All About Adjectives – Part II
Free Hebrew lessons – April 2011 – Training – Day 65
Hi !
I really missed you…
Last Thursday we didn’t have a lesson, but the holidays are behind us now, so we can continue with our Heblish course.
In our previous lesson we learned about adjectives. We learned about “good” and “bad” (tov ve’ra), “big” and “small” (gadol ve’katan) and also about “happy” and “sad” (samea^ ve’atsuv).
Today we will continue with some new Hebrew adjectives.
Today’s menu: All About Adjectives – Part II.
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
I want to remind you that, although it’s not so important in English, gender is very important in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew a masculine noun requires a masculine adjective, and a feminine noun requires a feminine adjective.
1)
In English you say heavy.
In Hebrew you should say kaved.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Heavy | kveda | kaved |
In English you say light.
In Hebrew you should say kal.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Light* | kala | kal |
* Of course, in English there is another meaning for “light,” but here we are talking about “light” as opposed to “heavy.”
Example:
– The rock is heavy – Ha’sela kaved, (rock is masculine)
– But this little stone is light – Aval ha’even ha’ktana ha’zot, kala. (Stone (even) is feminine, that’s why we must use the feminine form, “ktana,” for “little”).
In our previous lesson, lesson 64, we learned that “small” is “katan” for (m) and ktana for (f). Now you can see that “little” has the same meaning.
More words: Rock-sela, but-aval, stone-even.
2)
In English you say beautiful.
In Hebrew you should say yafe. I mentioned this word in lesson 2 and in lesson 19.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Beautiful | yafa | yafe |
In English you say ugly.
In Hebrew you should say me^oar.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Ugly | me^oeret | me^oar |
Example:
– The princess is beautiful – Ha’nesi^a yafa,
– But the witch is ugly – Aval ha’me^ashefa me^oeret.
More words: Princess-nesi^a, witch-me^ashefa.
3)
In English you say long.
In Hebrew you should say aro^.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Long | aruka | aro^ |
In English you say short.
In Hebrew you should say katsar.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Short | ktsara | katsar |
Example:
– We had a long vacation – Aita lanu ^ufsha aruka. (Vacation, ^ufsha, is feminine)
– The spring in Israel is short – Ha’aviv be’Israel katsar. (Spring, aviv, is masculine)
More words: Vacation-^ufsha, spring-aviv.
I really like the way we are fleshing out our Heblish knowledge. Soon you will be able to carry on a simple conversation with an Israeli. They may smile at your accent, but they will understand what you are saying, and… if they speak slowly, you will be able to understand them! Hey, I need to definitely teach you how to say “please speak slower” in a future lesson, you’ll need that sentence.
Lehitraot in lesson 66… 😉
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All About Adjectives
Free Hebrew lessons – April 2011 – Training – Day 64
Shalom lekulam (Hi everyone),
In our previous lesson we talked about the future tense and about “you,” and I taught you how to use some verbs in both genders. Thanks, to everyone who sent me sentences using the words from our last lesson. I’m glad to see you are learning so much Hebrew… we are on the right track! 😉
Today we will learn some new Hebrew adjectives.
Today’s menu: All About Adjectives.
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
First, although it’s not so important in English, gender is very important in the Hebrew language. We appreciate our ladies… 😉
So, in Hebrew a masculine noun requires a masculine adjective, and a feminine noun requires a feminine adjective.
1)
In English you say good.
In Hebrew you should say tov. I taught you this word in our first lesson.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Good | Tova | Tov |
In English you say bad.
In Hebrew you should say ra.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Bad | Raa (ra-a) | Ra |
Example:
– This boy is a good boy – Ha’yeled ha’ze hu yeled tov,
– But his brother is bad – Aval a^ shelo ra.
More words: Boy-yeled, but-aval, brother-a^, his-shelo.
2)
In English you say big.
In Hebrew you should say gadol.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Big | Gdola | Gadol |
In English you say small.
