Hebrew Lessons / Shi`urey Ha`ivrit

[Mecislau]

<b>Lesson 10 / השעור העשירי / Hashi`ur Ha`asiri</b>


1) The Interrogative "Which"

In Hebrew, there are three forms of the word "which" - a masculine singular, a feminine singular, and a plural, agreeing with the noun it modifies. These forms are:

• MascSg: איזה 'eyzeh
  FemSg: איזו 'eyzo
  Pl: אילו 'eylu

Notice the connection between the singular forms and the demonstrative pronouns זה/זאת zeh/zot.

איזה עיתון אתה קורה? י 'eyzeh `iton 'atah qoreh? "Which newspaper do you read?"
איזו רגל כואבת לך? י 'eyzo regel ko'évet lach? "Which leg hurts?" (lit. "Which leg is hurting for you?")

Colloquially, איזה 'eyzeh may be used in the plural instead of אילו 'eylu:

אילו/איזה סרטים אתם רוצים לקנות? י 'eylu/'eyzeh sratim 'atem rotzim liqnot? "Which films do you want to buy?"


2) The Demonstrative Adjectives

You already know the demonstrative pronouns: זה/זאת zeh/zot "this", הוא/היא hu'/hi' "that" (identical to the third person pronouns). To make the adjectives, all you have to do is add the definite article ha- to them, and place them after a definite noun.

הספר הזה haséfer hazeh "this book" (m)
הארץ הזאת ha'áretz hazot "this country" (f)
החנויות האלה hachanuyot ha'éleh "these shops" (pl)

הספר ההוא haséfer hahu' "that book" (m)
הארץ ההיא ha'áretz hahi' "that country" (f)
הבתים ההם habatim hahem "those houses" (m pl)
החנויות ההן hachanuyot hahen "those shops" (f pl)


3) אפשר 'efshar "it is possible"

אפשר, when followed by an infinitive verb, is an impersonal expression of possibility:

אפשר לדבר לך הערב? י 'efshar ledaber lach ha`érev "Is it possible to talk to you tonight?"

It is negated using אי 'i:

אי אפשר לדבר 'i 'efshar ledaber "it isn't possible to talk"


4) The Clitic Preposition כ ke-

This is the last clitic preposition we have to deal with. כ works exactly the same way as ב be- and ל le- in regards to definiteness (so we have both indefinite ke- and definite ka-). It means "like" or "as".

The full preposition כמו kmo serves the same function, but is a bit more poetic or literary.


5) The Regular Pa`al Past Tense

Hebrew verbs in the past tense agree in person and number with their subject (as in many IE languages), and in gender in the second and third persons. The regular paradigm is:

1Sg: CaCáCti
2SgM: CaCáCta
2SgF: CaCaCt
3SgM: CaCaC
3SgF: CaCCah

1Pl: CaCáCnu
2PlM: CaCáCtem
2PlF: CaCáCten
3PlM: CaCCu
3PlF: CaCCu

Notice, once again, the similar to the pronouns seen in many of these forms. Also note that the two third person plural forms are identical.

With כ-ת-ב K-T-B "write":

אני כתבתי 'ani katávti
אתה כתבת 'atah katávta
את כתבת 'at katavt
הוא כתב hu' katav
היא כתבה hi' katvah

אנחנו כתבנו 'anáchnu katávnu
אתם כתבתם 'atem katávtem
אתן כתבתן 'aten katávten
הם כתבו hem katvu
הן כתבו hen katvu

Since the past tense marks person (unlike the present tense), the subject pronouns are frequently omitted.


6) Numbers 11-19 - The Teens

Numbers in the teens are formed by taking the digit (1-9) in its masculine or feminine form, and suffixing עשרה -`esreh for feminine nouns or עשר -`asar for masculine ones. Note the slight contractions in the pronunciations of the digits 2, 3, 7, and 9, though:


<table border=0><tr> <td>&nbsp;</td><td colspan=2><b>Feminine</b></td><td colspan=2><b>Masculine</b></td></tr><tr><td><b>11</b></td><td>אחת-עשרה</td><td><i>'achat-`esreh</i></td><td>אחד-עשר</td><td><i>'achad-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>12</b></td><td>שתים-עשרה</td><td><i>shtem-`esreh</i></td><td>שנים-עשר</td><td><i>shnem-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>13</b></td><td>שלוש-עשרה</td><td><i>shlosh-`esreh</i></td><td>שלושה-עשר</td><td><i>shloshah-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>14</b></td><td>ארבע-עשרה</td><td><i>'arba`-`esreh</i></td><td>ארבעה-עשר</td><td><i>'arba`ah-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>15</b></td><td>חמש-עשרה</td><td><i>chamesh-`esreh</i></td><td>חמישה-עשר</td><td><i>chamishah-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>16</b></td><td>שש-עשרה</td><td><i>shesh-`esreh</i></td><td>שישה-עשר</td><td><i>shishah-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>17</b></td><td>שבע-עשרה</td><td><i>shva`-`esreh</i></td><td>שבעה-עשר</td><td><i>shiv`ah-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>18</b></td><td>שמונה-עשרה</td><td><i>shmoneh-`esreh</i></td><td>שמונה-עשר</td><td><i>shmonah-`asar</i></td></tr><tr><td><b>19</b></td><td>תשע-עשרה</td><td><i>tsha`-`esreh</i></td><td>תשעה-עשר</td><td><i>tish`ah-`asar</i></td></tr></table>


EXERCISES:

Sorry, I don't feel like writing a dialogue today

So just translate these sentences into Hebrew:

1)

• I wrote him a letter yesterday.
• They grew up in Italy.
• These two children live in apartment number 14.
• I thought that you (masc,sg) worked as a teacher.
• Is it possible to meet for coffee after lunch?
• Which bus do I need to travel to the city center?
• He ate dinner at David's house.
• That restaurant has very good food.
• She opened the door with a key.
• She said to me "I can't see a movie with you tonight" (use אפשר here)
• We knew that they(f) can't come. (here, use the proper form of יכול)

2) And some number practice:

• There are twelve months in a year.
• There are 19 pages in this chapter.
• 12 friends live close to me.
• I ate 17 meals this week.

Vocab:

• מכתב michtav "letter" (from כ-ת-ב 'to write')
• אתמול 'etmol "yesterday"
• ג-ד-ל G-D-L "to grow, to grow up"
• איטליה 'Italyah "Italy"
• ילד yéled "child" (use the regular CéCeC plural pattern - just remember what to do if you get an illegal cluster)
• דירה dirah "apartment" (use the construct)
• מספר mispar "number" (from ס-פ-ר 'to count')
• ע-ב-ד `-B-D "to work" (inf: לעבוד la`avod; remember to lenite the B)
• מורה moreh "teacher" (masc)
• להפגש lehipagesh "to meet (intrans.)" (don't try to conjugate this yet - it's a different binyan)
• קפה qafeh "coffee"
• אחרי 'acharey "after" (again, a 'construct-forming' preposition)
• ארוחת צהריים 'aruchat tzohoráyim "lunch" (lit. "noon meal")
• ארוחת ערב 'aruchat `érev "dinner" (lit. "evening meal")
• אוטובוס 'ótobus "bus"
• מרכז merkaz "center" (use the construct)
• דוד David
• מסעדה mis`adah "restaurant"
• אוכל 'óchel "food"
• פ-ת-ח P-T-CH "to open" (in the past tense, ignore the fact that the final consonant is a chet, and conjugate regularly - after all, it'll be preceded by an /a/ already)
• דלת délet "door" (feminine; irregular plural דלתות dlatot)
• מפתח maftéach "key" (from פ-ת-ח above)
• א-מ-ר '-M-R "to say" (inf: לאמור le'emor)
• איתך 'itcha "with you (m sg)"
• דף daf "page"
• פרק péreq "chapter"

EDIT: Fixed the accents the board deleted.

[Tuli]

Ach, not being able to display non-ASCII characters is a tad bothersome. Fortunately, I printed out the lesson beforehand.
Questions about two words you wrote: They're ha'aretz and 'achad-`asar, as you wrote, not *ha'eretz and *'echad-`asar, right?
Answers for Lesson 10:
1)
כתבתי לו מכתב אתמול. י Katavti lo michtav 'etmol.
גדלו באיטליה. י Gadlu be'Italyah.
השני הילדים האלה גרים במספר דירה ארבעה-עשר. י Hashney hayeladim ha'eleh garim bemispar dirah 'arba`ah-asar. (Not quite sure on the order of those last three words, but this one seemed best. I don't think "14 apartment number" was what I was trying to say. )
חשבתי שאתה עבדת כמורה. י Chashavti she'atah `avadta kemoreh.
אפשר להפגש לקפה אחרי ארוחת צהריים? י 'Efshar lehipagesh leqafeh 'acharey 'aruchat tzohorayim?
איזה אוטובוס אני צריך לנסוע למרכז העיר? י 'Eyzeh 'otobus 'ani tzarich linso`a lemerkaz ha`ir?
אכל ארוחת ערב בבית של דוד. י 'Achal 'aruchat `erev babayit shel David (Dod).
יש למסעדה ההיא אוכל מאוד טוב. י Yesh lamis`adah hahi' 'ochel me'od tov.
פתחה את הדלת אם מפתח. י Patchah 'et hadelet 'im mafteach.
אמרה לי "לא אפשר לראות סרת איתף הלילה." י 'Amrah li "lo' 'efshar lir'ot seret itcha halaylah."
ידענו שהן לא יכולות לבוא. י Yada`nu shehen lo' yecholot lavo'.
2)
יש שנם-עשר חודשים בשנה. י Yesh shnem-`asar chodashim beshanah.
יש תשעה-עשר דפים בפרק הזה. י Yesh tish`ah-`asar dafimi bapereq hazeh.
שנם-עשר חברים גרים קרוב לי. י Shnem-`asar chaverim garim qarov li.
אכלתי שבע-עשרה ארוחות השבוע. י 'Achalti shva`-`esreh 'aruchot hashavu`a.

