Directions
Free Hebrew lessons – April 2010 – Training – Day 17:
Shalom and hi everybody,
Last Thursday we didn’t have a lesson, but the holidays are behind us now so we can continue with our Heblish course.
Before Pesa^, I asked one of my designers, Michal Fishel, to create a Mandala especially for my friends – for you. Michal is a good friend and she made the effort and created something very special for you to paint. Some of you took up the challenge and sent me beautiful painted mandalas.
As I promised you, I made a raffle and chose one of your mandalas, which I sent to Michal to read. The winner will receive the results next week. If the winner gives me permission, I will publish the mandala and the results of Michal’s reading. As a way of saying “thank you” to Michal Fishel, please click here to see her beautiful maagalot jewelry.
In our previous lesson we talked about stations, sides and directions: “yamina” for go “to the right,” “smola” for go “to the left” and “yashar” for go “straight ahead”.
Today’s menu: Then/so, there is, shop/store & some more places
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Today we’ll take a short story written by one of you (thanks, Judy) and mark the Heblish words (in blue, as usual) which we have already learned.
Afterwards we will learn some new words about places. From now on I hope to teach you at least 5 new nouns in every lesson.
Note: The “story” lesson below is another way to teach you Hebrew and I would be glad to get your comments about this method.
OK, let’s start:
“My Trip to Atlanta” by Judy Short:
Good morning. I want to tell you about my day. I wanted to go shopping, so I went to the bus station where I took bus number 4 to Atlanta. When I arrived I saw a woman and I said “excuse me, where is a good store?” She said “go right, turn left at the traffic lights, then go straight ahead to Peachtree Street. There is a fine store on the corner.” I said “thanks a lot.”
Let’s see how many words we already know in Hebrew, by replacing the English words with Heblish words. (If you have time, try doing that by yourself before reading further…)
Good morning. I want to tell you about my day. I wanted to go shopping, so I went to the bus station where I took bus number 4 to Atlanta. When I arrived I saw a woman and I said “excuse me, where is a good store?” She said “go right, turn left at the traffic lights, then go straight ahead to Peachtree Street. There is a fine store on the corner.” I said “thanks a lot.”
Boker tov. Ani rotsa to tell you about my day. Ratsiti to go shopping, so I went to the ta^anat otobus, where laka^ti otobus mispar arba to Atlanta. When I arrived raiti a woman ve’amarti “Sli^a, eifo is a good store?” She said “le^i yamina, tifni smola at the ramzorim, then le^i yashar to Peachtree Street. There is a fine store on the corner.” Amarti “toda raba.”
First, you can be proud of yourself. Do you see how much Hebrew you already know? I think that’s great!
Now, let’s learn some new words from the story.
A store/ a shop
You say “store” and I say ^anut.
Our story mentioned “good store” and “fine store.” We have already learned that the word for “good” or “fine” is tov, but tov is for masculine nouns…
When we want to describe feminine nouns as “good” or “fine”, we use the word tova. Therefore “good store” is “^anut tova” and “good hotel” (hotel is masculine) is “malon tov.”
Let’s see some examples:
| Feminine | Masculine | |
| The cake is good | Ha’uga tova | |
| The book is good | Ha’sefer tov | |
| The meat is fine | Ha’basar tov | |
| The dress is fine for me | Ha’simla tova bishvili |
There is
In lesson 10 we learned how to say “there is no,” which is ein.
For “there is” we say yesh.
| There is | There is no | ||
| There is | Yesh | There is no | Ein |
| There is a book | Yesh sefer | There is no cake | Ein uga |
| There is a taxi | Yesh monit | There is no bus | Ein otobus |
| There is a bookstore in the hotel | Yesh ^anut sfarim ba’malon | There is no ketchup | Ein ketchup |
Then / so
For “then” and “so” there are at least two different words in Hebrew. Today we’ll learn the word az, meaning “then” or “so.”
Examples:
– Turn left and then go straight – Talking to a man: Pne smola ve’az le^ yashar.
– If the dress is good for her then I want two dresses – a woman says: If ha’simla tova bishvila az ani rotsa shtey smalot.
– The cake is good, so I want three cakes – a man says: Ha’uga tova, az ani rotse shalosh ugot.
Recall this sentence and video from Lesson 14:
– I said (that) I took two dresses but I also wanted a ring, so I bought two dresses and one ring.
– Amarti that laka^ti shtey smalot, but ratsiti gam tabaat, az kaniti shtey smalot ve’tabaat a^at.
Here is Judy’s story again:
Boker tov. Ani rotsa to tell you about my day. Ratsiti to go shopping, az I went to the ta^anat otobus where laka^ti otobus mispar arba to
Atlanta. When I arrived raiti a woman ve’amarti “Sli^a, eifo yesh ^anut tova?” She said “le^i yamina, tifni smola at the ramzorim, az le^i yashar to Peachtree Street. Yesh ^anut tova on the corner.” Amarti “toda raba.”
Places:
Let’s learn about some more places:
| English | Heblish | Remarks |
| There is a good restaurant on the right side | Yesh misada tova be’tsad yamin | |
| There is a good restaurant on the right | Yesh misada tova mi’yamin | Pay attention to the difference |
| There is a flower shop on the left side | Yesh ^anut pra^im be’tsad smol | |
| There is a flower shop on the left | Yesh ^anut pra^im mi’smol | Pay attention to the difference |
| There is no pharmacy | Ein beit-merka^at | |
| Where is the supermarket? | Eifo ha’supermarket? | The correct word in Hebrew is markol, but most of us say supermarket like you do. |
| There is a bank | Yesh bank | It’s the same in Hebrew, but the “a” is pronounced like the “a” in our lessons. |
It would be great if you want to send me your own short story, based on our previous lessons. Maybe I’ll use it in one of our next lessons, as I did with Judy’s story.
You can also ask any questions you have through the “Comments” box below and I’ll respond, or maybe we’ll use our Heblish group to discuss it. I look forward to our next meeting, in lesson 18.
Lehitraot 😉
