohoraim,
English: It was noon,
Heblish: Ze haya batsohoraim, (it is ze, was is haya)

Connys story: hazman for lunch.

English: time for lunch.
Heblish: zman learuhat tsohoraim.
Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar lemesheh
hamisha miles labank. Aharey hakniyot halahti lemisada. Ze
haya batsohoraim, zman learuhat tsohoraim.
Connys story: Ani ratsiti dag ve chips aval lo ketjup.
English: I wanted fish and French fries, but no ketchup.
Heblish: Ratsiti dag vechips aval lo ketchup. (but is aval)
Connys story: Ze hamisada tova.
English: The restaurant was good.
Heblish: Hamisada haita tova.
Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar lemesheh
hamisha miles labank. Aharey hakniyot halahti lemisada. Ze
haya batsohoraim, zman learuhat tsohoraim. Ratsiti dag vechips aval lo
ketchup. Hamisadahaita tova.
Connys story: Amarti toda raba ve ani asked hameltzar ma hashaa?
English: I said thanks a lot and asked the waiter what is the time?
Heblish: Amarti toda raba veshaalti et hameltsar ma hashaa? (I asked
is shaalti [sha-al-ti])
Connys story: Amarta(?) hashaa arba.
English: He said the time is four oclock.
Heblish: Hu amar hashaa arba. (he is hu, said (for masculine) is amar)
Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar lemesheh
hamisha miles labank. Aharey hakniyot halahti lemisada. Ze
haya batsohoraim, zman learuhat tsohoraim. Ratsiti dag vechips aval lo
ketchup. Hamisadahaita tova. Amarti toda raba veshaalti et hameltsar ma
hashaa? Hu amar: hashaa arba.
Connys story: Hazman to go home.
English: It was time to go home.
Heblish: Ze haya hazman lalehet habaita. (to go is lalehet, home is bait, but
when going in the direction of home I say habaita)
Connys story: Lakachti haotobus to hamalon.
English: I took a bus to the hotel.
Heblish: Lakahti otobus lamalon. (I took is lakahti, to the hotel is lamalon)
Connys story: It was hayom tov!
English: It was a good day!
Heblish: Ze haya yom tov!
Nehag hamonit nasa smola, yamina veaz yashar lemesheh
hamisha miles labank. Aharey hakniyot halahti lemisada. Ze

haya batsohoraim, zman learuhat tsohoraim. Ratsiti dag vechips aval lo

ketchup. Hamisadahaita tova. Amarti toda raba veshaalti et hameltsar ma
hashaa? Hu amar: hashaa arba. Ze haya hazmanlale^et habaita. Lakahti
otobus lamalon. Ze haya yom tov!

Hebrew lessons: Day 20

Connys story Part I
Shalom lekulam (to everybody),
As I promised you in lesson 19, I added a table showing the
first shloshim dakot (30 minutes) to theNumbers tab. This is a great opportunity
to learn all the numbers from 1 to 30 and all the answers for ma hashaa?
between HH:01 and HH:30.
In our previous lesson we learned how to say shaon (clock &
watch), daka (minute), zman (time) and shaa(hour), and some possible responses
for the question ma hashaa? what is the time?
Today we will read a paragraph I received from one of our good students (thanks,
Conny).
Todays menu: Connys story
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
First, lets look at Connys paragraph as is and afterwards we will analyze it. We
will need two lessons (shney shiurim) for this, as the story is too long for only one
lesson.
Note: The story lesson below is another way to teach you Hebrew and I would
be glad to get more comments about this method, and of course more stories
written by you.
OK, lets start:
A New Day by Conny Part I:
Hayom chadasha!
Ze hayom chadasha! First yesh li aruchat boker at hamalon Hilton be tesha. Az
habeginning tov for hayom. Beeser ani rotsa to go to habank for money. Lama?
For shopping bevaday! Ein otobus, az ani took hamonit. Ani asked the
receptionist to call hamonit bishvili.
This is part I of the story.
Now lets translate it into English and fix Connys Heblish.

A new day!
This is a new day. First, I had breakfast at the Hilton Hotel at nine. So, the
beginning of the day was good. At ten I wanted to go to the bank for money.
Why? For shopping, of course! There was no bus, so I took a taxi. I asked the
receptionist to call the taxi for me.
Note: We have not yet learned all of the Heblish words presented in this story,
but this will be a good opportunity for you to learn more words.
Connys title: Hayom chadasha.
English title: A new day.
Heblish title: Yom ^adash. (day is yom and new is hadash).
Connys story: Ze hayom chadasha!
English: This is a new day.
Heblish: Ze yom hadash. (This is is ze)
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash.
Connys story: First,
English: First,
Heblish: Reshit, (First is reshit or rishon, but in this case it is reshit).
Connys story: yesh li aruchat boker
English: I had breakfast.
Note: Conny said yesh li aruhat boker she tried to translate the sentence I
had breakfast but in Hebrew we say I ate ahalti.
Heblish: Ahalti aruhat boker (breakfast is aruhat boker).
Connys story: at hamalon Hilton be tesha.
English: at the Hilton Hotel at nine.
Heblish: bemalon Hilton betesha. (at is be. Pay attention to the Heblish e
sound).
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha.
Connys story: Az habeginning tov for hayom.
English: So, the beginning of the day was good..
Heblish: Az, hahathala shel hayom haita tova. (So is az, the beginning
is hahathala, of is shel, was in the feminine form is haita (the word hathala is
feminine) and finally we say tova for good for the same reason hathala is
feminine).
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha. Az,
hahathala shel hayom haita tova.

Connys story: Beeser ani rotsa

English: At ten I wanted
Heblish: Beeser ratsiti
Connys story: to go to habank for money.
English: to go to the bank for money.
Heblish: lalehet labank bishvil (lehotsi) kesef. (to go is lalehet, to the
bank is labank, for is bishviland money is kesef, but in Israel we say: to go to
the bank to withdraw (lehotsi) money.
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha. Az,
hahathala shel hayom haita tova. Beeser ratsiti lalehet labank
bishvil lehotsi kesef.
Connys story: Lama? For shopping bevaday!
English: Why? For shopping, of course!
Heblish: Lama? Lekniyot, bevadai! (Why is lama, for shopping
is lekniyot and of course is bevadai).
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha. Az,
hahathala shel hayom haita tova. Beeser ratsiti lalehet labank
bishvil lehotsi kesef. Lama? Lekniyot bevadai!
Connys story: Ein otobus,
English: There was no bus,
Heblish: Lo haya otobus, (There was no is lo haya).
Connys story: az ani took hamonit.
English: so I took a taxi.
Heblish: az lakahti monit. (so is az, I took is lakahti and taxi is monit).
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha. Az,
hahathala shel hayom haita tova. Beeser ratsiti lalehet labank
bishvil lehotsi kesef. Lama? Lekniyot bevadai! Lo haya otobus, az lakahti monit.
Connys story: Ani asked the receptionist
English: I asked the receptionist
Heblish: Bikashti mipkid hakabala (I asked is bikashti. Receptionist is not
an important word to remember but when you say I asked the receptionist
you mean to say: I asked from the receptionist. In Hebrew from is mi.
Connys story: to call hamonit bishvili.
English: to call the taxi for me.
Heblish: lehitkasher lamonit bishvili. (to call is lehitkasher).
Yom hadash!
Ze yom hadash. Reshit, ahalti aruhat boker bemalon Hilton betesha. Az,

hahathala shel hayom haita tova. Beeser ratsiti lalehet labank

bishvil lehotsi kesef. Lama? Lekniyot bevadai! Lo haya otobus, az lakahti monit.
Bikashti mipkid hakabala lehitkasher lamonit bishvili.
End of Part I.
Some new words we learned from Connys Story:
English

Heblish

Day

Yom

This is

Ze

New

Hadash

I ate

Ahalti

Beginning

Hathala

Withdraw

Lehotsi

Money

Kesef

Shopping

Kniyot

Of course

Bevadai

I asked

Bikashti

Receptionist

Pakid kabala

There was no

Lo haya (for masculine)

To call

Lehitkasher

Lesson: Day 3
MEETING
Meeting
In our previous lesson we talked about morning and good morning, so when
you get to your office you can say boker tov everybody and they might think
that you had a bad dream speaking of dreams, when its time to say
goodnight, it is also a good idea to say laila tov to your family

We have also learned how to thank someone by saying toda, and how to say
everything is beseder, right?