[Mecislau]

Questions about two words you wrote: They're ha'aretz and 'achad-`asar, as you wrote, not *ha'eretz and *'echad-`asar, right?

Actually, no. What I wrote was correct.

'Eretz is a weird noun in that its definite form has a vowel change (ha'áretz). These nouns are relatively few, though, so you needn't worry about them.

And the vowel in 'echad does change to /a/ in 'achad-`asar.

השני הילדים האלה גרים במספר דירה ארבעה-עשר. י Hashney hayeladim ha'eleh garim bemispar dirah 'arba`ah-asar. (Not quite sure on the order of those last three words, but this one seemed best. I don't think "14 apartment number" was what I was trying to say. )

Actually, you did that just fine. The only thing is that the number 14 here should actually be feminine ('arba`-`esreh), since you're trying to say "number 14", not "14 number[s]".


Also, just FYI, ילדים "yeladim" loses that /E/ in the definite form: הילדים hayladim. This kind of makes sense if you think about it. In other nouns of the same shape as yéled, like séfer, you lose that first /E/ in the plural. However, *yl- is illegal as an initial cluster in Hebrew, so the /E/ remains: yeladim. But as soon as that /jl/ becomes possible, through the prefixed article, the vowel drops.

Though, in retrospect, the easiest way to have done it was to say דירת ארבע-עשרה dirat 'arba`-`esreh. Note how the construct form is being used here - the 14 here is an attributive, but not a count adjective. דירה ארבע-עשרה dirah 'arba`-`esreh would be ungrammatical, like saying "14 apartment" in English.

'Achal 'aruchat `erev babayit shel David (Dod).

Heh, no, דוד is pronounced David. Vav still represents /v/ in a few words.

In modern spelling, however, vav is usually doubled to represent /v/: יוון Yevan "Greece" (except when word-final (עחשיו `achshav "now") or word-initial, such as the conjunction ו ve- "and")

Although, דוד dod is also a word, meaning "uncle". Situations where the two of these could be confused, however, are very rare...

אמרה לי "לא אפשר לראות סרת איתף הלילה." י 'Amrah li "lo' 'efshar lir'ot seret itcha halaylah."

Whoops, careful. 'Efshar is negated with אי 'i, not lo'.


Nice job, Tuli!

EDIT: Or, should I say, ! כל הכבוד Kol Hakavod! (lit. "All the respect [is due to you]")

[Mecislau]

Yes, I realize all of the accents have been lost in the previous lessons. I'll go back and correct them soon.



But in the meantime...


<b>Lesson 11 / השעור האחד-עשר / Hashi`ur Ha'achad-`Asar</b>


1) Numbers in the Tens

Other than 20, the tens (30, 40, ..., 90) are formed by adding the masculine plural ending -im to the digit form, with some vowel alterations. There is no gender distinction in these nouns.

• 20 - עשרים `esrim (from `éser "10")
• 30 - שלושים shloshim
• 40 - ארבעים 'arba`im
• 50 - חמישים chamishim
• 60 - שישים shishim
• 70 - שבעים shiv`im
• 80 - שמונים shmonim
• 90 - תשעים tish`im

For other numbers, just follow the tens form by ו ve- "and" and then the digit:
56: חמישים ושש chamishim veshesh (lit. "fives and six")
23: עשרים ושלוש `esrim veshalosh (lit. "tens and three")
68: שישים ושמונה shishim ushmóneh (lit "sixes and eight"; note how the ve- becomes u- before shmóneh/shmónah).

While the forms in the tens may not agree in gender, the digits do. That is, the number "60" never changes, but the "8" in "68" does.


2) The Past Tense of Pa`al Roots ending in /h/ (ל"ה)

These are more or less regular, but instead of the pattern CaCaC found throughout the regulars, these use CaCi. Note, however, the introduced /t/ in the 3SGF form.

1SG: CaCíti
2SGM: CaCíta
2SGF: CaCit
3SGM: CaCah
3SGF: CaCtah

1PL: CaCínu
2PLM: CaCítem
2PLF: CaCíten
3PL: CaCu

With ר-צ-ה R-TZ-H "want":

אני רציתי 'ani ratzíti
אתה רצית 'atah ratzíta
את רצית 'at ratzit
הוא רצה hu' ratzah
היא רצתה hi' ratztah
אנחנו רצינו 'anáchnu ratzínu
אתם רציתם 'atem ratzítem
אתן רציתן 'aten ratzíten
הם רצו hem ratzu
הן רצו hen ratzu

The root ה-י-ה H-Y-H "be" conjugates the same way in the past. Remember, in the present this verb is zero-form.

הייתי, היית, היית, הייה, הייתה
hayíti, hayíta, hayit, hayah, haytah
היינו, הייתם, הייתן, היו
hayínu, hayítem, hayíten, hayu


3) The Past Tense of Pa`al Verbs with Medial י or ו

This is rather simple. Replace the medial vowel with /a/ (ie, the same as the masculine singular form in the present) and add the following suffixes:

1SG: -ti
2SGM: -ta
2SGF: -t
3SGM: -
3SGF: -ah

1PL: -nu
2PLM: -tem
2PLF: -ten
3PL: -u

So, with ש-י-ר Sh-Y-R "sing", we get:
שרתי, שרת, שרת, שר, שרה
sharti, sharta, shart, shar, sharah
שרנו, שרתם, שרתן, שרו
sharnu, shartem, sharten, sharu


4) Telling Time

מה השעה? י Mah hasha`ah? "What time is it?" (lit. "What is the hour?")

השעה... י Hasha`ah... "The time is..."

The simplest way to answer word be the exact same way as in English:
3.35 - שלוש שלושים וארבע shalosh shloshim vechamesh
11.59 - אחת-עשרה חמישים ותשע 'achat-`esreh chamishim vetésha`

But like in English, there are other ways of reading certain times:
5.30 - ארבע וחצי chamesh vachétzi (lit. "five and a half" - note the unusual vowel change in the ve- prefix here, again a frozen construction)
1.45 - שתיים פחות חמש-עשרה shtáyim pachot chamesh-`esreh (lit. "two less fifteen", equivalent to "15 til 2" or "A quarter til 2")
1.45 - חמש-עשרה לשתיים chamesh-`esreh leshtáyim (lit. "15 to 2", a shorter way of saying the above)
3.20 - שלוש ועשרים shalosh ve`esrim (lit. "3 and 20", equivalent to "20 past 3")
3.20 - עשרים אחרי שלוש `esrim 'acharey shalosh (lit. "20 after 3", ditto)

All numbers here are in the feminine form, since as previously mentioned, the feminine is the default count form. However, there are two exceptions. It is perfectly legitimate to say 6.10 as שש ועשרה shesh ve`asarah and 6.05 as שש וחמישה shesh vechamishah, likely because the word רגעים rega`im "moments" is implied. Don't use them in digital readouts, where you can only use שש עשר shesh `éser).

Some other time terms:
שעה sha`ah "hour" (שעתיים sha`atayim "two hours", שעות sha`ot "hours")
דקה daqah "minute"
רגע réga` "moment/minute"
שנייה shniyah "second"
חתי שעה chátzi sha`ah "half an hour" (chátzi being the construct form of chétzi)

בבוקר baboqer "AM" (lit. "in the morning")
אחרי הצהריים 'acharey hatzohoráyim "PM" (lit. "after the noon")
חצות chatzot "midnight" (short for חצות הלילה the halving of the night)

שעון sha`on "clock, watch"
בעוד שעה be`od sha`ah "in another hour" (or any other period of time you want)

The functions of the prepositon preposition "at" (as in, "at six o'clock") are done by ב be-.


EXERCISES:

1) Give at least two ways of reading the following times. Try not to use the same methods over and over.

• 7.30
• 10:50
• 1:05
• 4:28 AM
• 2.40 PM

2) Translate the following routine into Hebrew.

I got up at 6 in the morning.
I was in the shower from 6.10 to 6.20.
I ate breakfast at 6.30
I left from my house for work at 7.15.
I read the newspaper on the bus.
I bought coffee at 8.50.
I worked for eight hours.
I went home at 5.20.

