At and on
Free Hebrew lessons – January 2011 – Training – Day 53
Shalom ^averim, (Hello friends)
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp from WWII. Of course, this is a very important day in Israel, and to Jews all over the world. Please join me in celebrating the courage and strength of Holocaust survivors everywhere.
In our previous lesson we mentioned the Tu Bi’shvat holiday and talked about “in” and “on.”
We have learned that “on,” which indicates position, is “al” in Hebrew. We also learned when to use “be” and “ba” instead of “in.”
Here I have to admit that in the case of “in, on” and “at,” Hebrew and English act differently. It is not like comparing apple to apple, but I want to show you how we use these words, so at least you get an idea how they work in Hebrew.
Today we will continue to talk about “at” and “on.”
Today’s menu: At & on
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
At & be
In our previous lesson I gave you some examples for “in” and “be,” as in: “There is an elephant in a zoo – Yesh pil be‘gan ^ayiot“. Here are some examples for “at” and “be“:
– I woke up at nine – Hitorarti be‘tesha (I woke up – hitorarti – hit-o-rar-ti).
– She will come at five – Hi tavo be‘^amesh (will come (f) – tavo).
Here you can see that when we are talking about “time” we use “be” instead of “at.”
At & ba
One of the concepts we learned last week was “in the” and “ba.”
I also gave you some examples for “in the” and “ba,” such as: “She will come in the morning – Hi tavo ba‘boker.”
When we say “she will come”: In the morning / at noon or at night, we use “ba,” since the “at” for “noon” and “night” is actually “in the,” like you use in English for “in the morning.”
– She will come in the morning – Hi tavo ba‘boker.
– She will come at noon – Hi tavo ba‘tsohoraim.
– She will come at night – Hi tavo ba‘laila.
On & ba
– I saw a great movie on TV – Raiti seret tov ba‘televizia (movie – seret).
– I’m on my bed – Ani ba‘mita sheli (bed – mita)
– I am talking on the telephone – Ani medaberet ba‘telephone.
On & ba/be
– I have a test on Tuesday – Yesh li miv^an be‘yom shlishi.
– She will come on June 13 – Hi tavo ba’13 be‘Yuni (June – Yuni. In Hebrew we put the day before the month).
Summary
We have seen that “at” can be either “be” or “ba” in Hebrew, and I can tell you that sometimes we use “etsel” instead of “at,” as in: “I will be at Susan’s – Ani eheye etsel Susan“…
Confusing?
Yes, it is confusing.
As I said last week, “When I write in English, I make a lot of mistakes when using “in” and “on””, but that’s life – nothing is perfect, and it is the same with the translation between languages.
Lehitraot in lesson 54…
