Free Hebrew lessons – July 2010 – Training – Day 31:

Shalom le’kulam (hi everybody),

In our previous lesson we learned the words for: flight (tisa), plane (matos), suitcase (mizvada), luggage (mizvadot) and some other words like big, the same, very and red.

Remember, after we learn a new word, I place it in our Dictionary.

Today we will learn an important preposition in Hebrew.
Are you ready?

Today’s menu: Preposition “from”

Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.

From

For from you should say “min” in Hebrew.
- I took the keys from the car – laka^ti et ha’mafte^ot min ha’oto.
   – I took – laka^ti.
   – Keys – mafte^ot (singular: maftea^ (m) )
   – From – min
   – Car – oto or me^onit.

But, in Hebrew we don’t really say “min.”  We use an abbreviated form, just one letter, to express the word “from,” an “m.”  In Heblish we will need two letters to express “from,” since I want to show you the exact sound.

This letter “m” has two different sounds, “mi” and “me“. If you don’t remember the “e” sound or the “i” sound, please read and listen to lesson 4.

So, when do we use “me” and when do we use “mi” for “from?”  Let’s look at some examples and you will quickly see…
   – I took the book from Susan – laka^ti et ha’sefer mi‘Suzan. *
   – I took a taxi from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem – laka^ti monit mi‘Tel-Aviv le’Yerushalaim.

   – I took the book from the library – laka^ti et ha’sefer me‘ha’sifriya.
   – I took a taxi from the station to Jerusalem – laka^ti monit me‘ha’ta^ana le’Yerushalaim.

Let’s see more examples:
   – From Paris to Rome – mi‘Paris le’Roma. *
   – From my brother to my sister – mi‘a^i le’a^oti.
   – The teacher from class A2 – ha’more mi‘kita A2…

   – From the house to the garden – me‘ha’bait la’gan.
   – She gets in from the window – hi ni^nesa pnima me‘ha’^alon.
   – From the first moment… – me‘ha’rega ha’rishon…

* In Hebrew Susan sounds like Suzan, Paris sounds like Paris (pay attention to the accent) and Rome sounds like Roma.

When you look at the examples above you might say “hey, there is a rule here. For the word “from” you use “me” when it comes before a direct object (noun), such as “the” house, “the” station, “the” library, etc.”
Yes, you might say that, but I’m telling you, don’t look for rules. There are rules if you already know Hebrew, but I can’t teach you the rules in Heblish.

One of my friends said: Hebrew makes no sense!
And I say, what can I do, it’s God’s language… 

I showed you some examples and I will give you more in our next lesson. We won’t leave this important preposition without giving you more examples of its usage.

Give me your feedback on our Facebook Group page (link below) and we’ll see if you understand our lesson.

Lehitraot (see you) in lesson 32 …

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