(Remember, you can leave out the pronoun אני in the past)


Vocabulary:

• ק-ו-ם Q-V-M "to get up"
• מקלחת miqláchat "shower"
• ארוחת בוקר 'aruchat bóqer "breakfast"
• ע-ב-ד `-B-D "to work"
• עבודה `avodah "work" (use the definite form here - you're literally saying "to the workplace")
• ק-ר-א Q-R-' "to read"
• עיתון `iton "newspaper"
• ק-נ-ה Q-N-H "to buy"
• הביתה habáytah "to home, homewards"

[Tuli]

3.35 - שלוש שלושים וארבע shalosh shloshim ve'árba`
5.30 - ארבע וחצי 'árba` vachétzi

Isn't 5 chamesh?
The Hebrew past tense is very, very pretty.

Answers for Lesson 11:
Exercise 1:
שבע וחצית shéva` vachétzi שבע שלושים shéva` shloshim

עשר לאחת-עשרה `éser le'achat-`esreh עשר חמישים `éser chamishim

אחת וחמישה, חמש אחרי אחת 'achat vechamishah, chamesh 'acharey 'achat

ארבע עשרים ושמונה בבוקר 'árba` `esrim ushmóneh babóqer
חמש פחות שלושים ושתיים בבוקר chamesh pachot shloshim veshtáyim babóqer

שתיים ארבעים אחרי התהריים shtáyim 'arba`im 'acharey hatzohoráyim
אחרי הצהריים עשרים לשלוש `esrim leshalosh 'acharey hatzohoráyim

Exercise 2:
קמתי בשש בבוקר. י Qamti beshesh babóqer.
הייתי במקלחת משש עשר לשש ועשרים. י Hayíti bamiqláchat mishesh `éser leshesh ve`esrim.
אכלתי ארוחת בוקר בשש וחצי. י 'Achálti 'aruchat bóqer beshesh vachétzi.
עזבתי מהבית שלי לעבודה בשבע חמש-עשרה. י `Azávti mehabáyit sheli la`avodah beshéva` chamesh-`esreh.
קריתי את העיתון באוטובוס. י Qaríti 'et ha`iton ba'ótobus.
קניתי קפה בשמונה חמישים. י Qaníti qafeh beshmóneh chamishim.
עבדתי לשמונה שעה. י `Avádti leshmóneh sha`ah.
נסעתי הביתה בעשרים אחרי חמש. י Nasá`ti habáytah be`esrim 'acharey chamesh.


תודה, מקנס! אני אוהב את שעורי העברית שלך. י
Sadly, I didn't realize shi`urey ha`ivrit was a construct until this lesson. . .

[Mecislau]

Isn't 5 chamesh?

Grr. Yes, it is...

*corrects*

חמש פחות שלושים ושתיים בבוקר chamesh pachot shloshim veshtáyim babóqer

Heh. That one sounds a little bit silly ("32 minutes to five"), but sure, why not?

הייתי במקלחת משש עשר לשש ועשרים. י Hayíti bamiqláchat mishesh `éser leshesh ve`esrim.

Ooh, nice, you remembered to use "mi-" here instead of "me-". I've gotten into the colloquial habit of using me- everywhere...

קריתי את העיתון באוטובוס. י Qaríti 'et ha`iton ba'ótobus.

Whoops. The root for "to read" is ק-ר-א, not ק-ר-ה. The form you want is קראתי qará'ti.

"Qaríti" means "I happened", kind of nonsensical

עבדתי לשמונה שעה. י `Avádti leshmóneh sha`ah.

Pluralize "hour" here.


Also, I'm not sure if you've ever seen handwritten Hebrew before, so I just decided to write down that last exercise for the fun of it: http://www.thegreatsleep.com/serakus/zbb/ivr.jpg

Can you read that? Or are you unfamiliar with the handwritten script form?

[dwk]

Your handwriting is weird... what is the first letter of the second word?

Is it beth? That's not the way to write it, initially I took it for caph sufit. And what is the second letter? It looks like a streached Latin «u».

[Tuli]

You might want to change in Lessons 7 and 11 where you have "to read" listed as Q-R-H.

Edit: And I had seen the cursive script a few times, and now that I can read the regular script, I think I'll go back and learn it.
Edit the Second: I'd guess the second letter of the second word is two joined shin. And his beyt looks like kaf sofit to me too. And his hey is joined together, which is neat--I especially like leshmóneh in the second to last line. Clearly, Hebrew handwriting has all the variation of the English. Fun.

[Mecislau]

Your handwriting is weird... what is the first letter of the second word?

Is it beth? That's not the way to write it, initially I took it for caph sufit. And what is the second letter? It looks like a streached Latin «u».

Yeah, well, I'm certainly not a native speaker (or, in this case, writer...), so my handwriting won't look entirely native (just as the handwriting of several of the Russian-learners here looks a little odd to me). My final kafs generally have longer tails. And do you mean the second letter of the second word? It's shin (the word is "beshesh").

But I swear I've seen beyt look like that before. Is it just the fact that I don't have much of an upstroke that looks odd to you?

EDIT: Oh, I see, you thought the two shin where a single letter. I didn't actually connect them, it's just the image here makes it look like it. Although I have seen Hebrew letters strung together when written by some native speakers before.


Are you a native speaker of Hebrew?

You might want to change in Lessons 7 and 11 where you have "to read" listed as Q-R-H.

Ack! So sorry about that! How'd I let that happen?!



And since I'm leaving tomorrow for a week, here's the next lesson.



<b>Lesson 12 / השעור השנים-עשר / Hashi`ur Hashnem-`Asar</b>


1) The Present Tense of Binyan Pi`el

The second binyan we're learning is pi`el. Although it has a lot of functions, probably the best single word that can be used to describe its function is "intensive". By taking the same verb roots you know from Pa`al and conjugating them according to pi`el patterns, you effectively conjugate the verbs in their "intensive" form.

The present tense paradigm is very similar to that of pa`al, except the vowels are different, and every form is prefixed with me-:

MascSg: meCaCeC
FemSg: meCaCéCet
MascPl: meCaCCim
FemPl: meCaCCot

(When dealing with consonants that lenite: The first and last consonants generally lenite when possible, but the second never does. In pa`al, for comparison, you lenite the second and third, but never the first)

Using the very common root ד-ב-ר D-B-R, meaning "speak" or "talk" in pi`el:

MascSg: מדבר medaber
FemSg: מדברת medabéret
MascPl: מדברים medabrim
FemPl: מדברות medabrot

The infinitive is also very easy. All you do is take the MascSg form, drop the me-, and add le-: לדבר ledaber "to speak".

For comparison, here are the pi`el meanings of several verb roots you already know:

• כותב kotev "write" > מכתב mechatev "engrave"
• אוכל 'ochel "eat, consume" > מאכל me'akel "corrode (tr)"
• אוהב 'ohev "love" > מאהב me'ahev "love passionately"
• הולך holech "walk, go" > מהלך mehalech "walk around, wander, inspire" (regular infinitive! - להלך)

And the list goes on. But that's one nice thing about pi`el - there are much fewer irregular verbs/gzarot than in pa`al.

Many roots "live" in pi`el in that pi`el is their most basic or common pattern (ie, the four above roots are most commonly used in pa`al), such as ד-ב-ר. It has pa`al forms (דובר dover, etc, which also mean "speak", roughly), but the pi`el form is the most common form. Other such roots include.

• ב-ק-ר B-Q-R: מבקר mevaqer "visit" (which actually has no pa`al form)
• ב-ש-ל B-Sh-L: מבשל mevashel "cook" (pa`al form בושל boshel "ripen")
• ש-ל-ם Sh-L-M: משלם meshalem "pay" (pa`al form שלם shalem "be concluded" - no, I don't see the connection, and yes, it has a weird vowel pattern in pa`al, don't worry about this for now)
• ק-ב-ל Q-B-L: מקבל meqabel "receive" (no pa`al form)
• ס-ד-ר S-D-R: מסדר mesader "arrange" (no pa`al form; this is also the origin of the word "seder", which many Jews will be taking part in next week for Passover)
• ש-ח-ק S-Ch-Q: משחק mesacheq "play" (no pa`al form)

2) Quadraconsonantal Roots

Pi`el is also home to a number of quadraconsonantal roots, verb roots with four consonants. But don't worry, they're easy. Basically, you just treat the two middle consonants as though they were a single consonant. The quadraconsonantal pattern is, therefore:

MascSg: meCaCCeC
FemSg: meCaCCéCet
MascPl: meCaCCeCim (Note the extra /e/ - Hebrew doesn't allow clusters of three consonants)
FemPl: meCaCCeCot

With the root ט-ל-פ-ן T-L-P-N "to telephone [somebody]":
MascSg: מטלפן metalpen
FemSg: מטלפנת metalpénet
MascPl: מטלפנים metalpenim
FemPl: מטלפנות metalpenot

There are two main sources for quadraconsonantal roots. One, like T-L-P-N above, is from foreign loans, where the consonants are extracted and become a new root. This is a very common occurance: מטרפד metarped "I/you/he torpedoes..."

The other is from a reduplicated two-consonant stem. These are generally onomatopoeic in origin: מצלצל metzaltzel "ring (like a phone)", מבלבל mevalbel "confuse" (also the source of the word "Babel", as in the tower)


3) "To have" in the Past Tense

If we may return to pa`al for a moment...

