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Introducing Yourself and Others Posted by on May 15, 2012 in Grammar, Learning Hebrew

Today’s date: 23rd of Iyyar, 5772 כ״ג באייר תשע״ב
38th day of the Omer – ל״ח בעומר


When you first meet someone, what is the first thing you’d say? probably “Hello, my name is…”. This would be the first step in communication and making friends. So let’s start with this first.

Introducing Yourself

We already know the word for “hello” (שלום). To say your name, you’d start off with the word שֵׁםshem (name). As we’ve seen in last week’s post, most nouns are changed slightly when a pronominal suffix is added.

So, we’re going to take the word שֵׁםshem (name), and add on the suffix meaning “my” (do you remember what it is?). Adding the suffix is going to change the pronunciation of the word from “shem” to “shmee” and will look like this: שְׁמִי – “My name”. In Hebrew, as in Arabic, there is no word equivalent to “am”, “is” or “are” in the present tense. Therefore to say “My name is Dan” you’ll be literally saying “My name Dan”. שְׁמִי דָןshmee dahn. You try it with these names:

Example: מִינָה – mee-nah (Mina) – שְׁמִי מִינָה

רָןrahn (Ran / Ron)
דִינָהdee-nah (Dina)
אַנְיָהahn-yah (Anya)
יַנַאיyah-nigh (Yanai)

Formal Introductions

If you have a friend or family member with you and you want to introduce them to someone else, a little formality is in order.

תָכִּירtah-keer – You will know…
בְּבַקָּשָׁהbeh-vah-kah-shah – Please
תָכִּיר בְּבַקָּשָׁהtah-keer beh-vah-kah-shah (Please meet...)

אֶתet – (a preposition indicating the object of the verb)
מַרmahr – Mr., Sir
ווִילִיאַמְסWilliams
אֶת מַר ווִילִיאַמְסeht mahr Williams (this is Mr. Williams)

All together:

תָכִּיר בְּבַקָּשָׁה אֶת מַר ווִילִיאַמְסtah-keer beh-vah-kah-shah, eht mahr Williams


Are you pleased to meet the person? Of course you are, here’s how you let them know:

נָעִיםnah-‘eem (pleasant)
לִיlee (to me)
מְאוֹדmeh-‘od (very)
נָעִים לִי מְאוֹד
Note: this can be shortened to simply נָעִים מְאוֹדnah-‘eem meh-‘od.

לֶהִכִּירleh-ha-keer (to know a person)
אוֹתךָot-khah (to you masculine)
לֶהִכִּיר אוֹתךָ

נָעִים לִי מְאוֹד לֶהִכִּיר אוֹתךָ, מַר ווִילִיאַמְס Pleased to meet you Mr. Williams

This is a very formal way to introduce someone to another. mainly used when introducing someone to someone older than you, or to a Rabbi, etc. Basically use this when showing respect.


Are you introducing a woman? Remember, Hebrew makes use of differences in gender. Notice the changes in the following sentences.

תָכִּירִי בְּבַקָּשָׁה אֶת גְבֶרֶת ווִילִיאַמְס.
נָעִים לִי מְאוֹד לֶהִכִּיר אוֹתֶךְ, גְבֶרֶת ווִילִיאַמְס.

The differences are:

תָכִּירִיtah-kee-ree
אוֹתֶךְot-ehkh
גְבֶרֶתg’-veh-ret / geh-veh-ret

Informal Introductions

If you are introducing someone to a friend or member of your family, you can be a little more informal and use something like “This is…”. Remember to keep the gender issue in mind. Here I’ll show you two common ways to make these introductions:

First, we can use a part of the introduction we learned above
This is … (when introducing a male) – תכיר אתtah-keer eht…
This is … (when introducing a female) – תכירי את tah-kee-ree eht…

תכיר את ציוֹןtah-keer eht tsee-on (This is Zion)
תכיר את מֹשֶׁהtah-keer eht moh-sheh (This is Moses)
תכירי את שָׂרָהtah-kee-ree eht sah-rah (This is Sara)
תכירי את גִילָהtah-kee-ree eht gee-lah (This is Gila)

You can also use זֶהzeh (this is… (masculine)) or זוֹzoh (This is… (feminine)) when introducing someone:

This is my husband – זֶה בַּעַלִיzeh bah-‘ah-lee
This is my son – זֶה בֵּנִיzeh beh-nee
This is my boyfriend – זֶה הַחָבֵר שֶׁלִיzeh hah-khah-ver sheh-lee

This is my wife – זוֹ אִשְׁתִיzoh eesh-tee
This is my daughter – זוֹ בַּתִיzoh bah-tee
This is my girlfriend – זוֹ הַחָבֵרָה שֶׁלִיzoh hah-khah-ver-ah sheh-lee


Introduce these people to your Rabbi (רַבrahb):

Example: Rabbi Kohen, please meet Mr. Karmi – רַב כֹּהֵן, תָכִּיר בְּבַקָּשָׁה אֶת מַר כָרְמִי

1. דִינָהdee-nah (Dina)
2. אִשְׁתִיeesh-tee (my wife)
3. מַר כָרְמִיmahr kahr-mee (Mr. Karmi)
4. יָדִידִיyah-dee-dee (friend)
5. נָתָןnah-tahn (Nathan)

Now introduce these same people to your friend, Dina (דִינָה)
Example: Dina, this is Mr. Karmi – דִינָה, זֶה מַר כָרְמִי

Bonus: Tell them you’re glad to meet them.


Reading Conversation from How are you?

שלום, משה. מה שלומך?
shah-lom moh-sheh, mah shlom-kha? (Hello Moses, how are you?)

תודה רבה. טוב. ומה שלומך?
toh-dah rah-bah, tohv. oo-mah shlom-kha? (I’m fine, thanks, and how are you?)

מה שלומ המשפחה?
mah shlom hah-mish-pah-kha? (How is the family?)

בסדר. מה שלום אשתך?
beh-seh-der. mah shlom eesh-teh-kha? (Fine. How is your wife?)

גם שלומה טוב.
gahm shlo-mah tohv (She’s fine, too.)

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About the Author: Sean Young

Learning languages since 1978 and studying over 50 (achieving fluency in 10). Sean L. Young loves giving tips, advice and the secrets you need to learn a language successfully no matter what language you're learning. Currently studying Hindi and blogging his progress right here at Transparent Language - https://blogs.transparent.com/language-news.


Comments:

  1. sheila price:

    What a wonderful thing you have done here! toda raba