Reminder: Upcoming Lessons 4, 5, and 6 are a must, foundational

information. Please do not try to go on to future lessons without mastering these
three important lessons (4, 5, 6).
Today we have a cool lesson, because were starting a conversation
Todays menu: Where, Hotel, Please, Toilet and Telephone
Where
The word where is important, especially if you are a tourist.
In Hebrew we say eifo.
The ei in the beginning of the eifo sounds like the name of the letter A.
Hotel
The most important word after where is hotel, because your hotel is your safe
place at the moment
Instead of hotel we say: malon (ma-lon).
Ok, we have where (eifo) and hotel (malon), so we can ask:
Where is the Hilton Hotel? And in Hebrew: Eifo malon Hilton?
Hooray, we just made our first sentence!
Please
For please we have a long word, which is: bevakasha (be-va-ka-sha).
The e sounds like the e in the word egg.
Where is the Hilton Hotel, please?
Eifo malon Hilton, bevakasha?
More examples:
Can you give me a glass of water, bevakasha?
Will you bevakasha give me the newspaper?
Toilet
For toilet you say toilet, restroom, or bathroom (or W.C. if you are in
England).
In Hebrew we say: sherutim (she-ru-tim).
The she sounds like the she of shell or the she of Sheldon.
Where is the toilet, please?
Eifo THE sherutim, bevakasha?
We will discuss the definite article The later in January.

Telephone
There is a Hebrew word for telephone, but most Israelis do not even know that
word. The common word for telephone in Hebrew is telephone.

Hebrew lessons: Day 48

HOLIDAYS
Holidays, Days Of
In our previous lesson we talked about the websites I build and I taught you
some useful sentences in Hebrew. On the same day (last Thursday), a big blaze
started in Israel and killed 42 people. Five million trees went up in flames.
My brother (ah sheli) who lives very near (shegar meod karov) took some photos
(tsilem kama tmunot). Here is one of them:

If you (plural) would like to see more photos (im atem rotsim lirot od tmunot),
click here: Moments.

Today, we will talk about happy things.

Todays menu: Holidays and Days Of
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
We use the word holiday to describe time we spend touring or for national or
religious events:
I went on holiday to Israel last year. Businesses were closed during Yom
Haatsmaut (Independence Day), which is a national holiday.
In Hebrew holiday is hag, but when you say I went on holiday, you should say
yatsati (I went) lehufsha. Hey, where is the word hag?
What we can learn here is, that when we say holiday, the simple translation
is hag, but when you use it to describe a time you spend traveling and
sightseeing, the word you want to use is hufsha.
In other words, hufsha is a vacation.

We use days of to talk about time we use for things other than work:
I am taking a couple of days off to visit my parents.
In Hebrew day off is yom hufsha and days off is yemey hufsha
Most Israelis say it incorrectly.
For day off they say yom hofesh and for days off they say yemey hofesh.
The word hofesh means freedom

Hebrew lessons: Day 38

HOLIDAYS
Holidays
Shalom haverim (Hello friends),
Since you have learned some Hebrew during our Heblish course, I thought you
might be interested in knowing a bit more about our tradition.
As you know, last Thursday was the first day in the Hebrew calendar, Rosh
Hashana.
Yom Kippur will be this Saturday.
The ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are called The (Jewish)
High Holidays, in Hebrew:Hayamim Hanoraim. The literal meaning of
Hayamim Hanoraim is The Terrible Days. Why terrible? Because,
according to the Jewish faith, during these 10 days God decides who will live and
who will die during the next year
So, ten days after Rosh Hashana we have a fast day (25-26 hours) called Yom
Kippur. Its not just a fast day. It is the holiest day of the year. On this day, the
Jewish people are suppose to suffer, or afflict their souls and bodies, through
prayer, fasting, and denial of some comforts, as they seek atonement and
forgiveness for their sins of the past year.
Most modern Jews use the fast as a symbol of their suffering. Im sure some of
you can relate to this idea of suffering if you think about skipping your next
lunch.
The meaning of Yom Kippur is Forgiveness Day. On this day we dont eat, we
dont work, we dont turn the lights on or off or use fire of any kind (to light a
cigarette, fireplace, etc.), and we dont drive so we have a lot of time to pray to
God and ask Him to sign us, to place His signature on us, that we may live
through the coming year. Actually, in my family (and in a lot of other families I

know) we play chess, monopoly, cards or maybe ride bicycles but at the end of
the day, before 3 stars have risen in the sky, we go to the synagogue to hear the
sound of the Shofar (rams horn).
Thats it, in brief: Rosh Hashana, Hayamim Hanoraim and Yom Kippur.

Hebrew lessons: Day 33

POSSESSIVE
Possessive
In our previous lesson we learned more about the word from. We learned
how to say from me (mimeni), from you (mim^a), from him (mimeno)
etc and we began to explore word endings in Hebrew, and the information they
tell us.
Today well do a short review of from, learn something interesting about
water and sky, look at the important possessive word mine, and finally,
start looking at tenses in Hebrew. That sounds like a lot, but it will be easy!
Todays menu: New words-water, sky; the possessive word mine;
introduction of tenses
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
First, since its hot today, lets drink some water
Water
For water, you should say maim, in Hebrew.
In Hebrew the word for water, maim, is written using only three letters mem,
yod and mem.
Now for the interesting partYou can see that the first letter and the last letter
are the same. This means that you can read it from right to left and also from left
to right. Its like a circle, like a mantra, a whole.
The idea conveyed is, that water is something endless, where it begins and ends
no one knows

Sky
For sky, you should say shamaim, in Hebrew.
The meaning of the word sham is there, and the meaning of maim you just
learned Therefore sky (shamaim), means there is water.
If you open the first book in the Bible, Bereshit, you will see in chapter 1 verse 6,
God separated the water which was under the sky from the water above the sky.
This is a curious thing, but it can help you to remember how to say sky in
Hebrew.
OK, now that we have had enough water we can go ahead with our lesson.
In our previous lesson we learned the word from and I asked you to pay
attention to the suffixes.
English

Heblish

Suffixes

From me

Mimeni

From you (masculine)

Mimha

Ha

From you (feminine)

Mimeh

From him

Mimeno

From her

Mimena

From us

Meitanu

Nu

From you (plural masculine)

Mikem

Em

From you (plural feminine)

Miken

En

From them (masculine)

Mehem

Hem

From them (feminine)

Mehen

Hen

Today I will show you a new word and its inflection Mine.
English

Heblish

Suffixes

Mine

Sheli

Yours (masculine)

Shelha

Ha

Yours (feminine)

Shelah

His

Shelo

Hers

Shela

Ours

Shelanu

Nu

Yours (plural masculine)

Shelahem

Em

Yours (plural feminine)

Shelahen

En

Their (masculine)

Shelahem

Hem

Their (feminine)

Shelahen

Hen

First, if you compare the two tables, you can see that there is something common
between all the words in both tables the endings. The suffixes are the same
Second, notice in the table for mine that the first four letters are the same for
each inflection, the letters shel
Possessive
The word shel in Hebrew means of or belonging to.
Examples:
- This is my book ze hasefer sheli.
- Whose book is this? shel mi hasefer haze?
- This is Yarons book ze hasefer shel Yaron.
- Right, this is his book na^on, ze hasefer shelo.
In Hebrew there are 4 tenses but only 3 are really important to
know: Past, Present and Future. Thats it!
Personally, I think that its enough.
- We are talking about yesterday, last year, our wedding
- We are talking about today, what we are doing now and
- We are talking about tomorrow, next year, our pension, etc right?
So, these 3 tenses are what we need to learn. We already talked about tenses
in lesson 14, and I wont talk about them today; I just wanted to introduce the
subject, again. Next lesson, well really dig into tenses.
Today weve learned:
1. How to say water and sky, maim and shamaim,
2. Weve seen that the inflections for from and mine give us the same
suffixes (personal endings),
3. We learned the word for of / belonging to, shel, and its inflections and
4. We mentioned the 3 tenses in Hebrew: past, present and future.