As you know, possession in the present tense is handled using the unchanging particle יש yesh "there is" accompanied by ל le- "to". Yesh doesn't have a past tense form, so you must use the third person forms of ה-י-ה H-Y-H "to be", which you learned in the last lesson.

But wait, there's three! הייה hayah (MascSg), הייתה haytah (FemSg), and היו hayu (Pl). You must use the proper form, agreeing in gender and number with the object being possessed. Curiously, though, if the possessed object is definite, you can still use את 'et with it...

So where you have unchanging forms in the present (יש לי את הספר yesh li 'et haséfer "I have the books", יש לי את הספרים yesh li 'et hasfarim "I have the books"), you have varying forms in the past: הייה לי את הספר hayah li 'et haséfer "I had the book", היו לי את הספרים hayu li 'et hasfarim "I had the books".

And where you used אין 'eyn instead of yesh to negate it in the present, in the past you just negate the verb with לא lo': לא הייה לי אותו lo' hayah li 'oto "I didn't have it".


4) "To need" in the Past Tense

As you may remember, need in the present tense is expressed using the adjective צריך tzarich, followed by either a noun or verb, so that when you say אני צריך את התשובה 'ani tzarich 'et hatshuvah "I need the answer", you are actually saying something like "I [am] needing the answer", with a zero-form "be" in the present. So, logically, the past tense is formed by sticking the proper past tense form of "be" before tzarich:

הם צריכים לדבר לך hem tzrichim ledaber lach "They need to speak to you"
הם היו צריכים לדבר לך hem hayu tzrichim ledaber lach "They needed to speak to you"


EXERCISES:

1) Conjugate the root ק-ב-ל Q-B-L "receive" in the pi`el pattern, along with its infinitive.

2) The root ב-ל-ה B-L-H in pi`el means "to have a good time, wear oneself out". For a bit of a challenge, try to guess how it's conjugated. Look at how final-H roots are conjugated in pa`al for help. Try to guess the infinitive too.

3) Translate the following sentences into Hebrew.

• I am talking to my friends on the telephone.
• She is visiting her relatives in Russia.
• He is cooking a delicious meal for our wedding.
• My teacher's lessons are really confusing me.
• How much do we pay the waiter? (lit. "to the waiter" - indirect object)
• The airplane to France left from the airport at 3.00. We had to be there before 1.00.
• They had to answer 35 questions for that test. (lit. "respond to 35 questions" - indirect object)
• Aaron and Hannah used to have two cars, but they had to sell one.
• I'm phoning Inbar to arrange a meeting tomorrow.
• We only accept cash or checks here, no credit cards. (lit. "we only receive...")
• Those boys are playing football.

Vocab:

• רוסיה Rusyah "Russia"
• טעים ta`im "tasty, delicious" (a > e in all other forms)
• חתונה chatunah "wedding"
• מורה moreh/morah "teacher" (m/f)
• You'd better know the word for "lesson".
• באמת be'émet "really, truly" (lit. "in truth")
• כמה kámah "how much?"
• מלצר meltzar "waiter"
• צרפת Tzarfat "France"
• נמל תעופה nemal te`ufah "airport" (lit. נמל namel "port" + תעופה te`ufah "flight" - the vowels in "namel" change in the construct form)
• שם sham "there, over there" (locative)
• לפני lifney "before" (lit. "to the face of...")
• ע-נ-ה `-N-H "answer, respond to" (infinitive: לענות la`anot)
• שאלה she'elah "question"
• מבחן mivchan "test, exam"
• מ-כ-ר M-K-R "sell" (infinitive: למכור limkor)
• פגישה pgishah "meeting"
• מחר machar "tomorrow"
• מזומן mezuman "cash"
• צ'ק cheq "check"
• פה poh "here"
• כרטיס אשראי kartis 'ashray "credit card" (lit. "card of credit")
• בן ben "son, boy" (pl. בנים banim)
• כדורגל kadurégel "football" (a portmanteau of כדור kadur "ball" and רגל régel "foot" - remember, this is soccer in the US!)

[*]רק raq "only"

Names:

• אהרון 'Aharon "Aaron"
• חנה Chanah "Hannah"
• ענבר `Inbar "Inbar" (lit. "Amber")

[Tuli]

Answers for Lesson 12
Exercise 1:
לקבל leqabel
מקבל meqabel
מקבלת meqabélet
מקבלים meqablim
מקבלות meqablot

Exercise 2:
לבלת levalet
מבלה mevaleh
מבלה mevalah
מבלים mevalim
מבלות mevalot

I wasn't quite sure how to express "They had to do X," so I tried both "They needed to do X," and "It was to them to do X."
Exercise 3:
אני מדבר לחברים שלי בטלפון. י 'Ani medaber lachaverim sheli batelefon.

היא מבקרת את הקרובים שלה ברוסיה. י Hi' mevaqéret 'et haqrovim shelah beRusyah.

הוא מבשל ארוחה טעימה לחתונה שלנו. י Hu' mevashel 'aruchah te`imah lachatunah shelánu.

השעורים של המורה שלי באמת מבלבלים אותי. י Hashi`urim shel hamoreh sheli be'émet mevalbelim 'oti.

כמה אנחנו משלמים למלצר? Kámah 'anáchnu meshalmim lameltzar?

המטוס לצרפת עזב מנמל התעופה בשלוש. היינו צריכים (להיות) שם לפני אחת. י Hamatos leTzarfat `azav minemal hate`ufah beshalosh. Hayínu tzrichim (lihyot) sham lifney 'achat.
Or: הייה לנו (להיות) שם לפני אחת. י Hayah lánu (lihyot) sham lifney 'achat.

הייו צריכים לענות לשלושים וחמש שאלות למבחן ההוא. י Hayu tzrichim la`anot leshloshim vechamesh she'elot lamivchan hahu'.
Or:הייה להם לענות לשלושים וחמש שאלות למבחן ההוא. י Hayah lahem la`anot leshloshim vechamesh she'elot lamivchan hahu'.

הייו לאהרון וחנה שתי מכוניות, אבל הם הייו צריכים למכור אחת. י Hayu le'Aharon veChanah shtey mechoniyot, 'aval hem hayu tzrichim limkor 'achat.
Or: הייו לאהרון וחנה שתי מכוניות, אבל הייה להם למכור אחת. י Hayu le'Aharon veChanah shtey mechoniyot, 'aval hayah lahem limkor 'achat.

אני מטלפן את ענבר לסדר פגישה מחר. י 'Ani metalpen 'et `Inbar lesader pgishah machar.

There wasn't a word listed for "only" in the vocabulary, so I looked one up.
אנחנו רק מקבלים מזומן או צ'קים פה, לא כראיסים אשראי. י 'Anáchnu raq meqablim mezuman 'o cheqim poh, lo' kartisim 'ashray.

הבנים ההם מסחקים כדורגל. י Habanim hahem mesachqim kadurégel.

[Mecislau]

לבלת levalet

Close. The infinitive ending would be -ot, not -et: לבלות levalot. But your present tense conjugation is perfect

I wasn't quite sure how to express "They had to do X," so I tried both "They needed to do X," and "It was to them to do X."

Yes, I wanted you to use "need" here. They mean basically the same thing...

המטוס לצרפת עזב מנמל התעופה בשלוש. היינו צריכים (להיות) שם לפני אחת. י Hamatos leTzarfat `azav minemal hate`ufah beshalosh. Hayínu tzrichim (lihyot) sham lifney 'achat.

Yes, you need the "lihyot" here. It can only be omitted in the present tense, but never when it should be in its infinitive form.

Or: הייה לנו (להיות) שם לפני אחת. י Hayah lánu (lihyot) sham lifney 'achat.

Stick to the first. That's a litteral translation from the English - don't do that here!

In Hebrew, "need to" and "have to" aren't distinguished. Use tzarich for both.

הייו צריכים לענות לשלושים וחמש שאלות למבחן ההוא. י Hayu tzrichim la`anot leshloshim vechamesh she'elot lamivchan hahu'.
Or:הייה להם לענות לשלושים וחמש שאלות למבחן ההוא. י Hayah lahem la`anot leshloshim vechamesh she'elot lamivchan hahu'.

הייו לאהרון וחנה שתי מכוניות, אבל הם הייו צריכים למכור אחת. י Hayu le'Aharon veChanah shtey mechoniyot, 'aval hem hayu tzrichim limkor 'achat.
Or: הייו לאהרון וחנה שתי מכוניות, אבל הייה להם למכור אחת. י Hayu le'Aharon veChanah shtey mechoniyot, 'aval hayah lahem limkor 'achat.

Ditto. Use the first variety for both.

There wasn't a word listed for "only" in the vocabulary, so I looked one up.
אנחנו רק מקבלים מזומן או צ'קים פה, לא כראיסים אשראי. י 'Anáchnu raq meqablim mezuman 'o cheqim poh, lo' kartisim 'ashray.

Eep. Sorry about that. Yes, "raq" is the word you should use.

However, "kartis 'ashray" is a construct ("card of credit"). And how do you pluralize constructs?



Good jub, Tuli! Are you finding these exercises relatively easy to do?

