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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Vocabulary
Free Hebrew lessons – June 2010 – Training – Day 28:
Hi,
Can you feel the heat outside?
If you are still having cold weather in June, plan your next vacation for June 2011 in Israel and discover what “hot” really is! In the meantime, let’s learn some more Hebrew 😉
Today we’ll enrich our vocabulary.
Our previous lesson was actually a note about yom ha’huledet sheli (my birthday), and I’m glad that so many of you took part in that sale and celebrated with me. In the lesson before that we learned, how to say daughter (bat) and son (ben).
Last Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day. Remember, in Lesson 21 we learned the words for the members of our family, such as: ima (mother/mom), aba (father/daddy), a^ (brother), a^ot (sister), savta (grandmother) and saba (grandfather).
Today’s menu: Vocabulary
Attention: The underlined letters represent the accent.
Today we’ll learn some new words, so please clear some of your memory cells, pour yourself something to drink and make yourself comfortable… Here it comes:
English | Hebrew/Heblish – Singular | Hebrew/Heblish – Plural |
Air | Avir (m) | There is no plural for air |
Fire | Esh (f) | There is no plural for fire |
Earth | Adama (f) | Adamot |
Water | There is no singular for water | Maim (m) |
Examples:
– There is good air (on the top of the hill) – Yesh avir tov…(be’rosh ha’giv-a).
Air is masculine, that’s why the word “good” is in the masculine form – tov.
The feminine form of “good” is tova.
Let’s put it in a table:
English | Masculine | Feminine |
Good | Tov | Tova |
– I need fire (to heat the rice) – Ani tsari^ esh (le^amem et ha’orez).
To heat – le^amem / Rice – orez.
– The earth is dry – ha’adama yevesha.
Earth is feminine, that’s why the word “dry” is in the feminine form – yevesha.
The masculine form of “dry” is yavesh.
Look at the table below…
English | Masculine | Feminine |
Good | Tov (plural: tovim) | Tova (plural: tovot) |
Dry | Yavesh (plural: yeveshim) | Yevesha (plural: yeveshot) |
– The water is cold – Ha’maim karim.
In Hebrew, water only has a plural form, that’s why I used “karim” which is plural.
The singular form of cold is kar.
English | Masculine | Feminine |
Good | Tov (plural: tovim) | Tova (plural: tovot) |
Dry | Yavesh (plural: yeveshim) | Yevesha (plural: yeveshot) |
Cold | Kar (plural: karim) | Kara (plural: karot) |
That’s it.
Today we have learned some basic elements: air, earth, fire and water. We also learned some adjectives like:
“good” – tov/tovim (m) – tova/tovot (f),
“dry” – yavesh/yeveshim (m) – yevesha/yeveshot (f) and
“cold” – kar/karim (m) – kara/karot (f).
Lehitraot in lesson 29, next Thursday, of course… 😉
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