Hebrew lessons: Day 67

PRACTICE HEBREW
Practice Hebrew - A popular question
Ma nishma?
In our previous lesson we learned how to say please speak slower in formal
and informal ways. We also mentioned the phrase ma nishma (whats new?).
Today we will learn the common questions for how do you feel?
Todays menu: Practice Hebrew Some common questions
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
In our previous lesson I told you that today we will learn how to ask someone how
he/she feels, except for what we already learned ma nishma?
When we meet someone, we usually ask him/her about his/her situation.
Lets see the difference between English and Hebrew:
English

Hebrew

What is new?

Ma hadash? We use it just between

very close friends.

Whats going on?

Ma holeh? Its slang. Dont use it in

Israel!!!

How are you?

Ma shlomha? (m), ma
shlomeh? (f) The best way to ask
someone this friendly question.

How are you doing?

Eih ata ose (m) / eih at osa (f). It

makes no sense in Hebrew.

Whats up?

Ma hamatsav? - Its a slang. Dont

use it.

So, when you meet someone and want to ask him this polite question, it is best to
use:
Ma shlomha for masculine and ma shlomeh for feminine, but what if you want to
ask about someones else situation, like how is your mother?
In lesson 21 we learned to say mom, father, brother, sister, grandmother and
grandfather, and in lesson 26 we learned how to say daughter and son. You

can take the table below as a semi refresher for those relatives, and also to learn
how to ask the right question.
In these cases, the first two words will be Ma shlom look at the table below:
English

Talking to a woman

Talking to a man

How is your mother?

Ma shlom ima shelah?

Ma shlom ima shelha?

How is your father?

Ma shlom aba shelah?

Ma shlom aba shelha?

How is your brother?

Ma shlom ah shelah?

Ma shlom ah shelha?

How is your sister?

Ma shlom ahot shelah?

Ma shlom ahot shelha?

How is your
grandmother?

Ma shlom savta shelah?

Ma shlom savta shelha?

How is your
grandfather?

Ma shlom saba shelah?

Ma shlom saba shelha?

How is your daughter?

*ma shlom habat shelah?

*ma shlom habat

shelha?

How is your son?

*ma shlom haben shelah?

*ma shlom haben

shelha?

* Even though son is ben and daughter is bat, we have to add the the
(the ha letter) before the words ben and bat because they need a definite
article. We learned about the definite article in lesson 7.
Although number of todays lesson is 67, the most important number this week
is 63. Why? Because, two days ago Israel celebrated its 63rd(!!) Independence
Day (Yom Haatsmaut).
I wasnt around yet on our first Independence Day in 1948, but in my lifetime I
have seen Israel grow from a tiny, almost friendless country struggling for
survival every day, into a strong, independent democratic country that is a
shining example of what can be accomplished with hard work, perservance, and
God. I hope you will join me in this joyous celebration of freedom.

Hebrew lessons: Day 66

PRACTICE HEBREW
Practice Hebrew

Shalom,
Ma nishma?
In our previous lesson we learned more about adjectives. We learned about
heavy and light (kavedvekal), beautiful and ugly (yafe vemehoar) and
also about long and short (aroh vekatsar).
Lets see what we have today
Todays menu: Practice Hebrew
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Before we start the lesson, last week I promised to teach you how to say please
speak slower, because sometimes its necessary when you speak with an Israeli.
I will teach you to say it in two different ways, and my suggestion to you is
to remember the second way.
One way to say please speak slower is:
Bevakasha daber leat when you speak to a man, and
Bevakasha dabri leat when you speak to a woman.
The problem with this saying is that it sounds like a command, even though you
use the word bevakasha (please). Thats because the word speak
(daber or dabri) is an imperative form.
The other way to say would you speak slower is:
Ata muhan ledaber ktsat yoter leat? when you speak to a man, and
At muhana ledaber ktsat yoter leat? when you speak to a woman.
Here, its more like you are requesting an action, rather than demanding.
I opened this lesson with: Shalom, ma nishma?
In lesson 15 I taught you that for Whats new? you should ask ma nishma?
Ma nishma? is not the literal translation for whats new? except for the word
ma which is what.
As we learned in lesson 37, new is hadash (m), or hadasha (f). On the other
hand, nishma means we will hear
In this lesson we started to learn some of the subtle distinctions in language; that
you can say something using the right words, but the meaning is not what you
intended. As always in these lessons, I will teach you the more everyday way to
communicate in Hebrew. If you ever have questions, of course I am available
through Facebook to address them individually.
I want to keep this lesson short, but next week I will teach you a few more
phrases, related to the popular question (whats new?). Dont miss it

Hebrew lessons: Day 32

PREPOSITION
Preposition
In our previous lesson we learned some basics on how to use the preposition
from in Hebrew.

As promised, today well continue to look at the word from and expand our
knowledge of this very important preposition. We will also begin to study word
endings, which is critical in Hebrew.
Todays menu: Preposition from & personal endings
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

From
We already know that for from you should say min in Hebrew, but actually we
dont really say min. In Heblish we use me or mi for that word.
We learned that when I say I took the book from Susan, I say
lakahti et hasefer miSusan, and when I say I took the book from the library I
say
lakahti et hasefer mehasifriya.
Lets see more examples:
- I asked for the guitar from John bikashti et hagitara miJohn.
- I drank from the bottle shatiti mehabakbuk.
- I drank from a bottle shatiti mibakbuk.
- From me to you (masculine) mimeni eleha.
But when you say from the United States, I say miartsot habrit.
As I said, there are no rules that I can teach you to know when to use me and
when to use mi, but how do you say: I took the book from him, from her or from
them?
Thats what were going to learn today, and I will also add (for the first time in our
Heblish lessons) the words written in Hebrew.

English

Heblish

Hebrew

From me

Mimeni

From you
(masculine)

Mimha

From you
(feminine)

Mimeh

From him

Mimeno

From her

Mimena

From us

Meitanu

From you (plural

masculine)

Mikem

From you (plural

feminine)

Miken

From them
(masculine)

Mehem

From them
(feminine)

Mehen

Pay close attention to the endings of the words in the table above. We will now
start to learn personal word endings (suffixes). These endings give us important
information:
For the first person (I am/me) ani, the end of the word is i (sounds like ee).
Lets place it on a table:

English

Heblish

Suffixes

From me

Mimeni

From you
(masculine)

Mimha

ha

From you
(feminine)

Mimeh

From him

Mimeno

From her

Mimena

From us

Meitanu

nu

From you (plural

masculine)

Mikem

em

From you (plural

feminine)

Miken

en

From them
(masculine)

Mehem

hem

From them
(feminine)

Mehen

hen

Hebrew lessons: Day 31

PREPOSITION
Preposition
Shalom lekulam (hi everybody),
In our previous lesson we learned the words for: flight (tisa), plane (matos),
suitcase (mizvada), luggage (mizvadot) and some other words like big, the same,
very and red.
Today we will learn an important preposition in Hebrew.
Are you ready?
Todays menu: Preposition from
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

From
For from you should say min in Hebrew.
- I took the keys from the car lakahti et hamaftehot min haoto.
I took lakahti.
Keys maftehot (singular: mafteah (m) )

 From min
Car oto or mehonit.
But, in Hebrew we dont really say min. We use an abbreviated form, just one
letter, to express the word from, an m. In Heblish we will need two letters to
express from, since I want to show you the exact sound.
This letter m has two different sounds, mi and me. If you dont remember
the e sound or the i sound, please read and listen to lesson 4.
So, when do we use me and when do we use mi for from? Lets look at
some examples and you will quickly see
I took the book from Susan lakahti et hasefer miSuzan. *
I took a taxi from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem lakahti monit miTel-Aviv
leYerushalaim.
I took the book from the library lakahti et hasefer mehasifriya.
I took a taxi from the station to Jerusalem lakahti
monit mehatahana leYerushalaim.
Lets see more examples:
From Paris to Rome miParis leRoma. *
From my brother to my sister miahi leahoti.
The teacher from class A2 hamore mikita A2
From the house to the garden mehabait lagan.
She gets in from the window hi nihnesa pnima mehahalon.
From the first moment meharega harishon

Hebrew lessons: Day 58

SINGULAR AND PLURAL
Singular and plural
In our previous lesson we learned how to use the word say in past simple
tense. Since in Hebrew there is only one form for the past tense, you now know
how to use this word in the past tense.
The translation for say and to say to Hebrew is not easy, but very important.
We will learn it during our lessons as you read many sentences and examples,
until finally you catch it. Anyway, one of the tenses (the past simple) is behind us
and it wasnt difficult.

Today (hayom), we will have fun.