[Tuli]

כרטיסי אשרי. י
I'd say the exercises are just about right, in terms of difficulty. They get me to think, and to use Hebrew, and to pay attention (most of the time) so that I don't make silly mistakes. I print off the lessons and handwrite the answers (consequently, my Hebrew handwriting looks like the Arial font), then type them up. I have to almost always look at the current lesson again more carefully while I do them (and occasionally glance back to the other lessons).

[Mecislau]

<b>Lesson 13 / השעור השלושה-עשר / Hashi`ur Hashloshah-`Asar</b>


1) Numbers in the Hundreds

These are easy to form. All you need to remember is the word מאה me'ah "hundred". 200 is expressed with the dual form: מאתיים ma'tayim.

300-900 are formed with the digit 3-9 followed by the plural, מאות me'ot:

• 300 - שלוש מאות shlosh me'ot
• 400 - ארבע מאות 'arba` me'ot
• 500 - חמש מאות chamesh me'ot
• 600 - שש מאות shesh me'ot
• 700 - שבע מאות shva` me'ot
• 800 - שמונה מאות shmoneh me'ot
• 900 - תשע מאות tsha` me'ot

Notice that the same vowel drops occur here as in the teens (13, 17, 19). This is because the first element, both in the hundreds and teens, is technically a construct.

Like the tens (20-90), these do not vary for gender. However, other elements might...

382 - שלוש מאות שמונים ושתיים shlosh me'ot shmonim ushtáyim (f)
382 - שלוש מאות שמונים ושניים shlosh me'ot shmonim ushnáyim (m)

110 - מאה עשר me'ah `eser (f)
110 - מאה עשרה me'ah `asarah (m)


2) Numbers in the Thousands

These work basically the same way as the hundreds, except you use אלף 'élef "thousand" as the base. 2000 is the dual form: אלפיים 'alpáyim. The other forms (3000-10.000) use the plural, אלפים 'alafim.

• 3000 - שלושת אלפים shloshet 'alafim
• 4000 - ארבעת אלפים 'arba`at 'alafim
• 5000 - חמשת אלפים chameshet 'alafim
• 6000 - ששת אלפים sheshet 'alafim
• 7000 - שבעת אלפים shiv`at 'alafim
• 8000 - שמונת אלפים shmonat 'alafim
• 9000 - תשעת אלפים tish`at 'alafim
• 10.000 - עשרת אלפים `aseret 'alafim

Why are the digits here different (ie, not shlosh, 'arba`, chamesh, shesh, etc)? Because 'élef is masculine, while me'ah is feminine. The ending -t here is because these forms are technically constructs (or perhaps more of a half-construct, half-adjective state, since there is gender agreement.

All higher thousands (11.000 - 999.000) are formed by just taking the base number and following it by plain אלף 'élef:

20.000 - עשרים אלף `esrim 'élef
100.000 - מאה אלף me'ah 'élef
999.999 - תשע מאות תשעים ותשע אלף תשע מאות תשעים ותשע tscha` me'ot tish`im vetésha` 'élef tscha` me'ot tish`im vetésha`

Even higher numbers (מיליון milyon, ביליון bilyon, etc) are even simpler - just stick a number before it, without changing the milyon/bilyon part:

1.000.000 - מיליון milyon
2.000.000 - שני מיליון shney milyon
100.000.000 - מאת מיליון me'ah milyon


3) Expressions of Age

Where one might say "I am 20 years old" in English, in Hebrew you'd say "I am a son/daughter of 20" - אני בן/בת עשרים 'ani ben/bat `esrim.

(Ben is son, Bat is daughter)

This is also used for nonliving objects, where the gender agrees with the gender of the noun: הבית הזה בן שישים habáyit hazeh ben shishim "This house is 60 years old" (lit. "This house is a son of 60").

To ask how old someone or something is, naturally you'd say "You are the son/daughter of how many years?" - בן כמה אתה ben kámah 'atah?/בת כמה את bat kámah 'at?. Note especially the word order here.


4) Comparatives

Comparatives of adjectives ("more/less ____") are formed by adding the adverb יותר yoter "more" or פחות pachot "less" before or after the adjective:

המלון הזה יותר יקר hamalon hazeh yoter yaqar "This hotel is more expensive."

To compare something to something else, use מ mi-/me- like you would use "than" in English:

העוגה הזאת יותר טעימה מההיא ha`ugah hazot yoter te`imah mehahi' "This cake is tastier than that one."

When comparing two verbs (in the infinitive form), use the full word מאשר me'asher instead of מ:

לקרוא לשון חדש פחות קשה מאשר לדבר אותו liqro' lashon chadash pachot qasheh me'asher ledaber 'oto "Reading a new language is less difficult than speaking it."

This is logical, since having both מ "from" and ל "to" attached to the same word is somewhat nonsensical.


5) Excess

Excess (in English, "too") is expressed by taking a comparative sentence and adding מדי miday "too" immediately after the yoter/pachot:

האוכל יותר מדי חם! י ha'óchel yoter miday cham! "The food is too hot!"


EXERCISES:

1) Answer these questions. All you have to give is the number.

• In what year did Columbus reach the New World?
• In what year did World War II end?
• What is the current year?
• How many days are in a year?
• What is the current population of Earth?
• How many languages are spoken on Earth?
• What is the population of the UK?
• How many registered members are there on the ZBB?

(I won't penalize you for wrong answers)


2a) How old are you? Answer in a complete sentence.

2b) How old were you ten years ago? Use the past tense.


3) You are given two nouns or verbs and an adjective. Make them into a true statement using comparatives. Or use your opinions. Try to use both יותר yoter and פחות pachot.

• Russia, Italy / hot
• coffee, tea / tasty
• cats, dogs / smart
• books, movies / interesting
• fire, ice / cold
• airplanes, ships / modern
• Mediterranean Sea, Dead Sea / big
• turtle, hare / fast
• cooking, cleaning / easy
• riding in a train, driving in a car / fast

Vocabulary:

• איטליה 'Italyah "Italy"
• חם cham "hot, warm"
• קפה qafeh "coffee"
• תה teh "tea"
• חתול chatul "cat"
• חכם chacham "smart"
• סרט séret "film, movie"
• מעניין me`anyen "interesting" (fem: מענינת me`anyénet)
• אש 'esh "fire"
• קרח qerach "ice"
• קר qar "cold"
• אנייה 'oniyah "ship, boat"
• מודרני modérni "modern"
• הים התיכון haYam haTichon "Mediterranean Sea" (lit. "The Central Sea")
• ים המלח Yam haMélach "Dead Sea" (lit. "The Sea of Salt")
• גדול gadol "big"
• צב tzav "turtle, tortoise"
• ארנבת 'arnévet "rabbit"
• מהיר mahir "fast"
• ב-ש-ל B-Sh-L (pi`el) "cook"
• נ-ק-ה N-Q-H (pi`el) "clean"
• קל qal "easy" (lit. "light", cf. English "light work")
• ר-כ-ב R-K-B (pa`al) "ride"
• רכבת rakévet "train"
• נ-ה-ג N-H-G (pa`al) "drive"

Also, just out of curiosity, is anyone here other than Tuli following these lessons and actually attempting some of the exercises and just not posting? If any of you also have questions or comments, speak up!

[Tuli]

Yes, if anyone’s out there, do say something! It’s getting a bit lonely here.

Answers for Lesson 13:

Exercise 1:
אלף ארבע מאות תישעים ושתיים 'élef 'arba` me'ot tish`im ushtáyim 1492

אלף תשע מאות ארבעים וחמש 'élef tsha` me'ot arba`im vechamesh 1945

אלפיים ושש 'alpáyim veshesh 2006

שלוש מאות שישים וחמש shlosh me'ot shishim vechamesh 365

שישה ביליון חמש מאות עשרים וחמישה מיליון מאה שיבעים אלפים מאתיים שישים וארבע
shishah bilyon chamesh me'ot `esrim vechamishah milyon me'ah shiv`im 'alafim ma'tayim shishim ve'arba` 6.525.170.264

שבעת אלפים שלוש מאות shiv`at 'alafim shlosh me'ot 7.300

שישים מיליון שש מאות ותישעת אלפים מאה חמישים ושלוש
shishim milyon shesh me'ot vetish`at 'alafim me'ah chamishim veshalosh 60.609.153

אלף מאה שלושים ותשע 'élef me'ah shloshim vetésha` 1.139

Exercise 2:
אני בן חמש-עשר. י 'Ani ben chamesh-`asar.

הייתי בן חמישה. י Hayíti ben chamishah.

Exercise 3:
רוסיה פחות חמה מאיטליה. י Rusyah pachot chamah me'Italyah.

קפה פחות טעים מתה. י Qafeh pachot te`im miteh.

חאולים יותר חכמים מכלבים. י Chatulim yoter chachamim miklavim.

ספרים יותר מעניינים מסרטים. י Sfarim yoter me`anyenim misratim.

אש פחות קר מקרח. י 'Esh pachot qar miqerach.

מטוסים יותר מודרניים מאנייות. י Matosim yoter moderniyim me'oniyot.

הים התיכון יותר גדול מים המלח. י HaYam haTichon yoter gadol miYam haMélach.

צב פחות מהיר מארנבת. י Tzav pachot mahir me'arnévet.

לבשל פחות קל מאשר לנקות. י Levashel pachot qal me'asher lenaqot.

