Clock – Part II
Free Hebrew lessons – April 2010 – Training – Day 19:
Shalom le’kol (to all) ha’talmidim (the students),
As I promised you, Michal, the designer of Maagalot Jewelry, has read the painted mandala of the winner and I want to share with you the things she said. This time I will publish it as a “comment” so you can read it at the bottom of this lesson.
In our previous lesson we talked about zman (time), and I showed you how to ask Ma ha’shaa? – (What is the time?). We also mentioned some possible responses, like ha’shaa shalosh (it’s three o’clock), but we could get hundreds of different responses for the simple question, “ma ha’shaa?“…so, today we’ll learn more about time.
We will continue learning about the clock, and we will also learn some new words to enrich our vocabulary.
Today’s menu: Clock & watch, minute, time, hour, quarter, half, fifteen, thirty
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
For the first step today I want to show you the difference between English and Hebrew when referring to time and hour.
In Hebrew we ask: Ma ha’shaa?
Translating this question word-for-word into English will give us: “what is the hour,” because “shaa” is “hour.”
To make sense of this in your mind, please read the following table:
width=”153″ valign=”top”>
| English | Heblish | |
| Hour | Shaa (sha-a) | |
| Time | Zman | |
| I only have an hour | I only have shaa | |
| It will take an hour | It will take shaa | |
| Give me an hour | Give me shaa | |
| I have no time | I have no zman | |
| Time is money | Zman is money | |
| I have a lot of time | I have a lot of zman | |
| What is the time? | Ma ha’shaa? | Why? |
We have learned that “hour” is shaa and “time” is zman. So, why don’t I say “ma ha’zman?” for “what is the time?” The answer is – that’s just the way it is… In English you ask “what is the time?” and in Hebrew I ask “ma ha’shaa?“.
It is not translated word-for-word.
Clock & watch
You say “clock” and “watch,” and I say “shaon.” (m) (plural: sheonim)
– You have a beautiful watch – Yesh la^ shaon yafe.
Note: From time to time I will give you new Heblish words which are not highlighted in blue. This is because it’s not yet time to learn them – but if you have time and a passion to know more Hebrew, here’s an opportunity to learn more words on your own.
More examples:
– There is a big clock on the wall – Yesh shaon gadol al ha’kir.
– My watch doesn’t work – Ha’shaon sheli lo poel.
– Please watch out… no, it’s not the same “watch” 😉
Quarter
You say “quarter” and I say “reva.” (m) (plural: revaim).
– Give me two and one quarter kilos of tomatoes – Ten li shnaim va’reva kilo agvaniot.
– We only have one quarter hour to finish – Yesh lanu rak reva shaa lesayem.
Let’s see how to say this: It is 7:15 –
For 7:15 you say “it is quarter pa
st 7” or “it is seven fifteen.” Let’s see how I say it. It is not quite the same.
You say “It is quarter past 7” when the meaning is: “it is quarter after 7.” In Hebrew we say “the time is 7 and a quarter:” Ha’shaa sheva va’reva. Let’s take it step by step:
| The time is 7:15 | Meaning | How to say – 2 possibilities |
| It is quarter past 7 | The time is 7 and a quarter | Ha’shaa sheva va’reva |
| Or just | ||
| Sheva va’reva |
Minute
You say minute and I say daka (f) (plural: dakot).
– I have two minutes until I leave – Yesh li shtey dakot laazov.
When you say “it is seven fifteen” you don’t add the word “minutes” at the end of the sentence – but since I do add it, let’s see how that looks:
| The time is 7:15 | How to say – 3 possibilities |
| It is seven fifteen | Ha’shaa sheva ve’^amesh-esre dakot |
| Ha’shaa sheva ve’^amesh-esre | |
| Sheva ve’^amesh-esre |
Let’s see how to say: It is 7:30 –
For 7:30 you say “it is half past 7” or “it is seven thirty.” Let’s see how I say it.
– “It is half past 7” means “it is half an hour after 7 o’clock”. We say “the time is 7 and a half:” Ha’shaa sheva va’^etsi. Let’s take it step by step:
width=”138″ valign=”top”>The time is 7:30
| Meaning | How to say – The possibilities | |
| It is half past 7 | The time is 7 and a half | Ha’shaa sheva va’^etsi |
| Or just | ||
| Sheva va’^etsi * | ||
| It is seven thirty | Ha’shaa sheva ve’shloshim dakot | |
| Ha’shaa sheva ve’shloshim | ||
| Sheva ve’shloshim ** |
* This is the useful answer.
** If you want to use proper Hebrew, you should say: Sheva u‘shloshim.
In the next lesson I will give you a boring table showing the first shloshim dakot (30 minutes), which I will add to the Numbers tab. Maybe it will be too much for you to learn, but it is also a great opportunity to learn the numbers 13 through 29 which we have not learned yet.
Lehitraot in lesson 20…