Todays menu: Singular and plural
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
In Hebrew, the suffix for plural usually tells us the gender of the word. Usually,
but not always
We already learned some plural words, but hayom (today) plural words will be the
main subject for our lesson.
Most of the suffixes for plural words in masculine will be im sounds like
eem.
Most of the suffixes for plural words in feminine will be ot.
Below, you can see a funny video, where the mother gives her child, who is 3
years old, a word in singular form and the child is trying to guess the plural
form
Of course there are many mistakes and you dont really have to listen to all of the
video, but it is funny, and you can also hear some of the Hebrew accent
1) At 33 seconds into the video, Nufar, the mother, says one life, how do you
say a lot of lives? and Osher, the little boy, answers haim. Actually, he said
it correctly, since there is no plural for life (haim), but his mom just wants to
document his mistakes and is not really trying to teach him this time so she
almost forced him to make a mistake
2) At 41 seconds into the video, the mother asks one picture, a lot of? (when
she actually wanted to ask: how do you say a lot of pictures?) tmuna ahat,
harbe? and Osher answers tmunot which is correct.
Next one watch, shaon ehad, how do you say a lot of watches? and his
answer is correct again sheonim. The next question is one dolly, which is
buba and his answer is also correct bubot.

English

Hebrew singular

Hebrew
plural

Suffix

Life

haim (m)

haim

Picture

Tmuna (f)

Tmunot

Ot

Dolly

Buba (f)

Bubot

Ot

Words from the video

Words you should

know
Book

Sefer (m)

Sfarim

Im sounds like
eem

Bottle

Bakbuk (m)

Bakbukim

Im

Bracelet

Tsamid (m)

Tsmidim

Im

Dress

Simla (f)

Smalot

Ot

Cake

Uga (f)

Ugot

Ot

Ring

Tabaat (f)

Tabaot

Ot

Pen

Et (m)

Etim

Im

Orange (the fruit)

Tapuz (m)

Tapuzim

Im

Dog

Kelev (m)

Klavim

Im

Boy

Yeled (m)

Yeladim

Im

Envelope

Maatafa (ma-a-ta-fa)

Maatafot

Ot

Sofa

Sapa (f)

Sapot

Ot

Lioness

Levia (f)

Leviot

Ot

Girl

Yalda (f)

Yeladot

Ot

Some new words

Hebrew lessons: Day 61

TENSES
Future tense

In our previous lesson we talked about Japan and its tragedy.

Lately, there have been a lot of disasters, but we must always look forward to the
future and hope the best for us and for our families.
Therefore, today we will talk about the future, and I also have a beautiful story for
you at the end of the lesson
Todays menu: Future tense
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
In lesson 43 we learned about the Eitan letters, and I taught you how to
conjugate the word close in the future tense for all of the English pronouns.
As I told you, in Hebrew every verb has a root, and in the future tense there are
four possible prefix letters before the root.
If you learn them, you will be able to conjugate almost every Hebrew verb in the
future tense.
The letters are: e, i, t and n, and in Hebrew the name of this group of letters is
Eitan.
Today I will only give you some examples with some new verbs.
Lets have fun today, and use a sentence from the beautiful Beatles song, Close
your eyes
Close your eyes and Ill kiss you, tomorrow Ill miss you
A man speaking to a woman
1. Close your eyes Tisgeri et haeinaim shelah
Close Tisgeri
Your Shelah
Eyes Einaim
The word close in English is not in the future tense, but in Hebrew when I use
close for close your eyes, or for any similar sentence, I use an imperative
form.
Since in Hebrew we dont use the imperative form very often, most of those
words will be in the future tense. Thats why the word close for this example is
in the future tense.
If you want to know how to say it in high (very proper) Hebrew, you can read the
following explanation. Otherwise, simply go ahead and read the next paragraph.
For tisgeri, as an exception to what I said about the Eitan letters, I also can say
sigri. Sigri is the imperative form of tisgeri.
For haeinaim shelah (your eyes), I can say einaih which is only one word, so
the whole sentence for close your eyes will be sigri et einaih.

Now leaving the high Hebrew aside, lets learn the rest of the sentence:
2. And Ill kiss you Vaani anashek otah
And I Vaani
I will kiss anashek (The prefix a indicates the first person, even though I
already said ani.)
I will not talk about the you (otah) today. We will talk about it in our next
lesson. It is not hard, it just needs some more detailed explanation.
Here, for anashek, you can see that I used a instead of e for I will kiss. I
dont want to dwell on the reason, but in Hebrew it is always the same letter
alef, translated as the e letter. In Heblish it will be either e or a
depending on the root.
So, to expand on the rule I taught you in lesson 43:
- For every verb in the future tense in Hebrew, we use one of the Eitan
prefixes: e, i, t or n before the root. For first person (singular) it will either e or a.
3. Tomorrow Ill miss you Mahar etgaagea elaih
Tomorrow Mahar
I will miss etgaagea
(I will miss whom? I will miss) you elaih

Hebrew lessons: Day 44

TENSES
I Past Tense
Lets read a comment I recently received from Sylvie about one of our lessons (I
think it was lesson 14):
Shalom
I was wondering about the use of ani in past tense. When you say I wanted
one dress, ratsiti simla a^at, must you say ani ratsiti simla a^at? as in I
wanted one dress compared to wanted one dress?
toda!
Think about this question, but meanwhile I want to remind you that in our
previous lesson we had an important teaching about the future tense.

Today, I will try to answer Sylvies question, broadly.

Todays menu: I Past tense
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Lets take a look at the verbs we learned in lesson 39:
English
Verb

Hebrew
Verb

break

shover

count

sofer

drive

noheg

close

soger

sell

moher

wear

lovesh

When you are talking about yourself in the past tense, the suffix of every verb
in Hebrew will be ti.
The i in the suffix ti takes the place of the i in ani, indicating the first
person.
Lets put it in a table (present tense and past tense masculine and feminine):
English
Hebrew
VerbPresen verbPresent
t Tense
Tense

English
VerbPast
Tense

Hebrew
VerbPast
Tense

I break (m) Ani shover (m I broke (m) Shavarti (m)

)
I break (f)

Ani shoveret (
f)

I broke (f)

Shavarti (f)

I count (m)

Ani sofer (m)

I
counted (m)

Safarti (m)

I count (f)

Ani soferet (f) I counted (f)

Safarti (f)

I drive (m)
I drive (f)

I close (m)

Ani noheg (m) I drove (m)

Ani noheget (f
)

I drove (f)

Nahagti (m)
Nahagti (f)

Ani soger (m) I closed (m) Sagarti (m)

I close (f)

Ani sogeret (f) I closed (f)

Sagarti (f)

I sell (m)

Ani moher (m
)

I sold (m)

Maharti (m)

I sell (f)

Ani moheret (
f)

I sold (f)

Maharti (f)

I wear (m)

Ani lovesh (m
)

I wore (m)

Lavashti (m)

I wear (f)

Ani loveshet (
f)

I wore (f)

Lavashti (f)

Hebrew lessons: Day 43

TENSES
Future tense Eitan letters

Today we have a long and very important lesson.

If you only have a few minutes, you can just read the summary at the end of the
lesson, but if you really want to learn Hebrew, lets start
In our previous lesson we talked about Definite and Indefinite articles. I taught
you that in Hebrew there is no indefinite article a, and I showed you that we
use the sound ha (which is only one vowel in Hebrew), instead of the word
the.
Today we will talk about the future
It would be amazing if we could sit together and guess what the future has in
store for us but, we will leave that for astrologers and concentrate on our
Hebrew lessons.
BTW, here is one of my astrology websites.

