Hebrew Winter Vocabulary Posted by Ayana on Dec 14, 2021
December arrived and winter (חֹורֶף, pronounced as ho-ref) is almost here. The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is marked by the winter solstice, which occurs this year on Tuesday, December 21. Israel enjoys quite a nice weather during the winter. Temperatures mostly stay above freezing; snow usually falls only on the Hermon Mount…
Hebrew Verbs for Dressing Posted by Ayana on Nov 23, 2021
The Hebrew language becomes very specific when it comes to dressing up. It has several verbs for all the clothing items that cover our body. These verbs are not antonyms, because each refers to specific clothing items. It’s a long list, let’s start from head to toe: לַחְבֹּושׁ (pronounced as lach-bosh) refers to head covering…
Hebrew Shopping Vocabulary Posted by Ayana on Nov 9, 2021
הַלָּקוֹחַ תָּמִיד צוֹדֵק (the customer is always right) is a well-known slogan in the fields of commerce and service, which exhorts service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction (שְׂבִיעוּת רָצוֹן). לָקוֹחַ (pronounced as la-ko-ach) is a shopper in a shop, or a client that receives services. לָקוֹחַ is the Hebrew masculine form of…
The Hebrew Verb to Drink Posted by Ayana on Oct 25, 2021
Autumn has come in Israel, and the weather is pretty nice. No more hot humid summer days. As temperatures gradually decrease it is still very important to drink enough water. The Hebrew infinitive of the verb to drink is לׅשְׁתּוֺת (pronounced as lish-tot). For example: לׅשְׁתּוֺת מַיִם זֶה חָשׁוּב. Drinking water is important. אַתָּה רוֺצֶה…
Hebrew Proverbs: Wisdom and Education Posted by Ayana on Oct 13, 2021
Summer vacation is already over; the Jewish holidays of Tishrei are over, too; and about 2.5 million Israeli students (from preschool to high school) are back to school. It’s time to learn three Hebrew proverbs about education, studying and wisdom. לֹא הַבַּיְשָׁן לָמֵד, וְלֹא הַקַּפְּדָן מְלַמֵּד This poetry parallelism mentions two types of persons: a…
Hebrew Words That Don’t Have a Direct Translation in English: Part 2 Posted by Ayana on Sep 27, 2021
In part 1 of this post we discussed three daily words in Hebrew with no direct translation in English. Today we’ll add one more word for the list: חֲבָל. The Hebrew word חֲבָל (pronounced as ha-val) is a useful word to express a variety of emotions. It’s a short word that utters sorrow, disappointment, pity…
Four Must-Know Hebrew Cooking Verbs Posted by Ayana on Sep 13, 2021
Tishrei, the first month in the Hebrew calendar is always busy. It is full of festivals. Four holidays are observed in less than one month: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. The Jewish New Year begins with Rosh Hashanah Seder – a big family dinner; Yom Kippur is actually a fast day, but…