לרכוב ברכבת יותר מהיר מאשר לנהוג במכונית. י Lirchov berakévet yoter mahir me'asher linhog bemechonit.

[Xonen]

Yes, if anyone’s out there, do say something! It’s getting a bit lonely here.

I'm still studying, but I'm a couple of lessons behind. So instead of posting my answers, I've taken the liberty of checking from yours, or from the corrections Maknas has made to them. I'll try to catch up, if I find the time.

[Mecislau]

שישה ביליון חמש מאות עשרים וחמישה מיליון מאה שיבעים אלפים מאתיים שישים וארבע
shishah bilyon chamesh me'ot `esrim vechamishah milyon me'ah shiv`im 'alafim ma'tayim shishim ve'arba` 6.525.170.264

That's a little bit more exact than I expected, but good nonetheless!

אני בן חמש-עשר. י 'Ani ben chamesh-`asar.

Erm, "chamesh-`asar" isn't a number. You're mixing up the feminine chamesh- and the masculine -`asar. What you want here is chamesh-`esreh.

הייתי בן חמישה. י Hayíti ben chamishah.

Whoops, I forgot to tell you, use only the feminine numbers (because the word "shanah" (year) is implied). *Chamesh.

קפה פחות טעים מתה. י Qafeh pachot te`im miteh.

The masculine singular form of the adjective here is "ta`im", not "te`im". See the vocab list in Lesson 12.

However, you spelled it right in Hebrew! Its vowelless nature is good at masking irregularities like that.

לבשל פחות קל מאשר לנקות. י Levashel pachot qal me'asher lenaqot.

לרכוב ברכבת יותר מהיר מאשר לנהוג במכונית. י Lirchov berakévet yoter mahir me'asher linhog bemechonit.

Ah, good job with the infinitives (in both binyanim!)

Just a little side note: אשר 'asher is the "full form" of the clitic relative pronoun ש she-. You won't see it quite as often as the shorter clitic, except in formal usage, but know that both options are available.

EDIT: And a little pronunciation note: When you use ב be- (but not its definite form) before another single consonant, you don't pronounce the /e/, unless too awkward of a cluster is formed. So ברכבת would be pronounced more like brakévet /bRA."kE.vEt/ (but במכונית is still bemechonit, since initial bm- clusters aren't permitted in Hebrew.)

[Mecislau]

<b>Lesson 14 / השעור הארבעה-עשר / Hashi`ur Ha'arba`ah-`Asar</b>


1) Numbers and Units of Measure

As you should know, for most nouns, you use the singular when accompanied by אחת/אחד 'achat/'echad "one", and the plural with all greater numbers. And there's the dual, but that's not relevant right now.

However, I said in the last lesson that in expressions of age, the word שנה shanah "year" is implied, not שנות shanot. The "full form" of "I am 18 years old" is אני בן שמונה-עשרה שנה 'ani ben shmoneh-`esreh shanah.

The reason is that when accompanied by numbers greater than 10, abstract units of measure (in this case, "year", a measure of time) may be used in the singular (or may even be preferred). This includes all sorts of measures of distance, time, currency, weight, etc. So you have to use the singular with 1, the plural with 2-10 (or the dual with 2, if applicable), and either one with 11 and above.


2) The Past Tense of Pi`el

The past tense of pi`el verbs is basically the same as that of pa`al, except the basic vowel pattern is CiCaC instead of CaCaC:

• 1Sg: CiCáCti
• 2SgM: CiCáCta
• 2SgF: CiCaCt
• 3SgM: CiCeC (notice the vowels!)
• 3SgF: CiCCah
• 1Pl: CiCáCnu
• 2PlM: CiCáCtem
• 2PlF: CiCáCten
• 3Pl: CiCCu

With לדבר ledaber:

• אני דיברתי 'ani dibárti
• אתה דיברת 'atah dibárta
• את דיברת 'at dibart
• הוא דיבר hu' diber
• היא דיברה hi' dibrah
• אנחנו דיברנו 'anáchnu dibárnu
• אתם דיברתם 'atem dibartem
• אתן דיברתן 'aten dibarten
• הם/הן דיברו hem/hen dibru

And in case you haven't noticed yet, the binyanim are named after the 3SgM past form of the root פ-ע-ל P-`-L "do, act" in each binyan: פעל "he did/functioned", פיעל "he caused/influenced".


3) The Word כל kol

The word כל kol is a noun (or at least acts like one), though is often translated as the pronoun "all" or the adjectives "all" or "every". You will most often see it in construct with another noun.

Translate it as "every" when you see it in an indefinite construct: אני נוסע כל שנה 'ani nosé`a kol shanah "I travel every year".

Translate it as "all" or "the whole" when you see it in a definite construct: אני נוסע כל השנה 'ani nosé`a kol hashanah "I travel the whole year".

And remember the endings prepositions can take to "conjugate"? Kol can take them too*, with the sense of "all of ___":

• כולי kuli "all of me"
• כולך kulcha "all of you (m)"
• כולך kulech "all of you (f)"
• כולו kulo "all of him"
• כולה kulah "all of her"
• כולנו kulánu "all of us"
• כולכם kulchem "all of y'all (m)"
• כולכן kulchen "all of y'all (f)"
• כולם kulam "all of them (m)"
• כולן kulan "all of them (f)"

Naturally, you hear the plural forms much more often than the singular ones, especially כולם kulam, which is also used to mean "everybody".

* Technically, all nouns can take these endings. See below.


4) "How are you?"

I never taught you how to say this before...

To a man, you say מה שלומך? י mah shlomcha?, and to a woman, מה שלומך? י mah shlomech? These literally mean "What is your peace?" (cf. שלום shalom), with the personal possessive endings. These endings, which will be discussed in more detail in a later lesson, may sometimes be used on nouns in place of the conjugated של shel.

The plural forms are מה שלומכם? י mah shlomchem? (m) and מה שלומכן? י mah shlomchen? (f), literally "What is y'all's peace?"


5) Impersonal Statements

Impersonal statements are sentences lacking an overt subject, but are instead a general statement about what happens. In English these sentences need a 'dummy subject' like "they", "you", or "one" that don't actually refer to anything. In Hebrew these sentences are expressed using the masculine plural form of the verb, with no subject marked:

סגורים את החנויות בחגים sgurim 'et hachanuyot bechagim "They close the stores on holidays"/"The stores are closed on holidays"
מדברים אנגלית פה medabrim 'anglit poh "They speak English here"/"English is spoken here".

As you can see, these may often be translated as passive sentences in English, since the passive voice allows for the elimination of the original subject.

In the past tense, use the 3PlMasc (הם hem) forms.


EXERCISES:

1) Which form of the word in brackets should be used in each of these phrases - the singular, plural, or either?

• אלף [שקל/שקלים] י 'élef [shéqel/shqalim]
• ארבעה [קילומטר/קילומטרים] י 'arba`ah [qilométer/qilometrim]
• חמישה-עשר [כוס/כוסי] קפה chamishah-`asar [kos/kosey] qafeh (cups of coffee)
• חודש/חודשים] אחד] [chódesh/chodashim] 'echad
• עשרים [מטר/מטרים] י `esrim [méter/metrim]

2) Conjugate לבשל levashel in the past.

3) Try to conjugate לטלפן letalpen in the past. Insert an epenthetic /e/ only to break up would-be three-consonant clusters (eg, the 3SgF is tilpenah, not *tilpnah).

4) Let's see if you can understand a slightly more complex passage. Read and translate these paragraphs I wrote for you, תיור קצר ירושלים Tiyur Qatzar Yerushaláyim "A Brief Tour of Jerusalem". The romanization is given below the vocabulary (which is more focused on things you'd see in a city).

תיור קצר ירושלים

ירושלים הוא עיר מאוד עתיקה וחשובה להרבה אנשים, ועחשיו היא בירת מדינת ישראל. הוא בן יותר מארבעת אלפים שנה והוא עיר קדושה לשלוש דתות עולם - יהדות, נצרות, ואיסלאם. זה גם הסיבה למלחמות היסטוריות למרות שהשם שלו במקור בא מהמילים הכנעניים "אורו סאלים" (ער שלום). בעיר הישנה יש מקומות קדושים לכולם - הכותל המערבי ליהודים, כנסיית הקבר הקדוש לנוצרים, ומסגד אל אקצה למוסלמים. י

העיר גם מאוד מודרנית. בנייני הכנסת ובית המשפט העליון שם, בתי חולים, אוניברסיטות, שוקים וחנויות לקנות. יש מלונות לנוסעים ומסעדות לאוכל בחוץ, ומוזאונים לאנשים מעוניינים בהיסטוריה ואמנות. ולנסוע,ישני נמלי תיופה קרובים. י


Vocabulary:

• תיור tiyur "tour"
• קצר qatzar "brief"
• ירושליים Yerushaláyim "Jerusalem" (yes, that looks like a dual ending, but it isn't.)
• הוא hu' "is" (this usage will be discussed later)
• עתיק `atiq "ancient"
• חשוב chashuv "important"
• הרבה harbeh "many"
• אנשים 'anashim "people" (the plural of איש 'ish)
• עחשיו `achshav "now"
• בירה birah "capital" (also "beer")
• מדינה medinah "state, nation"
• קדוש qadosh "holy" (a > nothing in all other forms)
• דת dat "religion" (feminine)
• עולם `olam "world"
• יהדות yahadut "Judaism"
• נצרות natzrut "Christianity"
• איסלאם 'islam "Islam"
• סיבה sibah "reason, cause"
• מלחמה milchamah "war"
• היסטורי histori "historical"
• למרות ש lamrot she- "despite, even though"
• שם shem "name"
• במקור bemaqor "originally" (lit. "in origin" or "in source")
• מילה milah "word"
• כנעני kna`ani "Canaanite"
• ישן yashan "old" (first a > e in all other forms)
• מקום maqom "place" (masculine, but plural: מקומות meqomot)
• כותל kotel "wall"
• מערבי ma`aravi "western"
• יהודים yehudim "Jews"
• כנסייה knesiyah "church"
• קבר qéver "sepulchre, tomb"
• נוצרים nutzrim "Christians"
• מסגד misgad "mosque"
• מוסלמים muslemim "Muslims"
• בניין binyan "building"
• כנסת knéset "assembly" (with the definite article, the Israeli Parliament)
• משפט mishpat "law"
• עליון `elyon "supreme, uppermost" (you should be able to figure out what this building is supposed to be)
• שם sham "there"
• בית חולים beyt cholim "hospital" (lit. "house of the sick"; the plural construct form of בית báyit is בתי batey)
• שוק shuq "market"
• מלון malon "hotel" (masculine; plural מלונות melonot)
• נוסע nosé`a "traveller" (declined the same way as the verb conjugates)
• מסעדה mis`adah "restaurant"
• חוץ chutz "outside, the outdoors" (a noun; so what does בחוץ mean?)
• מוזאון muze'on "museum"
• מעוניין ב me'unyan be- "interested in"
• היסטוריה historiyah "history"
• אמנות 'omanut "art" (feminine)
• נמל namel "port" (construct singular: nemal; construct plural: nemaley)
• תעופה te'ufah "flight"

Tiyur Qatzar Yerushaláyim

Yerushaláyim hu' `ir me'od `atiqah vachashuvah leharbeh 'anashim, ve`achshav hi' birat medinat Yisra'el. Hu' ben yoter me'arba`at 'alafim vehu' `ir qdoshah leshalosh datot `olam - yahadut, natzrut, ve'islam. Zeh gam hasibah lemilchamot historiyot lamrot shehashem shelo bemaqor ba' mehamilim hakna`aniyim "Uru Salim" (`ir shalom). Ba`ir hayshanah yesh meqomot qdoshim lechulam - haKotel haMa`aravi layehudim, Knesiyat haQéver haQadosh lanutzrim, veMisgad 'Al 'Aqtzah lamuslemim.

Ha`ir gam me'od modernit. Binyaney haKnéset vebeyt haMishpat Ha`Elyon sham, batey cholim, 'universitot, shuqim vechanuyot liqnot. Yesh melonot lenosa`im vemis`adot le'echol bachutz, vemuze'onim le'anashim me'unyanim behistoriyah ve'omanut. Velinsó`a, shney nemaley te'ufah qrovim.


Also, I'm just curious as to whether you'd like the future lessons to actually be done (at least partially) in Hebrew. It will certainly help a lot, but it might be a bit much if you don't think you're anywhere near ready yet. I would provide necessary vocabulary to understand the lessons, of course.

I'm still studying, but I'm a couple of lessons behind. Confused So instead of posting my answers, I've taken the liberty of checking from yours, or from the corrections Maknas has made to them. I'll try to catch up, if I find the time.

Still good to hear. If you don't mind my asking, about how far are you?

[Xonen]

I'm still studying, but I'm a couple of lessons behind. Confused So instead of posting my answers, I've taken the liberty of checking from yours, or from the corrections Maknas has made to them. I'll try to catch up, if I find the time.

Still good to hear. If you don't mind my asking, about how far are you?

Will start lesson 13 next. Problem is, I'll probably be getting more and more busy towards the beginning of June, so I'm not sure how realistic the idea of catching up with you is. But I'll try to hang on.

[Masily box]

In the past tense, use the 3SgMasc (הם hem) forms.

Do you mean 3PL?

er... anyway, hello everyone. I've lurked here occasionally before, and I finally decided I ought to make an account. Maknas, thanks a lot for these lessons; I've been trying to learn Hebrew on my own for a while, and these've been really helpful. I'm behind in actually writing the exercises out, but I wanted to speak up and say that there are people besides Tuli following the thread.

[Tuli]

Yes, I think having some of the lessons written in Hebrew would help us learn it better, though it would be difficult. And I wouldn't mind if you wanted to slow it down a bit for Xonen to catch up.

Welcome, Masily! A fellow (former) lurker! I hung around here for about a year before signing up.

Answers for Lesson 14:

Exercise 1:
אלף [שקל/שקלים] י 'élef [shéqel/shqalim] both
ארבעה [קילומטר/קילומטרים] י 'arba`ah [qilométer/qilometrim] plural
חמישה-עשר [כוס/כוסי] קפה chamishah-`asar [kos/kosey] qafeh (cups of coffee) both
חודש/חודשים] אחד] [chódesh/chodashim] 'echad singular
עשרים [מטר/מטרים] י `esrim [méter/metrim] both

Exercise 2:
לבשל levashel
בישלתי vishálti
בישלת vishálta
בישלת vishalt
בישל vishel
בישלה vishlah
בישלנו vishálnu
בישלתם visháltem
בישלתן vishálten

Exercise 3:
לטלפן letalpen
טילפנתי tilpánti
טילפנת tilpánta
טילפנת tilpant
טילפן tilpen
טילפנה tilpenah
טילפננו tilpánnu
טילפנתם tilpántem
טילפנתן tilpánten
טילפנו tilpenu

Exercise 4:
Jerusalem is a very ancient city, important to many people, and now it is the capital of the nation of Israel. It is more than four thousand years old and it is a holy city to three world religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is also the reason for historical wars, even though the name originally came from the Canaanite worlds “Uru Salim” (City of Peace). In the Old City, there are holy places to everybody—the Western Wall to the Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Christians, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Muslims.

The city is also very modern. The Knesset Buildings and the House of the Supreme Court are there, as well as hospitals, universities, and markets and stores to shop in. There are hotels for travellers and open-air restaurants to eat at, and museums for people interested in history and art. And for travel, two airports are nearby.


Edit:
בישלו bishlu--Oddly enough, I'd forgotten the 3rdPL for letalpen too, but I noticed that one as I was typing it up.

[Mecislau]

In the past tense, use the 3SgMasc (הם hem) forms.

Do you mean 3PL?

Yes... I do. Thanks

er... anyway, hello everyone. I've lurked here occasionally before, and I finally decided I ought to make an account. Maknas, thanks a lot for these lessons; I've been trying to learn Hebrew on my own for a while, and these've been really helpful. I'm behind in actually writing the exercises out, but I wanted to speak up and say that there are people besides Tuli following the thread.

Heh, thanks a lot. I find these lessons kinda fun to write as well - it gives me some well-needed practice too, and in the process I found out things I didn't really notice before!

חמישה-עשר [כוס/כוסי] קפה chamishah-`asar [kos/kosey] qafeh (cups of coffee) both

This was a bit of a trick, I guess. Only the plural would be acceptable, because "cup" isn't a unit of mea... Wait, yes it is. *scratches head*

Alright, both would be acceptable if you're taking about say, cups of coffee beans ("cup" as a measure), but not as in "cups" as in drinking mugs.

Sorry, my bad there.

Exercise 2:
לבשל levashel
בישלתי vishálti
בישלת vishálta
בישלת vishalt
בישל vishel
בישלה vishlah
בישלנו vishálnu
בישלתם visháltem
בישלתן vishálten

The /v/ is lenited, and the letter ב is always pronounced hard at the beginning of a word. So it's bishálti, bishálta, etc.

Also, you seem to have forgotten the 3PL.



And your translation was more or less right on the dot. Just note that the phrase לאכול בחוץ le'echol bachutz means "to eat out" (which is what I intended) in addition to "to eat outside". But you're not wrong here - your translation works just as well.

[Mecislau]

<b>Lesson 15 / השעור החמישה-עשר / Hashi`ur Hachamishah-`Asar</b>


Okay, this lesson is all done in Hebrew. Try to read the Hebrew script first (covering up the transliteration). Vocabulary necessary to understand each section is given at the bottom of each section.

השעור הזה נכתב רק בעברית. תשתדלו לקרוא את הכתב עברי קודם (בלי התעתיק). מילים שאתם צריכים להבין כל חלקים הן בסוף הכל חלק. י

Hashi`ur hazeh nichtav raq be`ivrit. Tishtadlu liqro' 'et hachtav `ivri qódem (bli hata`etiq). Milim she'atem tzrichim lehavin kol chelaqim hen besof hachol chéleq.