In Hebrew you should say katan.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Small | Ktana | Katan |
Example:
– His cake is big – Ha’uga shelo gdola, (uga is feminine, that’s why we must use the feminine form, “gdola,” for “big”)
– So, why is mine small? – Az lama sheli ktana?
More words: Cake-uga, so-az, why-lama, mine – sheli.
3)
In English you say happy.
In Hebrew you should say samea^.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Happy | Sme^a | samea^ |
In English you say sad.
In Hebrew you should say atsuv.
English | Hebrew – Feminine | Hebrew – Masculine |
Sad | Atsuva | Atsuv |
Example:
– Now I have a big cake too, so I am happy – A^shav gam li yesh uga gdola, az ani samea^.
– But why is my brother sad?… – Aval lama a^ sheli atsuv?…
Because I switched our cakes!… 😉
More words: Now-a^shav, I have-yesh li, too-gam.
I think this lesson will really enrich your Hebrew vocabulary; we need adjectives, even simple ones, to bring any language to life. We’ll explore more adjectives in the future.
Next week will be Passover, a very important holiday in Israel (and for Jews everywhere), so we will not have a lesson. Have a blessed week and I’ll see you here on April 28th.
Happy Holidays!
Lehitraot in lesson 65…
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Completion
Free Hebrew lessons – April 2011 – Training – Day 63
Shalom,
In our previous lesson we talked about “you” and “with you,” but only how to speak to a man. In lesson 61 we learned some new words in the future tense, but only how to speak to a woman.
Therefore, today we will learn both genders.
You can also take it as a good refresher for the last two lessons.
Today’s menu: Completion of lessons 61 & 62.
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Words & sentences | Speaking to a woman | Speaking to a man |
Close your eyes | Tisgeri et ha’einaim shela^ | Tisgor et ha’einaim shel^a |
Close | Tisgeri | Tisgor |
Your | Shela^ | Shel^a |
Eyes | Einaim | Einaim (the same) |
And I’ll kiss you | Va’ani anashek ota^ | Va’ani anashek ot^a |
And I | Va’ani | Va’ani (the same) |
I will kiss | Anashek | Anashek (the same) |
You * | Ota^ | Ot^a |
Tomorrow I’ll miss you | Ma^ar etgaagea elai^ | Ma^ar etgaagea ele^a |
Tomorrow | Ma^ar | Ma^ar (the same) |
I will miss | Etgaagea | Etgaagea (the same) |
You * | Elai^ | Ele^a |
* Here you can see that we have the word “you” twice, but in Hebrew it is not the same word. Don’t try to understand the rules for when to use Ota^ for “you” and when to use Elai^ (speaking to a woman). You will learn it from our examples during our Heblish lessons.
You
In Hebrew, “you” is expressed using at least four different word. Today we will learn three of them:
English | Speaking to a woman | Speaking to a man |
You are going | At hole^et | Ata hole^ |
You are handsome/beautiful | At yafa | Ata nae |
Are you drinking coffee? | At shota café? | Ata shote café? |
Where do you live? | Eifo at gara? | Eifo ata gar? |
English | Speaking to a woman | Speaking to a man |
I met you | Pagashti ota^ | Pagashti ot^a |
I see you | Ani roa ota^ (a woman speaking to a woman) | Ani roa ot^a (a woman speaking to a man) |
She photographed you | Hi tsilma ota^ | Hi tsilma ot^a |
He will catch you | Hu itpos ota^ | Hu itpos ot^a |
English | Speaking to a woman | Speaking to a man |
I am going with you | Ani hole^et ita^ (a woman speaking to a woman) | Ani hole^et it^a (a woman speaking to a man) |
She is coming with you | Hi baa ita^ | Hi baa it^a |
They will do that with you | Hem yaasu et ze ita^ | Hem yaasu et ze it^a |
Wow, we learned a lot of new words this week. Putting them all together to make real sentences is fun, isn’t it? Let’s have a challenge – who can send me one sentence using the most words from the tables above… are you up for it?
Next week we will have an easy lesson. Don’t miss it!
Lehitraot in lesson 64…
You are welcome to join our group on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=230884728509.