Free Hebrew lessons – December 2010 – Training – Day 49

Shalom,

In our previous lesson we talked about “holiday” – ^ag, about vacation – ^ufsha and also about freedom – ^ofesh.

This year we have had 48 lessons. 
Today, we will talk about the holiday seasons.
In our next lesson, on January 6^th, 2011 we will have a long refresher and then we will start our second year of studying Hebrew, using Heblish. Next year (ba’shana ha’ba’a) we will delve deeper into Hebrew.

Today’s menu: Darkness and Light

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Today (hayom), we will talk about one of the main elements of this holiday season – light.

The holidays at the end of the year include lots of lights. Trees and houses are decorated with lights… white lights, colored lights, twinkling lights, lights in the shape of stars, lights in the shape of reindeer and angels, lights, lights, lights, the more the better.  The electric company is very happy in December.   
In the colder climates where it snows, there is nothing quite as beautiful as a cold winter night with snow on the ground and twinkling lights on the trees and houses.
During Hanukkah we light the candles of the menorah (^anukiya) every day, and the name of that holiday is – ^ag ha’urim. 
I know that Muslims also have a holiday of lights, Id El Ad^a, during this time of the year.

Why?
Why are our holidays during this time of the year full of lights?
The answer is – ha’^ashe^a… the darkness.

In ancient times, before electricity was invented… the darkness appeared very early and the sun rose late in the morning, exactly as we have today. But back then, the days were very dark, too (no lights at home, no lights in the street, no lights in stores, you get the picture…)
Therefore, most religions used light as a way to express happiness (sim^a).

Dark

We have already seen that “darkness” is ^ashe^a in Hebrew.
For “dark” we say ^oshe^.
The funny thing is that ^ashe^a (darkness) is feminine and ^oshe^ (dark) is masculine.
Why? I don’t know… it’s weird.  If you know why, or if you have an idea, share it with us on our FB Group, maybe we can enjoy a laugh.   

Light

For light we say or (m).
Here are some words pertaining to light/s:
Light – or (plural – orot)
Lighting (illumination) – teura
Lamp – menora (plural – menorot)

I probably won’t be able to catch your attention again this year because I know how busy you are during this season, but don’t worry, in January you will need a comfortable chair and a big notebook…

Wishing you, your family and your loved ones a happy holiday season, and of course – Happy New Year!

Lehitraot in lesson 50, January 6^th, 2011…

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I have found your awesome website to learn Heblish! I would like to be added as your friend on Facebook so I can be reminded of new lessons every week. I just started lesson of Day 1 and would like to continue on until I can finally speak the language!  
Thank you for putting up such an excellent source to learn Heblish!! Lehitraot” E.W.

Free Hebrew lessons – October 2010 – Training – Day 41

Shalom ^averim (hello friends), 

In our previous lessons we learned some new verbs and short sentences like “what are you doing?”, “I’m eating,”  ”what happened?” etc…

While I’m writing this lesson on Tuesday evening, my heart is in Chile. Within a few hours they will start the exciting operation of extricating the 33 trapped miners from a depth of about 700 meters under the ground. When you read this on Thursday I hope that everything is over, and the operation will have been a success.

After two “heavy” lessons, I want to give you a light lesson and to talk about the weather.

Today’s menu: Weather 

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Summer
You say summer and I say kaits.

Last summer was very hot. We can see that year after year – the weather seems to get hotter. We can all help the quality of our environment by practicing being “green” – recycling, driving cars with lower emissions, etc. 

* Quality of the environment – ei^ut ha’sviva, in Hebrew.

So, kaits has ended and autumn is here.

Autumn / Fall
For autumn we say stav.

Stav in Israel is very short. It only lasts about a month, or less.

I like this season (ona) because it’s not too hot and not too cold, you can breathe and feel alive.

The only problem here is that our government returned to standard time very early. That means it is dark here at 5 P.M…I don’t like that.

Winter
For winter we say ^oref.

When I was a child (kshe’haiti yeled), we had a lot of rain here during the ^oref. I remember we sailed paper ships in the puddles, or walked with boots, but today we only have a real ^oref maybe once in five years. It seems like we mostly have rainless years.

