Learn quite a few phrases you can use to understand the culture better
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Shira: Hi, everyone, Shira here, and welcome back to Basic Bootcamp Lesson 3, Useful Phrases for Learning Hebrew. This is the third in a five-part series that will help you ease your way into Hebrew. |
| Amir: שלום : אני Amir. I’m Amir. |
| Shira: In this lesson, you will have several essential phrases to help you learn Hebrew…in Hebrew. |
| Amir: You can use these phrases when you are at a loss for words or stuck in a confusing situation. |
| Shira: These phrases will help you avoid or resolve misunderstandings whenever and wherever you are in Israel. |
| Amir: Using Hebrew to learn Hebrew can help you improve much more quickly! |
| Shira: Okay, here we have a little example situation for you. |
| Amir: Yes, this is a really common situation a learner will find himself in. |
| Shira: It’s the case of "the missing word." |
| Amir: You may want to say something but don't have the word in your vocabulary. |
| Shira: For some of us, it's not just an occurrence…maybe more like a recurring nightmare. |
| Amir: But the nightmare is now over! |
| Shira: Yay! So listen to Amir and me try to overcome some language difficulties by asking simple but very useful phrases, and try to keep up! |
| Shira: Let's listen to the conversation! |
| Dialogue |
| Shira: סְלִיחָה, אֵיךְ אוֹמְרִים__________ בְּעִבְרִית? |
| Amir: גְּבִינָה |
| Shira: סְלִיחָה, לֹא הֵבַנְתִּי. אֶפְשָׁר לְהַגִּיד אֶת זֶה עוֹד פַּעַם, בְּבַקָּשָׁה |
| Amir: גְּבִינָה |
| SHIRA:אֶפְשָׁר לְדַבֵּר לְאַט יוֹתֵר, בְּבַקָּשָׁה. |
| Amir: גְּבִי-נָה |
| Shira: אפשר לִכְתּוֹב אֶת זֶה, בְּבַקָּשָׁה. |
| [Slow version] |
| Shira: Let's hear it slowly now. |
| Amir: נשמע את זה לאט יותר |
| Shira: סליחה, איך אומרים__________ בעברית? |
| Amir: גבינה |
| Shira: סליחה, לא היבנתי. אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם, בבקשה. |
| Amir: גבינה |
| Shira: אפשר לדבר לאט יותר, בבקשה. |
| Amir: גבי-נה |
| Shira: אפשר לכתוב את זה, בבקשה |
| [With English translation] |
| Shira: And now with the translation. |
| Amir: ועכשיו עם התרגום. |
| Amir: סליחה, איך אומרים__________ בעברית? |
| Shira: "Excuse me, how do you say 'cheese' in Hebrew?" |
| Amir: גבינה |
| Shira: "Cheese." |
| Amir: ?סליחה, לא היבנתי. אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם, בבקשה |
| Shira: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Is it possible to say it once again, please?" |
| Amir: גבינה |
| Shira: "Cheese." |
| Amir: אפשר לדבר לאט יותר, בבקשה?. |
| Shira: "Is it possible to speak more slowly, please?" |
| Amir: גבי-נה |
| Shira: "Chee-se." |
| Amir: ?אפשר לכתוב את זה, בבקשה |
| Shira: "Could you write it, please?" |
| Post-dialogue Banter |
| Shira: And now you will never be at a loss for words again. |
| Amir: That's right. If you find yourself in a local café in Tel Aviv on a Friday morning, there is no longer any excuse to not try out some of these phrases. I guarantee you it will improve your Hebrew in no time! |
| Shira: Speaking of cafés, cafés are very popular in Israel. I remember the first time I went out on a Friday morning. I was stunned at how crowded the sidewalk cafés were. |
| Amir: It's true. We really do love to sit around on Friday mornings and enjoy a "café hafukh." |
| Shira: Now there’s a funny word! It literally means "upside-down coffee." |
| Amir: It does, but it is actually the Israeli latte. So, that's today's bonus phrase…"café hafukh." |
| Shira: “Café hafukh”. You must try one, and make sure you stop by a local café on a Friday morning. It’s always an adventure. |
| Amir: It's kind of like a rite of passage, really. See, Friday is a day to wind down from the week in Israel. We clean our houses, do lots of last-minute shopping, and then we sit down and take a deep breath before Shabbat starts. |
| Shira: Many times that deep breath is taken while sitting at a café with your closest friends. |
| Amir: And now that you've learned these important Hebrew phrases, you will be able to experience this to the fullest! |