Vocab:

• נכתב nichtav "is written"
• תשתדלו tishtadlu "try" (an imperative in a binyan you don't know. Don't worry about these verb forms for now)
• כתב ktav* "writing, script" (you know the root - also notice how the /k/ lenites to [X] when the ha- is added, due to the normal end-of-syllable-before-another-consonant rule)
• עברי `ivri* "Hebrew" as an adjective (language names come the feminine forms of these adjectives, because the noun ספה safah "language" is implied)
• קודם qódem* "first" (as an adverb)
• בלי bli* "without"
• תעתיק ta`etiq "transliteration"
• להבין lehavin* "to understand" (see section 1 of this lesson)
• חלק chéleq* "section, part"
• סוף sof* "end"

(From now on, except in exercises, I will mark words you really need to remember with an asterisk * after the transliteration. While you're learning you have no need to remember such rare words as "transliteration" or a single case of a verb form you haven't learned yet).

1) הבניין הפעיל Habinyan Hif`il

הפעיל הוא הבניין שלישי שאנחנו לומדים. פועלים בבניין הזה רוכשים את מובן הגורם.

הפועלים האלה גם מצרפים "מ" לשורש (כפיעל), אבל גם יש "י" בין העיצור השני והעיצור השלישי

בהווה: י

Hif`il hu' habinyan shlishi she'anáchnu lomdim. Po`alim babinyan hazeh rochshim 'et muvan hagorem.

Hapo`alim ha'éleh gam metzarfim "mem" lashoresh (kpi`el), 'aval gam yesh "yod" beyn ha`itzur hasheni veha`itzur hashlishi.

Bahoveh:

• MSg: maCCiC
• FSg: maCCiCah
• MPl: maCCiCim
• FPl: maCCiCot

עם השורש ר-ג-ש (אין התגשמות בפעל) י
`im hashóresh R-G-Sh ('eyn hitgashmut bepa`al):

• MSg: מרגיש margish
• FSg: מרגישה margishah
• MPl: מרגישים margishim
• FPl: מרגישות margishot

שם הפועל:
shem hapo`al: lehaCCiC (ר-ג-ש > להרגיש lehargish).

העיצור הראשון והעיצור השלישי תמיד מחלישים
ha`itzur harishon veha`itzur hashlishi tamid machlishim.


Vocabulary:

• ר-ג-ש R-G-Sh* "to feel" (esp. emotions)
• ראשון rishon* "first" (adj)
• שני sheni* "second" (adj)
• שלישי shlishi* "third"
• פועל po`al* "verb"
• ר-כ-ש R-K-Sh* "acquire" (pa`al)
• מובן muvan "meaning, sense"
• גורם gorem "causative" (ie, "to make somone ___")
• צ-ר-פ Tz-R-P* "add" (pi`el; no pa`al form)
• הווה hoveh "present tense" (this comes from an archaic present tense form of "to be", so this is basically the "there-exists tense")
• שורש shóresh* "root"
• בין beyn* "between"
• עיצור `itzur "consonant"
• התגשמות hitgashmut "realization, form"
• שם פועל shem po`al* "infinitive" (literally "name of the verb")
• תמיד tamid* "always"
• ח-ל-ש Ch-L-Sh "weaken, lenite" (hif`il, lit. "to cause to become weak"; no pa`al form, instead derived from the adjective חלש chalash "weak" - you guessed it, this binyan is often used to turn adjectives into verbs)

2) כינויים כאוגדים Kinuyim ke'ogedim

כשהנושא הוא עצם בגוף השלישי, הכינוי עם המספר והמין המרבילים תכופות משמש כאוגד (אבל רק בהווה) י

Kshehanoshe' hu' `étzem baguf hashlishi, hakinuy `im hamispar vehamin hamaqbilim techufot meshamesh ka'oged ('aval raq bahoveh).

המכונית של החבר שלי היא אדומה
Hamechonit shel hachaver sheli hi' 'adumah.
"My friend's car is red"

אם האוגד הוא נגטיבי, על תשתמשו את הכינוי (רק "לא") י

'im ha'oged hu' negativi, `al tishtamshu 'et hakinuy (raq "lo'")

המכונית של החבר שלי לא אדומה
Hamechonit shel hachever sheli lo' adumah.
"My friend's car isn't red"


Vocabulary:

• כינוי kinuy* "pronoun" (also "nickname")
• אוגד 'oged "copula" (lit. something like "the thing that ties together")
• כש kshe-* "when" (The prefixed ke- plus the relative pronoun she- means "when", the conjunction)
• נושא noshe' "subject" (lit. "theme")
• עצם `étzem* "noun, substance"
• גוף guf "structure, body" (or in this case, גוף שלישי guf shlishi* "third person")
• מספר mispar "number"
• מין min "gender"
• מקביל maqbil "corresponding, correlating"
• תחופות techufot "often, frequently"
• ש-מ-ש Sh-M-Sh* "serve, be used (as)" (pi`el)
• אם 'im* "if" (be careful not to confuse this with עם `im "with")
• נגטיבי negativi "negative"
• על תשתמשו `al tishtamshu "Don't use"

3) הפועל ב-י-ן Hapo`al B-Y-N

זה שורש מאוד שימושי בהפעיל, אבל לא סדיר
"to understand" באנגלית

Zeh shóresh me'od shimushi behif`il, 'aval lo' sadir. Be'anglit "to understand".

• MSg: מבין mevin
• FSg: מבינה mevinah
• MPl: מבינים mevinim
• FPl: מבינות mevinot

שם הפועל: להבין
shem hapo`al: lehavin


Vocabulary:

• שימושי shimushi "useful"
• סדיר sadir "regular"

EXERCISES:

Since the rest of this lesson was kind of an experiment, I'll make the exercises a bit shorter than usual (as all of the above concepts were used to some degree in the actual texts).

1) Conjugate ח-ל-פ Ch-L-P "(ex)change, replace" in hif`il, with the infinitive. In pa`al, it means "pass by", so this literally means "to make X pass by". Remember the lenition rules (first and last consonant).

2) The adjective אדום 'adom (o > u in other forms) means "red". Guess what the verb "to redden" is, and conjugate it in the present tense and infinitive. And just for the fun of it, can you guess what else this verb might mean?

(Insert an epenthetic /a/ after the 'alef to separate it from the next consonant...)

3) Can you guess the meanings of the following verbs? Look at the roots.

• להגדיל lehagdil
• להטעים lehat`im
• להאכיל leha'achil
• להקטין lehaqtin
• להפעיל lehaf`il
• להצריך lehatzrich

So how'd the all-Hebrew lesson work out? Any suggestions or questions?


Also, it might be a while until you get the next lesson. I have AP exams coming up, and after that state assessments and then semester exams (a typical May ). I'm not saying you'll have to wait until then, but I'm not going to spend as much time on writing lessons.


And now Xonen can catch up



EDIT: A recap in English, to make sure you got it all...
1) The binyan hif`il is used to create causative verbs. They require a direct object. The 'third argument' to a causative verb is handled by that verb's governing preposition.
2) The third person pronouns may be used in place of the zero-copula in positive sentences in the present tense.

[Zohar]

Just a suggestion, but could we make a thread with just the lessons, maybe in the L&L museum, it's hard (for me) to follow the lessons with comments in between, not to offend those studiers

[Tuli]

לקרוא את העברית הייה מעניין! י
I think it’d be a bit easier to practice reading the Hebrew if you put the transliteration after the vocabulary.
Is hif`il transitive or intransitive? A causitive makes it seem like the first, but it also seemed like you used machlishim intransitively. (Unless I’m not parsing it right, or it is transitive and I don’t see it, or adjectives aren’t necessarily made transitive, or it works like English and can be either intransitive or transitive based on the number of arguments you give it. . . )
I was able to recognize beyn from its Arabic cognate bayna, which made me happy. ^_^

Zohar, perhaps it’d be easier if you printed out the lessons. I don’t think I could follow them myself if I didn’t have a hard copy. ^_^

Answers for Lesson 15:

Exercise 1:
מחליף machlif
מחליפה machlifah
מחליפים machlifim
מחליפות machlifot
להחליף lehachlif

Exercise 2:
מאדים ma’adim
מאדימה ma’adimah
מאדימים ma’adimim
מאדימות ma’adimot
להאדים leha’adim
I’d guess that it also means “to blush.”

Exercise 3:
להגדיל lehagdil to make something grow; to grow
להטעים lehat`im to make something be delicious
להאכיל leha'achil to make something eat; to feed
להקטין lehaqtin to make something small; to shrink
להפעיל lehaf`il to make someone do; to force; to cause
להצריך lehatzrich to make someone need (There really should be a verb for that in English)

And for fun, I’ll try to write sentences with them!
אי אפשר להגדיל חתול בגינה. י It’s not possible to grow a cat in a garden.
סוכר מטאים עוגה. י Sugar makes cake delicious.
למה את לא מאכילה לכלב? י Why don’t you feed the dog?
הים מקטין כשהוא קר. י The sea shrinks when it is cold.
האיש מפעיל מלחמות. י The man causes wars.
מבחנים מצריכים לה ללמוד. י Tests make her need to study.
Yes, they’re fairly random. ^_^ I’m afraid I messed the valencies and noun cases up completely.

גם יש לי מבחנים סופים החודש. אני מבין שאתה צריך ללמוד. י

[Xonen]

And now Xonen can catch up

Except that I too have some exams, including a couple of university entrance examinations… And I'm lazy. But I'll try to try. :Þ