Imperative in Hebrew: Often the ‘real’ imperative of our language sounds archaic to us, so we use the future instead. Here’s a quick how-to on the Hebrew imperative. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Saper/sapri/sapru – Tell (imp.)! – ספר, ספרי, ספרו Tesaper – You will tell – תספר “Elohim, ten li rak tipat mazal” – God, just give me a bit of luck – אלוהים תן לי רק טיפת מזל “Az titen li shiv’a shkalim” – So just give me 7 shekel then – אז תיתן לי רק שבעה שקלים Ten/tni/tnu! – Give! – תן/תני/תנו “Tni lo perach, tni lo yayin, aval et libech shimri” – Give him ..read more

From face and voice recognition, to identifying with a character from a book, for these and others linguistic uses we utilize the Hebrew root זהה. And how do we say, “Shazam, can you recognize this song?” Guy explains. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Zihuy panim – Face recognition – זיהוי פנים Zihuy plili – Forensics – זיהוי פלילי Mazap, Ma’abada le-zihuy plili – Forensics lab – מעבדה לזיהוי פלילי Mazapnikim – The forensics guys – מז”פניקים Zihuy koli – Voice recognition – זיהוי קולי Lezahot – To identify, to recognize – לזהות Ata lo mezahé oti? At lo m ..read more

The Hebrew word זהות means identity. It’s a word we Israelis use many times throughout the day, like any time we call customer service in Israel. Any guesses as to why? Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Zehut – Identity – זהות “Zehut achat la-boker, achat la-laila” – One identity for the morning, one for the night – זהות אחת לבוקר, אחת ללילה Teudat zehut – ID – תעודת זהות, ת.ז Teudat zehut biometrit hachama – A smart biometric identity card – תעודת זהות ביומטרית חכמה Ha-meginim al zehutenu – Which protect our identity – המגינים על זהותנו Mispar zehut – ID ..read more

It happens to all of us: we have a task to accomplish and we promise ourselves to do it right after this one last thing. So how did an entire week pass by so quickly and yet we’re staring at an even longer to-do list? Let’s talk about procrastination in Hebrew. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Dachyanoot – Procrastination – דחיינוּת Dachyan, dachyanit – Procrastinator – דחיין, דחיינית “Ha-yom ulai nidche et bo ha-laila” – Today we might postpone the arrival of the night – היום אולי נדחה את בוא הלילה Dachinu – We postponed, we delayed – דחינו Lidchot – To ..read more

Why do we sometimes repeat the same word twice in Hebrew? Mashu-mashu, gever-gever, for example. Today we’ll talk about reduplication in Hebrew and… about Belize. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Le’at le’at – Slowly – לאט-לאט Mashu-mashu – Great – משהו-משהו Ha-lasagna ha-zot, mashu! – This lasagna is amazing! – הלזניה הזאת, משו Ha-lasagna ha-zot, mashu-mashu! – This lasagna is amazing! – הלזניה הזאת, משו משו Gever-gever – Macho – גבר-גבר Hi isha-isha – She’s a real lady – היא אישה-אישה Chaver-chaver – Serious boyfriend – חבר-חבר  “Oh, politika poli ..read more

The Hebrew words להתיישב and לשבת are both translated as ‘to sit down’, but they are not used in the same manner. And how are these words related to the West Bank? Guy explains. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: “Bo maher, hayeshiva kvar hitchila” – Come quick, the meeting has already started – בוא מהר, הישיבה כבר התחילה Lehityashev – To sit down – להתיישב Hu yashav be-bet cafe – He sat in a cafe – הוא ישב בבית קפה Hu hityashev leyadi – He just sat down next to me – הוא התיישב לידי Ksheni mityashev – When I come to sit down – כשאני מתיישב Hityashavti – I ..read more

The word לשבת means to sit, and there’s a plethora of uses for this verb in Hebrew. We’ll be talking about jails and cafes, dog trainers, Ottoman Jews, and restaurant hosts, all in the same episode! Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Yoshev – Sitting – יושב Yoshev al ha-gader – Sitting on the fence – יושב על הגדר Yoshev alai bool – It fits me perfectly – יושב עליי בול Ze yoshev aleicha/alayich bool – It fits you perfectly – יושב עליך/עלייך בול Eich ze yoshev alai? – How does it look? – איך זה יושב עליי Lo yodea, ze lo yoshev alai tov – I don’t know, it doe ..read more

The Hebrew word ארץ means land/country. But it changes when we add prepositions to it. It’s also an important word if you are training your dog to lie on the floor. Guy explains. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Eretz – Land, country – ארץ Eretz Israel – The land of israel – ארץ ישראל Be-khol ha-aretz – All over the country – בכל הארץ Kadur ha-aretz – The earth, the globe – כדור הארץ, כדה”א Shatu’ah – Flat – שטוחַ Boor ve-am ha-aretz – Ignorant – בור ועם הארץ Melah ha-aretz – Salt of the earth – מלח הארץ La-aretz – To Israel – לארץ Izru lahem lachzor la ..read more

There is a lot of talk in Israel about a new עסקת חטופים, hostage exchange. Let's refresh our understanding of the #Hebrew root עסק. So on this rerun episode, Guy discusses the root עסק and introduces us to other nouns we need to know. Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon   New Words and Expressions: Esek – Business, matter – עסק Asakim – Business – עסקים Beit esek – Shop, store – בית עסק Ze lo ha-esek shelcha – It’s none of your business – זה לא העסק שלך Ish asakim – Businessman – איש עסקים Eshet asakim – Businesswoman – אשת עסקים Iskey mazon – Food business – עסקי מזון “Ani be-iskei h ..read more

Here in Israel, we are preparing for our upcoming local elections on Feb. 27th. So this week we are rerunning an episode about the Hebrew word בחירות – elections.   A בחירה is a ‘choice.’ Guy teaches us how to choose, elect, and select in Hebrew, just in time for our local elections on Feb 27th.   New Words and Expressions: Bacharti becha – בָּחַרְתִי בְּךָ Ki banu bacharta ve’otanu kidashta mikol ha’amim – כִּי בָּנוּ בָֹחַרְתָּ וְאוֹתָנוּ קִידַּשְׁתָ מִכֹּל הַעַמִּים Ve-otanu > veoysano – וְאוֹתָנוּ Ha-am ha-nivchar – הַעַם הַנִּבְחָר Bachar, nivchar ..read more