| Shira: Yes! So what exactly were all these words, I bet you’re thinking? Let's break them down for you. |
| Amir: Let’s do it! |
| Vocab list |
| Shira: Our first word is... |
| Amir: סליחה |
| Shira: "excuse me." Or "I'm sorry." |
| Amir: סליחה (slowly) |
| Amir: סליחה |
| Shira: The next word is... |
| Amir: איך |
| Shira: "how" |
| Amir: איך (slowly) |
| Amir: איך |
| Shira: Okay, and the next word we have is… |
| Amir: לומר |
| Shira: "to say" |
| Amir: לומר (slowly) |
| Amir: לומר |
| Shira: Next we have... |
| Amir: בעברית |
| Shira: "in Hebrew" |
| Amir: בעברית (slowly) |
| Amir: בעברית |
| Shira: Then we have... |
| Amir: לא |
| Shira: "not," or "no" |
| Amir: לא (slowly) |
| Amir: לא |
| Shira: Next is... |
| Amir: להבין |
| Shira: "to understand" |
| Amir: להבין (slowly) |
| Amir: להבין |
| Shira: And the next word is… |
| Amir: לחזור |
| Shira: "to repeat" |
| Amir: לחזור (slowly) |
| Amir: לחזור |
| Shira: Next is... |
| Amir: בבקשה |
| Shira: "please…" |
| Amir: בבקשה (slowly) |
| Amir: בבקשה |
| Shira: Then we have... |
| Amir: לדבר |
| Shira: "to speak" |
| Amir: לדבר (slowly) |
| Amir: לדבר |
| Shira: The next phrase is... |
| Amir: לאט יותר |
| Shira: "more slowly" |
| Amir: לאט יותר (slowly) |
| Amir: לאט יותר |
| Shira: Next is... |
| Amir: לכתוב |
| Shira: "to write" |
| Amir: לכתוב (slowly) |
| Amir: לכתוב |
| Shira: The next word is... |
| Amir: אפשר |
| Shira: "is it possible" |
| Amir: אפשר (slowly) |
| Amir: אפשר |
| Vocabulary Usage |
| Shira: Well, we covered all the words, and now we need to explain their usage. |
| Amir: But that's going to be easy. |
| Shira: That’s because most of them have the same usage as in English! |
| Amir: With small exceptions such as סליחה, which we can use both as "Excuse me" and "I'm sorry." But again, its meaning is defined by its usage! |
| Shira: Could you say that one more time slowly? |
| Amir: סליחה |
| Shira: And one more time fast? |
| Amir: סליחה |
| Shira: That's a very useful expression. With it and the other vocabulary words, we've equipped you with everything you need to resolve misunderstandings. |
| Amir: If you didn't understand the word the first time, you know the phrase for "say it once again." |
| Shira: Which is? |
| Amir: אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם. |
| Shira: Slowly? |
| Amir: אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם. |
| Shira: And one more time fast? |
| Amir: אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם. |
| Shira: Good boy! And if you still have problems understanding your companions, you know how to ask them to speak more slowly. |
| Amir: אפשר לדבר לאט יותר, בבקשה?.. (slowly) אפשר לדבר לאט יותר, בבקשה?. (regular speed) |
| אפשר לדבר לאט יותר, בבקשה?. |
| Shira: And if you think the word is useful for you, you can ask someone to show you how to write the word or to help you with your Hebrew writing. |
| Amir: אפשר לכתוב את זה? (slow) אפשר לכתוב את זה? (regular speed) אפשר לכתוב את זה? |
| Shira: I used to carry a notebook where I wrote down the Hebrew words I learned with the English equivalent. I would open up the book any time I had a free minute—on the bus or at University, wherever—and I would study the words. |
| Amir: Oh, that’s a good idea. |
| Shira: Yah, once the word is somewhere in your brain, you just need to give yourself the chance to encounter it a few times in different circumstances. |
| Amir: Yes, this method of writing down words as you hear them is great, because once you introduce yourself to the word and write it down, you start to notice it being used all around you. |
| Shira: And it only takes a few times hearing it! |
| Amir: Soon you'll have the vocabulary of a native Hebrew speaker. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Shira: So, now let’s move on to the Grammar section. In the first phrase we had: סליחה, איך אומרים__________ בעברית?; |
| Amir: "Excuse me, how does one say __________ in Hebrew?" |
| Shira: The first word, סליחה, which means "Excuse me" if you put it at the beginning of the question sentence. But it can also mean "I'm sorry." |
