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Free Hebrew lessons – September 2010 – Training – Day 39A

Happy Succot – Succot samea^,

I am really proud of you! I received many e-mails from you and most of the answers were perfect.

Here are the completed tables for lesson 39. 

Break – shover

Count – sofer

Drive – noheg

Close – soger

Sell – mo^er

Wear – lovesh

Lehitraot next Thursday

You are welcome to join our group on Facebook:
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Verbs

Free Hebrew lessons – September 2010 – Training – Day 39

Hi,

When we started our challenge (in our next lesson I will explain why “challenge?…”), I said that I would not give lessons during holidays – yours or mine. However, from the many e-mails you have sent me, I understand how important these lessons are for you, so… even though today is another holiday – Succot, I decided to publish this lesson. 

In our previous lessons we talked about the holidays Rosh Ha’shana and Yom Kippur, but before that, in lesson 36 we learned some verbs in the present tense plural, like: we sit, you sit, they sit -
Ana^nu yoshvim, atem yoshvim, hem yoshvim for masculine,

And: We sit, you sit, they sit:  
Ana^nu yoshvot, aten yoshvot, hen yoshvot for feminine.

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

Today’s 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…

I really want to teach you all of these things and more, but there are many words and concepts to learn, so we must focus on one thing at a time. The solution: each of you can be part of our Heblish group on Facebook and ask me your specific questions there. This would be great for three reasons.  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 I’m not a teacher; I’m 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…

I’m 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 it’s 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)

My suggestion is, copy the tables, solve them and send them to me by e-mail. If you like, you can add more questions regarding Hebrew to your e-mail and I promise to check your homework and answer your questions. So, you will have a private teacher for this lesson…

First, here is the complete persons table:

Let’s learn the new verbs (m):

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-^er, lo-vesh… o-E… can you hear this?

Now let’s see a complete table for the first verb, break (shover), but first, let’s 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

Count – sofer

Drive – noheg

Close – soger

Sell – mo^er

Wear – lovesh

I know…whew!  This lesson covered a lot of ground, but I think we need some repetitive “fill in the blank” work to really cement these basic grammar rules into our minds.  Start with the first table, and I bet by the time you come to the last table you find it is very easy and you will be proud of what you have accomplished.

Now here’s the reason for today’s “DOUBLE” lesson… next Thursday is the second holiday of Succot, so we will not have our regular lesson.  The timing is perfect, because I wanted to give you extra time to work on your homework (the tables). 

I will be monitoring our Free-Hebrew FB Group and looking for your homework in my e-mail, so…. 

Lehitraot in October, in lesson 40 … 40?… Yes, 40

You are welcome to join our group on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=230884728509. 

Holidays

Free Hebrew lessons – September 2010 – Training – Day 38

Shalom ^averim (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 Ha’shana. 
Yom Kippur will be this Saturday.

The ten days between Rosh Ha’shana and Yom Kippur are called “The (Jewish) High Holidays,” – in Hebrew: Ha’yamim Ha’noraim. The literal meaning of “Ha’yamim Ha’noraim 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 Ha’shana we have a fast day (25-26 hours) called Yom Kippur. It’s 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. I’m 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 don’t eat, we don’t work, we don’t turn the lights on or off or use fire of any kind (to light a cigarette, fireplace, etc.), and we don’t 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 (ram’s horn).

That’s it, in brief:  Rosh Ha’shana, Ha’yamim Ha’noraim and Yom Kippur.

Shana Tova and lehitraot for an important lesson next week, lesson 39 …

You are welcome to join our group on Facebook:
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