Directions
Free Hebrew lessons – March 2010 – Training – Day 16:
^ag Samea^ – Happy holidays,
What are we going to do a few days before Passover? Our home is almost clean for Pesa^ (Passover), ve’kaniti matanot (and I bought gifts) for my family, so now I have enough time to sit and write a new lesson.
In our previous lesson we talked about the questions “ma” – (what), “lama” – (why), “mi” – (who), and “matay” – (when).
Today’s menu: Sides, stations & directions
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
When we go out to shop or just to sightsee, we must be prepared for the answers of the local citizens when we ask “eifo” (where) something is located. (You already learned the word “eifo” in lesson 3.)
So before we go out, let’s learn some new words.
Station – ta^ana.
| Singular | Plural | Proximity | |
| Station | Ta^ana | Ta^anot | Ta^anat * |
| Bus | Otobus | Otobusim | |
| Taxi | Monit | Moniyot | |
| Train | Rakevet | Rakavot |
* When we say “station,” meaning a station of something, like a train station or bus station (in the proximity), the word is – ta^anat.
– Where is the bus station, please? – Eifo ta^anat ha’otobus, bevakasha?
Pay attention to the fact that we are using the proximity form of the word (ta^anat) for “station,” instead of “ta^ana“.
Lama (why) are we doing that?
Because the word order of the Hebrew sentence is literally: Where is the station of the bus – Eifo ta^anat ha’otobus?
Let’s talk about sides and directions:
| Sides | Examples | ||
| Left | Smol | Left hand | Yad smol |
| Right | Yamin | Right side | Tsad yamin |
| Straight | Yashar |
| Directions | |
| To the left | Smola |
| To the right | Yamina |
| Straight | Yashar |
– Where is the taxi station, please? – Eifo ta^anat ha’moniyot, bevakasha? (moniyot is plural – the plural form is used when talking about a “taxi station”).
– Where is the train station, please? – Eifo ta^anat ha’rakevet, bevakasha? (rakevet is singular).
Answers:
| Directions | Speaking to a woman | Speaking to a man |
| Go straight | Le^i yashar | Le^ yashar |
| Turn left | Pni smola | Pne smola |
| And after two traffic lights | Ve’a^arey shney ramzorim | <– The same |
| Turn right | Pni yamina | Pne yamina |
The table above gives the most common responses to your question about directions. However, you could hear either of the words in the table below for the words “go” and “turn.” This is not a mistake, just another way to say the words “go” and “turn,” so you should know they exist.
| Speaking to a woman | Speaking to a man | |
| Go (by walk) | Le^i, tel^i | Le^, tele^ |
| Go (by car) | S’i (s-ee), tis’i (tis-ee) | Sa, tisa |
| Turn | Pni, tifni | Pne, tifne |
Next Thursday (April 1) we won’t have a lesson because of Passover… We will meet again on Thursday, April 8.
Happy Easter and happy Passover to all of you!
Lehitraot in Lesson 17.