Todays menu: Future tense Eitan letters

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Today we will talk about the future tense and well taste a bit about roots.
Were only going to use one verb for our examples today close.
We learned this verb in lesson 39, and many of you did homework about it.
As you have already seen, in Hebrew we dont use am, are and is. So, from
now on I wont need to write: I am, you are, he is etc I will only use I,
you, he, we etc. in my tables/examples.
Look at this table and read the following explanation.
Close soger
English Verb Hebrew
Pronoun
Pronouns
s

Hebrew
Verb

Future Tense

soger

Esgor

Singular
I (m)
I (f)

close
close Ani

You (m) close

You (f)

Ani

close

sogeret

Esgor

Ata

soger

Tisgor

At

sogeret

Tisgeri

He (m)

close
s

Hu

soger

Isgor

She (f)

close
s

Hi

sogeret

Tisgor

We (m)

close

Anahnu

sogrim

Nisgor

We (f)

close

Anahnu

sogrot

Nisgor

Atem

sogrim

Tisgeru

close

Aten

sogrot

Tisgorna

They (m) close

Hem

sogrim

Isgeru

They (f) close

Hen

sogrot

Tisgorna

Plural

You (m) close

You (f)

Now, after you read the verbs in the table above, I will teach you the rules for
future tense, step-by-step.
1. In Hebrew every verb has a root.
Most roots consist of 3 consonants.
At this point we wont discuss word roots in detail, because the concept of word
roots is not easy to understand, especially since I cant show you the root letters
in Heblish (meaning, in English letters). However, one day we will try to learn
more about roots.
The only thing I want to say about roots is that the root of the word close,
(soger) is s.g.r.
What do I mean by that?
Look at the verbs above. You can easily find the letters s, g and r in each
verb. This is the root of the verb soger.
Thats true for past tense, present tense and future tense.

2. In the future tense, there are four possible prefix letters before the
root.

If you learn them, you will be able to conjugate almost every Hebrew verb in the
future tense.
The letters are: e, i, t and n, and in Hebrew the name of this group of letters is
Eitan.
Most of the time we use these 4 prefixes as the Eitan letters.
In the future I will show you some exceptions.
Lets look again. I capitalized the roots letters S, G and R and bolded the
four special prefix letters.
Close soger
English Verb Hebrew
Pronoun
Pronouns
s

Future Tense

Singular
I (m)

close

Ani

esgor

eSGoR

I (f)

close

Ani

esgor

eSGoR

You (m) close

Ata

tisgor

tiSGoR

You (f)

close

At

tisgeri

tiSGeRi

He (m)

close
s

Hu

isgor

iSGoR

She (f)

close
s

Hi

tisgor

tiSGoR

We (m)

close

Anahnu

nisgor

niSGoR

We (f)

close

Anahnu

nisgor

niSGoR

Atem

tisgeru

tiSGeRu

Plural

You (m) close

You (f)

close

Aten

tisgorna tiSGoRn
a

They (m) close

Hem

isgeru

They (f) close

Hen

tisgorna tiSGoRn
a

iSGeRu

The rule:
In the future tense, there are four possible prefix letters before the
root.
1) The letters are: e, i, t or n.
2) This rule is for all future tense Hebrew verbs, in all 7 Hebrew forms.
3) Every verb in the future tense must have one of the Eitan letters as the first
letter of the word.
Here it is in detail.
Dont try to remember it, yet. I will give an easy way to remember the rules.
For I (ani) we add the letter e before the root.
For he (m) (hu) and for
they (m) (hem), we add the letter i before the root.
For you (m) and (f) singular and plural (ata, at, atem, aten) and for
she (hi) and they (f) (hen), we add the letter t before the root.
For we (m) and (f) (anahnu), we add the letter n before the root.
Here it is on a table:
English Hebrew Eitan
Pronouns Pronoun letter
s
s

Future
Tense

I (m)

Ani

esgor

I (f)

Ani

esgor

He (m)

Hu

isgor

Remarks

They (m)

Hem

isgeru

You (m)

Ata

tisgor

Only the t is one

of the Eitan
letters. The i
(the second letter)
is just a vowel.

You (f)

At

tisgeri

The same

You (m) plur

al

Atem

tisgeru

The same

You (f) plura

l

Aten

tisgorna

The same

She (f)

Hi

tisgor

The same

They (f)

Hen

tisgorna

The same

We (m)

Anahnu

nisgor

The same; the i

here is just a
vowel.

We (f)

Anahnu

nisgor

The same

Or simpler:
Person

Hebrew
Pronouns

Eitan
lette
rs

First
person
(singular)

Ani

Third

Hu, hem

person
(masculin
e)

Second Ata, at, atem,ate

person +
n, hi, hen
third
person
(feminine)

First
person
(plural)

Anahnu

Summary (and a simple way to remember):

- For every verb in the future tense in Hebrew, we use one of the Eitan
prefixes: e, i, t or n before the root.
- The Eitan prefix letter will be always the first letter of the verb.
- This rule is for ALL 7 forms of verbs in Hebrew meaning, all Hebrew verbs!
The best way to remember which of the Eitan prefixes to use is:
- First person (singular) e
- First person (plural) n
- Third person (masculine) i
- All the others t

Hebrew lessons: Day 40

VERBS
Verbs
Boker tov (good morning),
In our previous lessons we talked about verbs, I gave you some homework to
do and you sent me your answers. Hooray! Most of you sent perfect answers, and
Im really proud of you.

Todays menu: Common short sentences and some new verbs

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Some of you have asked me to explain how to start and continue a conversation,
so lets see an example:
English

Talking to a man

Talking to a woman

What are you doing?

Ma ata ose?

Ma at osa?

Im eating

Ani ohel

Ani ohelet

Have you seen the

news?

Haim raita et hahadashot?

can be also:
Raita et hahadashot?

Haim rait et
hahadashot?
can be also:
Rait et hahadashot?

No, what happened?

Lo, ma kara?

The same since there

is no verb here: lo, ma
kara?

The earth stopped

rotating

Kadur haarets
hifsik lehistovev

The same.

Now I understand why I

have headache

Ahshav ani mevin lama

yesh li keevrosh (ke-ev)

Ahshav ani mevina la

ma yesh li keev rosh

Lets look at the verbs in the past and present tenses. Again, I will use orange for
feminine.
English

Masculine

Feminine

Do

Ose

Osa

Eat

Ohel

Ohelet

Have you seen?/

Did you see *

Raita?

Rait?

Understand

Mevin

Mevina

*) A verb in the past tense.

Do / did (singular)
English: Present / past

Hebrew:
Present

Hebrew: Past

I do (Im doing)/ I did - (m)

Ani ose (o-se)

Asiti (a-si-ti)

I do (Im doing)/ I did (f)

Ani osa (o-sa)

Asiti (a-si-ti)

You do (youre doing) / you did (m)

Ata ose (o-se)

Asita (a-si-ta)

You do (youre doing) / you did

(f)

At osa (o-sa)

Asit (a-sit)

He does / he did (m)

Hu ose (o-se)

Hu asa (a-sa)

She does / she did (f)

Hi osa (o-sa)

Hi asta (as-ta)

English: Present / past

Hebrew:
Present

Hebrew: Past

I eat (Im eating)/ I ate - (m)

Ani ohel

Ahalti

I eat (Im eating)/ I ate (f)

Ani ohelet

Ahalti

You eat (youre eating) / you ate (m)

Ata ohel

Ahalta

You eat (youre eating) / you ate

At ohelet

Ahalt

Eat / ate (singular)

 (f)

He eats / he ate (m)

Hu ohel

Hu ahal

She eats / she ate (f)

Hi ohelet

Hi ahla

See / saw (singular)

English: Present / past

Hebrew:
Present

Hebrew: Past

I see / I saw (Ive seen)

(m)

Ani roe (ro-e)

Raiti (ra-i-ti)

I see / I saw (Ive seen) (f)

Ani roa (ro-a)

Raiti (ra-i-ti)

You see / you saw (m)

Ata roe (ro-e)

Raita (ra-i-ta)

You see / you saw - (f)

At roa (ro-a)

Rait (ra-it)

He sees / he saw (m)

Hu roe (ro-e)

Hu raa (ra-a)

She sees / she saw (f)

Hi roa (ro-a)

Hi raata (ra-a-ta)

Understand / understood (singular)

English: Present / past

Hebrew:
Present

Hebrew: Past

I understand / I understood (m)

Ani mevin

Hevanti

I understand / I understood - (f)

Ani mevina

Hevanti

You understand / you understood

(m)

Ata mevin

Hevanta

You understand / you understood (f)

At mevina

Hevant

He understands / he understood
(m)

Hu mevin

Hu hevin

She understands / she understood

(f)

