Now that you got the invitation to someone’s home, you’ve arrived! But, before you go in the door, there are a few things to keep in mind.

You can never go wrong with bringing a מַתָּנָה. The perfect choices would be flowers or a bottle of יַיִן כָּשֵׁר. Gifts can be in the $5 – $15 (USD) range. Anything $20 or more would be too much.

Don’t think you’re there to eat, chat a little and you’re off. No, dinner at someone’s home will usually last the entire evening. Oh, and while you’re there, you never discuss business at someone’s home – you’re there to relax and enjoy the time, not worry about tomorrow’s sales.

Okay, now that we have that done, let’s go in and have some אֲרוּחַת עֶרֶב. Your host will greet you at the door and may tell you:

Please, make yourself at home
(בְּבַקָּשָׁה) תַּרְגִּישׁ בַּבַּית – said to a man
(בְּבַקָּשָׁה) תַּרְגִּישִׁי בַּבַּית – said to a woman
(בְּבַקָּשָׁה) תַּרְגִּישׁוּ בַּבַּית – said to a group of people

Remember what was written in the post on getting an invitation – the gender of the sentence changes when you’re speaking to/with a man or woman? It applies here too. Look at the endings of the word הרגיש:

to a man – תַּרְגִּישׁ
to a woman – תַּרְגִּישִׁי
to a group – תַּרְגִּישׁוּ

Grammar alert!

Look at that again – the word הרגיש, meaning ‘to feel’, begins with the letter hey (ה), but in the sentence, it begins with a tav (ת). This is due to the host making a request – that you come in the house. This is a way of using the future tense of a verb to make requests. This changing of hey to tav is also coupled with the ending (compare them with these:

תּ… for men,
תּ…י for women and
תּ…וּ for a group).

Now that you’re inside the house, give them a compliment (everyone likes to hear how beautiful their home is)…

What a beautiful home! – אֵיזֶה בַּיִת יָפֶה!
You have a beautiful home – יֵשׁ לָכֶם בַּיִת יָפֶה!

You make be asked to sit either in the waiting/living area until dinner is served,

Please take a seat:
בְּבַקָּשָׁה, שֵׁב.
בְּבַקָּשָׁה, שְׁבִי.

Or you may seat yourself:
Is this seat taken? – הַמּוֹשָׁב הַזֶה תָּפוּס?
Is this seat free? – הַמּוֹשָׁב הַזֶה פָּנוּי?

The use of הַזֶה is optional. It means “this”, so you can actually say המושׁב תפוס/פנוי? and still be correct in an idiomatic way. Trust me, you’ll sound more fluent in Hebrew when you use idioms. It’s up to you.

Okay, so now we made it to the house and it’s time to eat! Are you ready? Good, because אני רעב!