| Amir: But the first phrase we have expresses the request for help; therefore, we use סליחה in the meaning of "excuse me." |
| Shira: The next word is... איך., which means "how." |
| Amir: This is a very useful word too, and it is always followed by a verb in the masculine plural form without a subject. |
| Shira: Right, the subject is implied by the tense of the verb. |
| Amir: So we start off with…איך! |
| Shira: Okay, and the next word is… |
| Amir: אומרים. אומ-רים, אומרים. |
| Shira: This word means "say." So here, we have…איך אומרים, which literally means "how do (they) say" or “how does (one) say.” And then, just add the word you want to know, followed by... |
| Amir: בעברית. איך אומרים__________ בעברית? |
| Shira: We can translate this as "in Hebrew." Hopefully, your companion knows enough English to know the word you want to know and say it in Hebrew for you! So in the dialogue we heard… |
| Amir: סליחה, איך אומרים__________ בעברית? |
| Shira: Right. Now how would we use the same phrase but change "cheese" to "ticket?" |
| Amir: סליחה, איך אומרים__________ בעברית? |
| Shira: Great. Listeners, listen and repeat… |
| Amir: סליחה, איך אומרים__________ בעברית? |
| {pause} |
| Shira: Okay, so let's move to the second phrase. |
| Amir: סליחה, לא הבנתי. אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם, בבקשה. |
| Shira: לא is like the English word “no” or "not" and is used to make the sentence negative. |
| Amir: That's right, and our next verb is clear evidence of that. הבנתי, ה-בנ-תי, הבנתי |
| Shira: הבנתי literally means "I understood," which is the past tense, first person. And the next word is… |
| Amir: אפשר, אפ-שר, אפשר |
| Shira: Hereאפשר means "is it possible" and is followed by an infinitive verb, just like in English. |
| Amir: Next is להגיד, which literally translates as "to say," which is finally followed by the word את. |
| Shira: This is a word that we don't have in English. It’s used to indicate a direct definite object. |
| Amir: Because the following word is זה, which means "it" or "that," you are talking about something specific, so you need this little word between the verb and the direct object. |
| Shira: You'll get used to it. |
| Amir: The next two words go together…עוד פעם. Together, they mean "again," but when you break down the words, you are literally saying "one more time." |
| Shira: The last word is בבקשה, which means "please." |
| Amir: It can also be used when you offer something to someone, or as in "please take it." |
| Shira: So literally, we’re saying "Is it possible to repeat that again?" Great! Let's repeat the whole phrase again. Listeners, listen carefully and repeat after Amir. |
| Amir: סליחה, לא הבנתי. אפשר להגיד את זה עוד פעם, בבקשה. {pause} |
| Shira: Let's move to sentence number three. אפשר לדבר לאט יותר, בבקשה. |
| Shira: אפשר is the word for "is it possible," as we saw before. The next word is… |
| Amir: לדבר ל-ד-בר, לדבר. It means "to speak." And in order not to sound rude, we also putאפשר before it. Meaning "Is it possible." |
| Shira: The next word is... לאט, ל-אט, לאט. And the word after that is יותר, which literally means "more." |
| Amir: So, when you put these two words together, it means "more slowly." |
| Shira: Let's say this phrase once again. Listeners, pay close attention and repeat. |
| Amir: אפשר לדבר יותר לאט, בבקשה. {pause} |
| Shira: And finally, the last phrase for this lesson. |
| Amir: אפשר לכתוב את זה, בבקשה.; |
| Shira: "Is it possible to write that, please." We start with the same question word אפשר , meaning "Is it possible?" |
| Amir: Followed by לכתוב meaning "to write." לכתוב, לכ-תוב, לכתוב. |
| Shira: As we learned earlier, את זה indicates that you are talking about some specific "it." Let's hear it again and repeat it out loud. |
| Amir: אפשר לכתוב את זה, בבקשה {pause} |
| Shira: See it’s very easy and very useful! |
Outro |
| Shira: So, that's it for this lesson. |
| Amir: Thanks for listening. שלום |
| Shira: See you! |
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