Hi mevina

Hi hevina

Hebrew lessons: Day 39A

VERBS
Homework
Happy Succot Succot sameah,
Break shover
English
Pronouns

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

break/breaking

Ani

shover

I / I am (f)

break/breaking

Ani

shoveret

You / you are (m) break/breaking

Ata

shover

Singular

You / you are (f)

break/breaking

At

shoveret

He / he is (m)

breaks/breakin

Hu

shover

g
She / she is (f)

breaks/breakin
g

Hi

shoveret

We / we are

break/breaking

Anahnu

shovrim

We / we are

break/breaking

Anahnu

shovrot

Atem

shovrim

Plural

You / you are (m) break/breaking

You / you are (f)

break/breaking

Aten

shovrot

They / they
are (m)

break/breaking

Hem

shovrim

They / they are (f) break/breaking

Hen

shovrot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

count/counting

Ani

sofer

I / I am (f)

count/counting

Ani

soferet

You / you are (m) count/counting

Ata

sofer

Count sofer
English
Pronouns
Singular

You / you are (f)

count/counting

At

soferet

He / he is (m)

counts/countin
g

Hu

sofer

She / she is (f)

counts/countin
g

Hi

soferet

Plural

We / we are

count/counting

Anahnu

sofrim

We / we are

count/counting

Anahnu

sofrot

Atem

sofrim

You / you are (m) count/counting

You / you are (f)

count/counting

Aten

sofrot

They / they
are (m)

count/counting

Hem

sofrim

They / they are (f) count/counting

Hen

sofrot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

drive/driving

Ani

noheg

I / I am (f)

drive/driving

Ani

noheget

You / you are (m)

drive/driving

Ata

noheg

You / you are (f)

drive/driving

At

noheget

He / he is (m)

drives/driving

Hu

noheg

She / she is (f)

drives/driving

Hi

noheget

We / we are

drive/driving

Anahnu

nohagim

We / we are

drive/driving

Anahnu

nohagot

You / you are (m)

drive/driving

Atem

nohagim

You / you are (f)

drive/driving

Aten

nohagot

They / they
are (m)

drive/driving

Hem

nohagim

Drive noheg
English
Pronouns
Singular

Plural

They / they are (f)

drive/driving

Hen

nohagot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

close/closing

Ani

soger

I / I am (f)

close/closing

Ani

sogeret

You / you are (m)

close/closing

Ata

soger

You / you are (f)

close/closing

At

sogeret

He / he is (m)

closes/closing

Hu

soger

She / she is (f)

closes/closing

Hi

sogeret

We / we are

close/closing

Anahnu

sogrim

We / we are

close/closing

Anahnu

sogrot

You / you are (m)

close/closing

Atem

sogrim

You / you are (f)

close/closing

Aten

sogrot

They / they
are (m)

close/closing

Hem

sogrim

They / they are (f)

close/closing

Hen

sogrot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

Close soger
English
Pronouns
Singular

Plural

Sell moher
English
Pronouns

Singular
I / I am (m)

sell/selling

Ani

moher

I / I am (f)

sell/selling

Ani

moheret

You / you are (m)

sell/selling

Ata

moher

You / you are (f)

sell/selling

At

moheret

He / he is (m)

sells/selling

Hu

moher

She / she is (f)

sells/selling

Hi

moheret

We / we are

sell/selling

Anahnu

mohrim

We / we are

sell/selling

Anahnu

mohrot

You / you are (m)

sell/selling

Atem

mohrim

You / you are (f)

sell/selling

Aten

mohrot

They / they
are (m)

sell/selling

Hem

mohrim

They / they are (f)

sell/selling

Hen

mohrot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

wear/wearing

Ani

lovesh

I / I am (f)

wear/wearing

Ani

loveshet

Plural

Wear lovesh
English
Pronouns

Singular

You / you are (m)

wear/wearing

Ata

lovesh

You / you are (f)

wear/wearing

At

loveshet

He / he is (m)

wears/wearing

Hu

lovesh

She / she is (f)

wears/wearing

Hi

loveshet

We / we are

wear/wearing

Anahnu

lovshim

We / we are

wear/wearing

Anahnu

lovshot

You / you are (m)

wear/wearing

Atem

lovshim

You / you are (f)

wear/wearing

Aten

lovshot

They / they
are (m)

wear/wearing

Hem

lovshim

They / they are (f) wear/wearing

Hen

lovshot

Plural

Hebrew lessons: Day 39

VERBS
Verbs
In our previous lessons we talked about the holidays Rosh Hashana and Yom
Kippur, but before that, inlesson 36 we learned some verbs in the present tense
plural, like: we sit, you sit, they sit Anahnu yoshvim, atem yoshvim, hem yoshvim for masculine,
And: We sit, you sit, they sit:
Anahnu yoshvot, aten yoshvot, hen yoshvot for feminine.

This is going to be a DOUBLE lesson (Ill tell you why, later), so sweep your desk
clean, get comfortable and focused

Todays menu: Verbs

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Some of you have asked me to explain how to start and continue a conversation,
others have asked me to explain the difference between had and was, how to
say I had a car, I had no time, and when and how to use past tense versus past
participle, etc
First, all of the other students will read your questions and learn from my
responses; second, I can answer you outside the framework of the lessons; and
third, it will give me some ideas for our future lessons. This will help us all since
Im not a teacher; Im just a person who has an excellent knowledge of the
Hebrew language (but not great English) trying to teach you my language in your
language can you imagine?
Today, I will teach you six new verbs in the present tense and you will try to
conjugate them yourself
Im going to give you the persons table: I, you, he, etc and a complete table for
one verb.
Usually our Heblish words are in blue, but for the tables below I am
using orange for the feminine words to help you see the difference between
masculine and feminine. And, by the way, I do understand that the concept of
feminine and masculine verbs, nouns, adjective, etc. is very odd to English
speakers, but its basic to the Hebrew language.
After that table, I want you to try solving the other tables yourself. (I have not left
the tables completely blank; you will see where you need to fill in the missing
words)
First, here is the complete persons table:
English subject pronouns

Hebrew subject pronouns

Singular
I / I am (m)

Ani

I / I am (f)

Ani

You / you are (m)

Ata

You / you are (f)

At

He / he is (m)

Hu

She / she is (f)

Hi (remember, the i sounds like

ee)

We / we are (m)

Anahnu

We / we are (f)

Anahnu

You / you are (m)

Atem

You / you are (f)

Aten

They / they are (m)

Hem

They / they are (f)

Hen

Plural

Lets learn the new verbs (m):

English Verb

Hebrew Verb

(I) break

(Ani) shover

(I) count

(Ani) sofer

(I) drive

(Ani) noheg

(I) close

(Ani) soger

(I) sell

(Ani) moher

(I) wear

(Ani) lovesh

In the above table you just learned 6 new verbs.

Can you tell me what these six new words have in common?
Listen to the sound of them: shover, sofer, noheg, soger, mo^er, lovesh

1. They all have only two syllables.

2. The accent is on the last syllable.
3. They all have this sound: o-E, o-E, sho-ver, so-fer, no-heg, so-ger, mo-her, lovesh o-E can you hear this?
Now lets see a complete table for the first verb, break (shover), but first, lets
remember this rule:
In the present there are only 4 inflections for every Hebrew verb:
- Singular for (m), singular for (f), plural for (m) and plural for (f).
What do I mean by that?
I mean that a verb following
I (m), is the same for you (m), and also for he (m), and a verb following
I (f), is the same for you (f), and also for she (f), and a verb following
We (m), is the same for you (m), and also for they (m), and a verb following
We (f), is the same for you (f), and also for they (f).
Break shover
English
Pronouns

