Free Hebrew lessons – April 2010 – Training – Day 19:

Shalom le’kol (to all) ha’talmidim (the students),

As I promised you, Michal, the designer of Maagalot Jewelry, has read the painted mandala of the winner and I want to share with you the things she said. This time I will publish it as a “comment” so you can read it at the bottom of this lesson.

In our previous lesson we talked about zman (time), and I showed you how to ask Ma ha’shaa? – (What is the time?). We also mentioned some possible responses, like ha’shaa shalosh (it’s three o’clock), but we could get hundreds of different responses for the simple question, “ma ha’shaa?“…so, today we’ll learn more about time.

We will continue learning about the clock, and we will also learn some new words to enrich our vocabulary.

Today’s menu: Clock & watch, minute, time, hour, quarter, half, fifteen, thirty

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

For the first step today I want to show you the difference between English and Hebrew when referring to time and hour.
In Hebrew we ask: Ma ha’shaa?
Translating this question word-for-word into English will give us: “what is the hour,” because “shaa” is “hour.” 
To make sense of this in your mind, please read the following table:

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We have learned that “hour” is shaa and “time” is zman.  So, why don’t I say “ma ha’zman?” for “what is the time?”  The answer is – that’s just the way it is… In English you ask “what is the time?” and in Hebrew I ask “ma ha’shaa?“.
It is not translated word-for-word.

Clock & watch

You say “clock” and “watch,” and I say “shaon.” (m) (plural: sheonim)

- You have a beautiful watch – Yesh la^ shaon yafe.
Note: From time to time I will give you new Heblish words which are not highlighted in blue.  This is because it’s not yet time to learn them - but if you have time and a passion to know more Hebrew, here’s an opportunity to learn more words on your own.  

More examples:
   – There is a big clock on the wall – Yesh shaon gadol al ha’kir.
   – My watch doesn’t work – Ha’shaon sheli lo poel.
   – Please watch out… no, it’s not the same “watch” 

Quarter

You say “quarter” and I say “reva.” (m) (plural: revaim).

   – Give me two and one quarter kilos of tomatoes – Ten li shnaim va’reva kilo agvaniot.
   – We only have one quarter hour to finish – Yesh lanu rak reva shaa lesayem.

Let’s see how to say this: It is 7:15 -
For 7:15 you say “it is quarter pa
st 7″ or “it is seven fifteen.” Let’s see how I say it. It is not quite the same.
You say “It is quarter past 7″ when the meaning is: ”it is quarter after 7.”  In Hebrew we say “the time is 7 and a quarter:” Ha’shaa sheva va’reva. Let’s take it step by step:

Minute

You say minute and I say daka (f) (plural: dakot).

- I have two minutes until I leave – Yesh li shtey dakot laazov.
When you say “it is seven fifteen” you don’t add the word “minutes” at the end of the sentence – but since I do add it, let’s see how that looks:

Let’s see how to say: It is 7:30 -
For 7:30 you say “it is half past 7″ or “it is seven thirty.” Let’s see how I say it.
- “It is half past 7″ means “it is half an hour after 7 o’clock”. We say “the time is 7 and a half:” Ha’shaa sheva va’^etsi. Let’s take it step by step:

* This is the useful answer.

 ** If you want to use proper Hebrew, you should say: Sheva u‘shloshim.

In the next lesson I will give you a boring table showing the first shloshim dakot (30 minutes), which I will add to the Numbers tab. Maybe it will be too much for you to learn, but it is also a great opportunity to learn the numbers 13 through 29 which we have not learned yet.

Lehitraot in lesson 20…

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

Clock – Part I

Free Hebrew lessons – April 2010 – Training – Day 18:

Shalom,

This is a special week.  Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Ha’Shoa) was on Monday, the IDF Fallen Remembrance Day (Yom Ha’zikaron) is next Monday, and Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha’atsmaut) is on Tuesday.

In Israel, sadness and happiness sometimes come together, like Yom Ha’atsmaut following Yom Ha’zikaron, because we know that we wouldn’t be safe and happy without the sacrifice of those who fell in battle. But I’m sure that’s not just in Israel. In another example, one day you can receive good news and be happy all day, and the next day you can lose your beloved dog…

That’s life. In Israel we have a saying: Time buries the sadness beside the dead.

In our previous lesson we talked about directions. We read Judy’s story and learned some new words like “yesh” for “there is,” “az” for “so” and “then,” “^anut” for “store” and “shop” and some other words like “bank,” “supermarket” and “misada” (restaurant).

If we return to the sentence “time buries the sadness beside the dead,” we can see how much “time” (zman, in Hebrew) controls our life. That’s why our lesson today will be about “time…”

Today’s menu: Clock

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

In Hebrew lesson 11 we learned the numbers 1-12, and I kept that table for you here, at the Numbers tab.

When talking about “time,” we use feminine numbers.

The time is

For “the time is one o’clock” or “it is one o’clock” we say ha’shaa a^at.

Examples:
   – What is the time? – Ma ha’shaa? (sha-a)
   – It’s two o’clock. – Ha’shaa shtaim (or just shtaim).

   – When? – Matay?
   – At three o’clock – Be’shaa shalosh (or just be’shalosh).

   – What time is breakfast? – Matay aru^at ha’boker? (breakfast – aru^at boker)
   – Breakfast is at 8:00 A.M. – Aru^at ha’boker be’shmone.

You use A.M. and P.M., but we don’t. If breakfast is at 8 it can’t be at night, so we don’t use A.M. – but if there is any doubt, we add the following words: Boker (morning), tsohoraim (noon), a^ar ha’tsohoraim (afternoon), erev (evening) and laila for night.

The table above is general (approximate).

Let’s see more examples:
- I finish work at 5:00 P.M. – Ani finish work be’^amesh.

- Please call me at 7:00 P.M. – Bevakasha call me Be’shaa sheva ba’erev.

- I have an appointment at 11:00 A.M. – I have an appointment be’a^at-esre.

- The mail comes at 9:00 A.M. – The mail comes be’tesha.

- The restaurant opens at 1:00 P.M. – Ha’misada opens be’a^t (you can add ba’tsohoraim if it’s not clear that you mean to say 1:00 P.M.).

- The bank closes at 6:00 P.M. – Ha’bank closes be’shesh.

Note:  Remember that it is acceptable to omit the word “shaa.”
If we talk about six o’clock, for example, we can say “be’shaa shesh” or just “be’shesh,” exactly as you say “at six o’clock” or just “at six.”
 

It was a short lesson and I think it was easy – this time…  

Lehitraot in lesson 19…

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