That’s bad, but any problem can also be an opportunity to invent and develop new ideas and technology.

Of course there are many ways to create water, like water desalination (hatpalat maim).  Fifteen years ago I invented a way to make water from the air, but I found that someone invented that six months before me…

Spring
For spring we say aviv.
Aviv is the favorite season (ona) almost everywhere in the world.

As Passover symbolizes a beginning (the Exodus – yetsiat mitsraim, in Hebrew), and Aries is the first symbol of the Zodiac (galgal ha’mazalot), spring (ha’aviv) symbolizes a beginning… it is no wonder that they are both in the same season.

BTW, another name of Passover is ^ag ha’aviv (the holiday of the spring).

Weather
For weather we say mezeg avir.

In Hebrew, when a sentence has two nouns in close proximity, like “mezeg + avir,” and you want to emphasize “the weather,” you should use the “ha” sound before the second noun, like this ”mezeg ha‘avir“, not “ha’mezeg avir“.

It looks like we’ve learned only 5 words today:
Kaits – summer
Stav – autumn
^oref – winter
Aviv – spring
Mezeg avir – weather

But we’ve learned more:
Ona – season
Ei^ut ha’sviva – quality of the environment
Kshe’haiti – when I was
Yeled – child
Hatpalat maim – water desalination… there’s one you won’t use very often. 
Yetsiat mitsraim – the Exodus
Galgal ha’mazalot – the Zodiac
^ag – holiday

That’s it. We talked about the four seasons we have in a year (shana), and you learned a little bit about mezeg ha’avir and seasons in Israel.  I really hope you all get the chance to visit Israel one day – it is a beautiful country, with friendly people and plenty of history to see and study.

And one more thing before the end of this Hebrew lesson…
After our previous lesson I received three important comments by Bob, Judy and Conny on our Heblish Facebook group. I think that’s it’s a great way to learn more Hebrew. If you haven’t yet joined our Heblish group on Facebook, this is the time to do that (link below).

Lehitraot in lesson 42…

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

Free Hebrew lessons – July 2010 – Training – Day 30:

Hi,

I hope that our American and Canadian friends enjoyed their Independence Days. Next Wednesday it will be our French students’ turn.  Hooray, here comes Bastille Day. Now I need to figure out what I’m gonna buy my wife, because Bastille Day, July 14^th, is also my anniversary… 

Today we’ll continue to enrich our vocabulary. 

In our previous lesson we learned the words for: flower (pera^), plastic bag (sakit), stem (givol), vase (agartal) and bouquet (zer).

Today’s menu: Vocabulary

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

Flight

For flight you should say “tisa” in Hebrew.
   – My flight number is 714 – mispar ha’tisa sheli 714. (number – mispar, my – sheli)
   – (Talking to a woman) What is your flight number? – ma mispar ha’tisa shela^?
     (“Your,” when talking to a women is shela^, when talking to a man, it is shel^a.
      We learned “mine, your, his” and “her” in Lesson 21).
   – My flight number is the same – mispar ha’tisa sheli hu oto davar. (“my” or “mine” is sheli, “the same” – oto davar).

Airplane

For airplane or plane you should say “matos” in Hebrew.
   – This is our plane – ze ha’matos shelanu. (our – shelanu)
   – Our plane is very big – ha’matos shelanu gadol meod. (big – gadol, very – meod)

Luggage and suitcase

For suitcase you should say “mizvada” in Hebrew, but for “suitcases” or for “luggage” you should say “mizvadot,” which is the plural of mizvada.  
   – Hey, where is my red suitcase? – hey, eifo ha’mizvada ha’aduma sheli? (red – adom (m), aduma (f))
   – Oh, sorry, I took your suitcase – oh, sli^a, laka^ti et ha’mizvada shela^.
   – Thanks very much – toda raba.
   – (talking to a taxi driver) Hi, here is my luggage – shalom (or hi), hine ha’mizvadot sheli.

I don’t know about you, but after all that talk of “flights” and “suitcases,” I’m ready to jump on an airplane and go somewhere!  Why don’t you write to me through our Facebook Group and tell me where you would like to travel… ;-)

Lehitraot in lesson 31 …

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http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=230884728509.