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

break/breaking

Ani

shover

I / I am (f)

break/breaking

Ani

shoveret

You / you are (m) break/breaking

Ata

shover

Singular

You / you are (f)

break/breaking

At

shoveret

He / he is (m)

breaks/breakin
g

Hu

shover

She / she is (f)

breaks/breakin
g

Hi

shoveret

We / we are

break/breaking

Anahnu

shovrim

We / we are

break/breaking

Anahnu

shovrot

Plural

You / you are (m) break/breaking

Atem

shovrim

You / you are (f)

break/breaking

Aten

shovrot

They / they
are (m)

break/breaking

Hem

shovrim

They / they are (f) break/breaking

Hen

shovrot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

count/counting

Ani

sofer

I / I am (f)

count/counting

Ani

soferet

You / you are (m) count/counting

Ata

sofer

Count sofer
English
Pronouns
Singular

You / you are (f)

count/counting

At

He / he is (m)

counts/countin
g

Hu

She / she is (f)

counts/countin
g

Hi

soferet

We / we are

count/counting

Anahnu

sofrim

We / we are

count/counting

Anahnu

sofrot

Atem

Plural

You / you are (m) count/counting

You / you are (f)

count/counting

Aten

sofrot

They / they
are (m)

count/counting

Hem

They / they are (f) count/counting

Hen

Drive noheg
English
Pronouns

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

Singular
I / I am (m)

drive/driving

Ani

noheg

I / I am (f)

drive/driving

Ani

noheget

You / you are (m)

drive/driving

Ata

noheg

You / you are (f)

drive/driving

At

He / he is (m)

drives/driving

Hu

She / she is (f)

drives/driving

noheget

We / we are

drive/driving

Anahnu

nohagim

We / we are

drive/driving

Anahnu

nohagot

You / you are (m)

drive/driving

Atem

You / you are (f)

drive/driving

Aten

They / they
are (m)

drive/driving

Hem

They / they are (f)

drive/driving

nohagot

Verb

Hebrew

Hebrew Verb

Plural

Close soger
English

Pronouns

Pronouns

Singular
I / I am (m)

close/closing

Ani

soger

I / I am (f)

close/closing

You / you are (m)

close/closing

Ata

You / you are (f)

close/closing

At

sogeret

He / he is (m)

closes/closing

Hu

soger

She / she is (f)

closes/closing

sogeret

We / we are

close/closing

Anahnu

We / we are

close/closing

Anahnu

sogrot

You / you are (m)

close/closing

sogrim

You / you are (f)

close/closing

Aten

They / they
are (m)

close/closing

Hem

sogrim

They / they are (f)

close/closing

Hen

sogrot

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

sell/selling

Ani

I / I am (f)

sell/selling

moheret

Plural

Sell moher
English
Pronouns

Singular

You / you are (m)

sell/selling

Ata

moher

You / you are (f)

sell/selling

At

He / he is (m)

sells/selling

She / she is (f)

sells/selling

Hi

We / we are

sell/selling

Anahnu

We / we are

sell/selling

mohrot

You / you are (m)

sell/selling

You / you are (f)

sell/selling

Aten

They / they
are (m)

sell/selling

mohrim

They / they are (f)

sell/selling

Hen

Verb

Hebrew
Pronouns

Hebrew Verb

I / I am (m)

wear/wearing

I / I am (f)

wear/wearing

loveshet

You / you are (m)

wear/wearing

You / you are (f)

wear/wearing

At

Plural

Wear lovesh
English
Pronouns
Singular

He / he is (m)

wears/wearing

Hu

She / she is (f)

wears/wearing

We / we are

wear/wearing

Anahnu

We / we are

wear/wearing

You / you are (m)

wear/wearing

You / you are (f)

wear/wearing

They / they
are (m)

wear/wearing

lovshim

They / they are (f) wear/wearing

Plural

Hebrew lessons: Day 49

VOCABULARY
Darkness and Light
In our previous lesson we talked about holiday hag, about vacation
hufsha and also about freedom hofesh.
Today, we will talk about the holiday seasons.
In our next lesson, on January 6th, 2011 we will have a long refresher and then we
will start our second year of studying Hebrew, using Heblish. Next year (bashana
habaa) we will delve deeper into Hebrew.
Todays menu: Darkness and Light

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Today (hayom), we will talk about one of the main elements of this holiday
season light.
In the colder climates where it snows, there is nothing quite as beautiful as a cold
winter night with snow on the ground and twinkling lights on the trees and
houses.
During Hanukkah we light the candles of the menorah (hanukiya) every day, and
the name of that holiday is hag haurim.
I know that Muslims also have a holiday of lights, Id El Adha, during this time of
the year.
Why?
Why are our holidays during this time of the year full of lights?
The answer is hahasheha the darkness.
In ancient times, before electricity was invented the darkness appeared very
early and the sun rose late in the morning, exactly as we have today. But back
then, the days were very dark, too (no lights at home, no lights in the street, no
lights in stores, you get the picture)
Therefore, most religions used light as a way to express happiness (simha).
Dark
We have already seen that darkness is hasheha in Hebrew.
For dark we say hosheh.
The funny thing is that hasheha (darkness) is feminine and hosheh (dark) is
masculine.
Light
For light we say or (m).
Here are some words pertaining to light/s:
Light or (plural orot)
Lighting (illumination) teura
Lamp menora (plural menorot)

Hebrew lessons: Day 41

VOCABULARY
Vocabulary
Shalom haverim (hello friends),
In our previous lessons we learned some new verbs and short sentences like
what are you doing?, Im eating, what happened? etc

Todays menu: Weather

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Summer
You say summer and I say kaits.
Last summer was very hot. We can see that year after year the weather seems
to get hotter. We can all help the quality of our environment by practicing being
green recycling, driving cars with lower emissions, etc.
* Quality of the environment eihut hasviva, in Hebrew.
So, kaits has ended and autumn is here.

Autumn / Fall
For autumn we say stav.
Stav in Israel is very short. It only lasts about a month, or less.
I like this season (ona) because its not too hot and not too cold, you can breathe
and feel alive.
The only problem here is that our government returned to standard time very
early. That means it is dark here at 5 P.MI dont like that.

Winter
For winter we say horef.
When I was a child (kshehaiti yeled), we had a lot of rain here during the horef. I
remember we sailed paper ships in the puddles, or walked with boots, but today
we only have a real ^oref maybe once in five years. It seems like we mostly have
rainless years.
Thats bad, but any problem can also be an opportunity to invent and develop
new ideas and technology.
Of course there are many ways to create water, like water desalination
(hatpalat maim). Fifteen years ago I invented a way to make water from the air,
but I found that someone invented that six months before me

Spring
For spring we say aviv.
Aviv is the favorite season (ona) almost everywhere in the world.

As Passover symbolizes a beginning (the Exodus yetsiat mitsraim, in Hebrew),

and Aries is the first symbol of the Zodiac (galgal hamazalot), spring (haaviv)
symbolizes a beginning it is no wonder that they are both in the same season.
BTW, another name of Passover is hag haaviv (the holiday of the spring).

Weather
For weather we say mezeg avir.
In Hebrew, when a sentence has two nouns in close proximity, like
mezeg + avir, and you want to emphasize the weather, you should use the
ha sound before the second noun, like this mezeghaavir, not hamezeg
avir.

It looks like weve learned only 5 words today:

Kaits summer
Stav autumn
Horef winter
Aviv spring
Mezeg avir weather
But weve learned more:
Ona season
Eihut hasviva quality of the environment
Kshehaiti when I was
Yeled child
Hatpalat maim water desalination theres one you wont use very often.
Yetsiat mitsraim the Exodus
Galgal hamazalot the Zodiac
Hag holiday

Hebrew lessons: Day 30

VOCABULARY
Vocabulary
Well continue to enrich our vocabulary.
In our previous lesson we learned the words for: flower (perah), plastic bag
(sakit), stem (givol), vase (agartal) and bouquet (zer).

Todays menu: Vocabulary

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Flight
For flight you should say tisa in Hebrew.
My flight number is 714 mispar hatisa sheli 714. (number mispar, my
sheli)
(Talking to a woman) What is your flight number? ma
mispar hatisa shelah?
(Your, when talking to a women is shelah, when talking to a man, it
is shelha.
We learned mine, your, his and her in Lesson 21).
My flight number is the same mispar hatisa sheli hu oto davar. (my or
mine is sheli, the same oto davar).

Airplane
For airplane or plane you should say matos in Hebrew.
This is our plane ze hamatos shelanu. (our shelanu)
Our plane is very big hamatos shelanu gadol meod. (big gadol, very
meod)

Luggage and suitcase

For suitcase you should say mizvada in Hebrew, but for suitcases or for
luggage you should say mizvadot, which is the plural of mizvada.
Hey, where is my red suitcase? hey, eifo hamizvada haaduma sheli? (red
adom (m), aduma (f))
Oh, sorry, I took your suitcase oh, sliha, lakahti et hamizvada shelah.
Thanks very much toda raba.
(talking to a taxi driver) Hi, here is my luggage shalom (or hi), hine
hamizvadot sheli.

