Free Hebrew lessons – April 2010 – Training – Day 17:

Shalom and hi everybody,

Last Thursday we didn’t have a lesson, but the holidays are behind us now so we can continue with our Heblish course.

Before Pesa^, I asked one of my designers, Michal Fishel, to create a Mandala especially for my friends – for you. Michal is a good friend and she made the effort and created something very special for you to paint. Some of you took up the challenge and sent me beautiful painted mandalas.

As I promised you, I made a raffle and chose one of your mandalas, which I sent to Michal to read.  The winner will receive the results next week. If the winner gives me permission, I will publish the mandala and the results of Michal’s reading. As a way of saying “thank you” to Michal Fishel, please click here to see her beautiful maagalot jewelry.

In our previous lesson we talked about stations, sides and directions: “yamina” for go “to the right,” “smola” for go “to the left” and “yashar” for go “straight ahead”.

Today’s menu: Then/so, there is, shop/store & some more places

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Today we’ll take a short story written by one of you (thanks, Judy) and mark the Heblish words (in blue, as usual) which we have already learned.

Afterwards we will learn some new words about places. From now on I hope to teach you at least 5 new nouns in every lesson.

Note:  The “story” lesson below is another way to teach you Hebrew and I would be glad to get your comments about this method.

OK, let’s start:
“My Trip to Atlanta” by Judy Short:

Good morning.  I want to tell you about my day.  I wanted to go shopping, so I went to the bus station where I took bus number 4 to Atlanta.  When I arrived I saw a woman and I said “excuse me, where is a good store?”  She said “go right, turn left at the traffic lights, then go straight ahead to Peachtree Street.  There is a fine store on the corner.”  I said “thanks a lot.”

Let’s see how many words we already know in Hebrew, by replacing the English words with Heblish words. (If you have time, try doing that by yourself before reading further…)

Good morning.  I want to tell you about my day.  I wanted to go shopping, so I went to the bus station where I took bus number 4 to Atlanta.  When I arrived I saw a woman and I said “excuse me, where is a good store?”  She said “go right, turn left at the traffic lights, then go straight ahead to Peachtree Street.  There is a fine store on the corner.”  I said “thanks a lot.”

Boker tov.  Ani rotsa to tell you about my day.  Ratsiti to go shopping, so I went to the ta^anat otobus, where laka^ti otobus mispar arba to Atlanta.  When I arrived raiti a woman ve’amarti “Sli^a, eifo is a good store?”  She said “le^i yamina, tifni smola at the ramzorim, then le^i yashar to Peachtree Street.  There is a fine store on the corner.”  Amarti “toda raba.”

First, you can be proud of yourself. Do you see how much Hebrew you already know? I think that’s great!

Now, let’s learn some new words from the story.

A store/ a shop
You say “store” and I say ^anut.

Our story mentioned “good store” and “fine store.”  We have already learned that the word for “good” or “fine” is tov, but tov is for masculine nouns…
When we want to describe feminine nouns as “good” or “fine”, we use the word tova.  Therefore “good store” is “^anut tova” and “good hotel” (hotel is masculine) is “malon tov.”

Let’s see some examples:

There is
In lesson 10 we learned how to say “there is no,” which is ein.
For “there is” we say yesh.

Then / so
For “then” and “so” there are at least two different words in Hebrew. Today we’ll learn the word az, meaning “then” or “so.”

Examples:
   – Turn left and then go straight – Talking to a man: Pne smola ve’az le^ yashar.
   – If the dress is good for her then I want two dresses – a woman says: If ha’simla tova bishvila az ani rotsa shtey smalot.
   – The cake is good, so I want three cakes – a man says: Ha’uga tova, az ani rotse shalosh ugot.

Recall this sentence and video from Lesson 14:
   – I said (that) I took two dresses but I also wanted a ring, so I bought two dresses and one ring.
   – Amarti that laka^ti shtey smalot, but ratsiti gam tabaat, az kaniti shtey smalot ve’tabaat a^at.

Here is Judy’s story again:
Boker tov.  Ani rotsa to tell you about my day.  Ratsiti to go shopping, az I went to the ta^anat otobus where laka^ti otobus mispar arba to
Atlanta.  When I arrived raiti a woman ve’amarti “Sli^a, eifo yesh ^anut tova?”  She said “le^i yamina, tifni smola at the ramzorim, az le^i yashar to Peachtree Street.  Yesh ^anut tova on the corner.”  Amarti “toda raba.”

Places:
Let’s learn about some more places:

It would be great if you want to send me your own short story, based on our previous lessons. Maybe I’ll use it in one of our next lessons, as I did with Judy’s story.

You can also ask any questions you have through the “Comments” box below and I’ll respond, or maybe we’ll use our Heblish group to discuss it. I look forward to our next meeting, in lesson 18.

Lehitraot

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Free Hebrew lessons – March 2010 – Training – Day 16:

^ag Samea^ – Happy holidays,

What are we going to do a few days before Passover?  Our home is almost clean for Pesa^ (Passover), ve’kaniti matanot (and I bought gifts) for my family, so now I have enough time to sit and write a new lesson.

In our previous lesson we talked about the questions “ma” – (what), “lama” – (why), “mi” – (who), and “matay” – (when).

Today’s menu: Sides, stations & directions

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

When we go out to shop or just to sightsee, we must be prepared for the answers of the local citizens when we ask “eifo” (where) something is located. (You already learned the word “eifo” in lesson 3.)

So before we go out, let’s learn some new words.

Station – ta^ana.

* When we say “station,” meaning a station of something, like a train station or bus station (in the proximity), the word is – ta^anat.

- Where is the bus station, please? – Eifo ta^anat ha’otobus, bevakasha?

Pay attention to the fact that we are using the proximity form of the word (ta^anat) for “station,” instead of “ta^ana“.

Lama (why) are we doing that?

Because the word order of the Hebrew sentence is literally: Where is the station of the bus – Eifo ta^anat ha’otobus?

Let’s talk about sides and directions:

- Where is the taxi station, please? – Eifo ta^anat ha’moniyot, bevakasha? (moniyot is plural – the plural form is used when talking about a “taxi station”).

- Where is the train station, please? – Eifo ta^anat ha’rakevet, bevakasha? (rakevet is singular).

Answers:

The table above gives the most common responses to your question about directions.  However, you could hear either of the words in the table below for the words “go” and “turn.”  This is not a mistake, just another way to say the words “go” and “turn,” so you should know they exist. 

Next Thursday (April 1) we won’t have a lesson because of Passover…  We will meet again on Thursday, April 8.

Happy Easter and happy Passover to all of you!

Lehitraot in Lesson 17.

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