English

Hebrew/Heblish
Singular

Hebrew/Heblish
Plural

flight

tisa

tisot

airplane or plane

matos (m) (also aviron)

metosim

suitcase

mizvada (f)

mizvadot

luggage

mitan (if its a big box,

mitanim

container or something
big) mizvadot
big

gadol (m), gdola (f)

gdolim (m), gdolot (f)

red

adom (m), aduma (f)

adumim (m), adumot (f)

the same

oto davar

very

meod

Lesson: Day 6
VOCALIZING
Vocalizing Phonetic Lesson.
This lesson is for your basic Hebrew.
Last week we talked about the sound of the 5 Heblish vowels: A, E, I, O and U.
So, lets see whats going on today?
Todays menu: Strange sounds
In our previous lessons we learned how to pronounce each Heblish vowel. Today
well learn how to pronounce two (actually three) irregular Hebrew letters.
The letter: Tsadey
This letters name is tsadey, it sounds like ts.
Its exactly like the ts of its easy or lets go the same sound, but in
Hebrew we only use one letter to express this sound.
Lets look at some examples, but dont try to learn the Hebrew words not yet,
just try to catch the ts sound:
Egg beitsa
Hawk nets
Matzah matsa
Juice mits

Bracelet tsamid

Het & Haf*

Short introduction:
Hebrew has 22 letters. Two of them, the het and haf, have a strange sound
that will probably be awkward for you to express.
When we want to indicate this sound (the het or haf) in a word in our Heblish
lessons, we will use the character H, because the English alphabet does not
have this sound.
To understand what I mean, lets go to YouTube, to hear some sounds.
Try to learn the sound which Ive marked as h and train yourself to pronounce this
unusual sound.
There are some videos below. Click and listen dont try to learn the Hebrew
words, just listen to the strange sound.
Beetle - hipushit (6 seconds on Youtube)

Lesson: Day 5
VOCALIZING
Vocalizing Phonetic Lesson.
Why Hi and not Shalom?
Because I wanted to show you that here in Israel in a casual setting, like between
friends and family, we usually say hi instead of shalom. Hi, shalom and
sometimes even ahalan (which is an Arab word) are common ways to say hello
in Israel.
Day 5 thats great!
In our previous lesson we talked about the sound of the vowels E and I. If you
dont remember or you missed that lesson, please go back read and listen to the
videos of Lesson 4. It is necessary for all our lessons.

Todays menu: Vowels A, O & U and their sounds

Today, lets continue with our subject Vocalizing, and well learn how to
pronounce the last three Heblish vowels. Well also see where to put the accent in
the words weve learned so far.
Some of you have asked to hear how I pronounce the Hebrew words. You can
find a link to that video in the end of the lesson.
A
Every time you read an a in our Heblish words, you should pronounce it like the
a sound in father, la(the note), balloon and also star.
It is not like the a of air, bad, sand, mail or cat.
When you say a in Heblish, your mouth should be open: like when you say
aaah at the doctors office Well, aa would be pretty good
Now, after you have heard the sound of this letter, here are the words youve
learned with a, and how each word should be accented.
The bold vowels represent the a sound and the underline represents the
accent.
Lehitraot (goodbye)
Laila tov (goodnight)
Toda (thanks or thank you)
Malon (hotel)
Shalom (hello) and
- Bevakasha (please).

O
Every time you read an o in our Heblish words, you should pronounce it like the
o in boy, or, New York,Obama or phone.
It is not like the o of lesson, London or freedom, because you are
swallowing the o for these words.
Up to this point we have learned some words using o, and now well see how
each word should be accented.
The bold vowels represent the o sound and the underline represents the
accent.
- Tov (good)
- Shalom (hello)

- Lehitraot (goodbye)
Boker (morning)
Toda (thanks)
- Eifo (where)
Malon (hotel), and
- Telephone (telephone).

U
Every time you read a u in our Heblish words, you should read it like the u of
Cuba, request, or rule, and also zoo and Jew.
It is not like the u of discuss, sub, Saturday or return.
Up to this point we have learned only one word using u:
- Sherutim (toilet, bathroom).

Lesson: Day 4
VOCALIZING
Vocalizing Phonetic Lesson.
Today, and also in our next two lessons, we will listen to and practice some new
sounds, and also learn how to express some vowels in Heblish.
These three lessons are very, very important, because without these simple
sounds you will not be able to speak Hebrew wellHowever, when you wanted to
return to your hotel you lost your way and asked someone: eifo malon Hilton,
bevakasha. In your hotel you have everything you need, including
a telephone and sherutim.

Todays menu: Vowels E & I and their sounds

Today, well learn how to pronounce these vowels in Heblish. Well also see where
to put the accent in the words weve learned so far.
E

In English, the e has two sounds: e like in egg, or e like in me or we.

For example, in the word delete you can see that the Es have more than one
sound: de-le-te
Every time you read an e in our Heblish words, you should pronounce it like the
e in egg, lesson, letter, Jerusalem, echo or yes.
It is not like the e of we, be, he or meanwhile.

Now, after you have heard the sound of this letter, here are the words youve
learned with e, and how each word should be accented.
The bold vowels represent the e sound and the underline represents the
accent.
- Eifo (where)
Beseder (OK)
- Boker (morning)
- Bevaka - please
Sherutim (toilet, bathroom)
- Telephone (telephone) and
- Lehitraot (goodbye).
I
Every time you read an i in our Heblish words, you should pronounce it like the
i in police, going, loading.
You can hear this sound better in the following words, (even though they have an
e instead of the i): eat, be, we and me.
Watch this short video on YouTube: The sound of the vowel I (18 seconds)

Up to this point we have learned some words using i, and now well see how
each word should be accented.
The bold vowels represent the i sound and the underline represents the accent.
- Lehitraot (goodbye)
Laila tov (goodnight)
Eifo (where) and

- Sherutim (toilet, bathroom).

Hebrew lessons: Day 15

WH QUESTIONS
WH Questions
In our previous lesson we talked about abstract numbers, the three Hebrew
tenses and also learned six new words in the past tense: I wanted (ratsiti), I saw
(raiti), I understood (hevanti), I said (amarti), I took (lakahti), I was (haiti) and I
bought (kaniti
Today we have a WWW lesson which is very cool Well, it wont be exactly
www, so lets start and see whats cooking today
Todays menu: Who, what, when & why
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
I talked about www but there are 5 Ws (who, what, where, when and way), and
we are going to cover the WH Questions today.
You should know one of them from lesson 3, where eifo. Now lets look at the
other four WH Questions.
Who?
The Hebrew word for who is mi. It sounds exactly like the word me in
English.
- Who wants pasta? Mi rotse pasta?
- Who understands? Mi mevin?
- Who bought three dresses? Mi bought shalosh smalot?

What?
The word what is important, especially if your hearing is not very good, like
mine
In Hebrew we say ma, and sometimes eize or eizo depending on the
meaning of the sentence, but today well talk about the common usage of the
question what, which is ma.

Whats new?
The exact translation for whats new is ma hadash, and you will probably hear
Israelis (especially young Israelis) ask ma hadash? But the most common form
of this question is ma nishma. I can promise you that youll also hear ma ko
re, ma holeh, ma hamatsav and ma hainyanim but use ma nishma and
everything will be alright.
Examples for ma:
Whats new? Ma nishma?
Fine, thank you Tov, toda.
We learned that good is tov and now you see that tov can also be used
to say fine.
What time is it / whats the time? Ma hashaa (sha-a)
It is 10:00 a.m. Hashaa eser.
What is this? Ma ze?
It is a book Ze sefer. (Notice that our examples are giving you more words
to learn.)
What did you say? Ma amarta?
I said that its a book Amarti that ze sefer.
Whats your name? Ma shmeh (when asking in the feminine)
My name is Elizabeth Shmi Elizabeth.
Whats your name? ma shimha (when asking in the masculine).
My name is Yaron Shmi Yaron.
Notice that in Hebrew, even though we have a word for is, we dont use it.

When?
The Hebrew word for when is matay or matai.
Examples:
When its my turn Matay tori (turn is tor and my turn is tori)
Talking to a woman

Talking to a man

When were you in Israel?

Matay hait beIsrael?

Matay haita beIsrael?

When do you want the coffee?

Matay at rotsa et
hacaf?

Matay ata rotse et haca

f?

When did you buy the cake?

Matay kanit et hauga?

Matay kanita et hauga?

Why?
The Hebrew word for why is lama.
Why did I buy only one ring? Lama kaniti rak tabaat a^at?
Why is the cake so sweet? Lama hauga so sweet?
Why is the hotel so far away? Lama hamalon so far away?