Learn how to compare and contrast words
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sherah: Hi everyone, and welcome back to HebrewPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 5 - Should You Buy a Car in Israel? Sherah Here. |
| Amir: שלום I'm Amir. |
| Sherah: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to compare and contrast words. The conversation takes place at Daniel's apartment. |
| Amir: It's between Ella and Daniel. |
| Sherah: The speakers are friends, so they will use informal Hebrew. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| אלה: אם אני חייבת גם לעבוד וגם ללמוד, אני חושבת שאני צריכה מכונית. |
| דניאל: זה יכול להיות טוב בשבילך, למען האמת. |
| אלה: זה קל יותר מלנסוע באוטובוס ממקום למקום. |
| דניאל: כן, אבל את קוראת הרבה באוטובוס. את לא יכולה לעשות את זה אם את נוהגת. |
| אלה: כמה זמן לוקח להגיע מהאוניברסיטה לעבודה שלי במכונית שלך? |
| דניאל: עשרים דקות אם אין פקקים. |
| אלה: גם באוטובוס זה לוקח בדיוק עשרים דקות. |
| דניאל: כן, כי נוסעים באותו מסלול. |
| אלה: בסדר, זה לוקח אותו זמן, אבל נוח יותר במכונית. |
| דניאל: לאו דווקא, אם יש פקקים, את חייבת לשבת סתם. זה מעצבן לנסוע ולעצור כל הזמן. |
| אלה: אבל מה אם אני רוצה לנסוע רחוק יותר? |
| דניאל: אז זה לוקח פחות זמן, כי באוטובוס את בדרך כלל צריכה להחליף אוטובוסים. |
| Sherah: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| אלה: אם אני חייבת גם לעבוד וגם ללמוד, אני חושבת שאני צריכה מכונית. |
| דניאל: זה יכול להיות טוב בשבילך, למען האמת. |
| אלה: זה קל יותר מלנסוע באוטובוס ממקום למקום. |
| דניאל: כן, אבל את קוראת הרבה באוטובוס. את לא יכולה לעשות את זה אם את נוהגת. |
| אלה: כמה זמן לוקח להגיע מהאוניברסיטה לעבודה שלי במכונית שלך? |
| דניאל: עשרים דקות אם אין פקקים. |
| אלה: גם באוטובוס זה לוקח בדיוק עשרים דקות. |
| דניאל: כן, כי נוסעים באותו מסלול. |
| אלה: בסדר, זה לוקח אותו זמן, אבל נוח יותר במכונית. |
| דניאל: לאו דווקא, אם יש פקקים, את חייבת לשבת סתם. זה מעצבן לנסוע ולעצור כל הזמן. |
| אלה: אבל מה אם אני רוצה לנסוע רחוק יותר? |
| דניאל: אז זה לוקח פחות זמן, כי באוטובוס את בדרך כלל צריכה להחליף אוטובוסים. |
| Sherah: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Ella: If I have to both work and study, I think I need a car. |
| Daniel: It could be good for you in truth. |
| Ella: It's easier than traveling from place to place by bus. |
| Daniel: Yes, but you read a lot on the bus. You can't do that if you're driving. |
| Ella: How long does it take to get from the university to my work with your car? |
| Daniel: Twenty minutes with no traffic jams. |
| Ella: It takes exactly twenty minutes with the bus as well. |
| Daniel: Yes, because you're traveling along the same route. |
| Ella: Okay, it takes the same amount of time, but it's more comfortable in a car. |
| Daniel: Not necessarily, if there are traffic jams, you have to sit for no reason. It's annoying to stop and go all the time. |
| Ella: But what if I want to travel farther? |
| Daniel: So then it takes less time, because in a bus you usually have to change buses. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sherah: Buying a car in Israel isn’t a big deal – you basically exchange money and then change over the ownership on the car. |
| Amir: The biggest surprise for foreigners is the sticker price. |
| Sherah: Taxes on cars are very high in Israel. |
| Amir: You pay 92% tax on cars unless they have lower emissions and then the tax percent goes down. |
| Sherah: This is around 5 times higher than taxes you would pay in Europe. |
| Amir: Most people who are buying a car privately look for used cars, since the price doesn’t depreciate as much. |
| Sherah: New cars are generally bought by companies because they can get discounts when they buy a fleet. |
| Amir: They use cars as a perk for their employees, supplying them with a car to get to and from work. |
| Sherah: If you’re looking for a used car to buy in Israel, you can look on the Internet for private sellers or you can search in used car lots. |
| Amir: Either way, you need to change the car’s title into your name. |
| Sherah: You do this by going with the previous owner to the post office. |
| Amir: You just have to pay a small fee for this service. |
| Sherah: That’s good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sherah: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Amir: גם וגם [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: both |
| Amir: גם וגם[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: גם וגם [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have. |
| Amir: לקרוא [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: to read |
| Amir: לקרוא [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: לקרוא [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: לנהוג [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: to drive |
| Amir: לנהוג [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: לנהוג [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: פקק [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: traffic jam |
| Amir: פקק[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: פקק [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: בדיוק [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: exactly |
| Amir: בדיוק[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: בדיוק [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: מסלול [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: route |
| Amir: מסלול[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: מסלול [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: נוח [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: comfortable |
| Amir: נוח[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: נוח [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: לאו דווקא [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: not necessarily |
| Amir: לאו דווקא[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: לאו דווקא [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: Next we have.. |
| Amir: מעצבן [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: annoying |
| Amir: מעצבן [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: מעצבן [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: And last.. |
| Amir: להחליף [natural native speed] |
| Sherah: to change |
| Amir: להחליף [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Amir: להחליף [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Sherah: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Amir: גם וגם |
| Sherah: meaning "both" |
| Amir: The word גם means “also” and when it’s used in this expression, you are saying “also this and also that”. |
| Sherah: For instance, you can say you like both tomatoes and cucumber. |
| Amir: Which is אני אוהב גם עגבניות וגם מלפפונים |
| Sherah: As you can see from the sentence Amir just said, in Hebrew, you place גם in front of both items. |
| Amir: This is different from how you would say it in English. |
| Sherah: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Amir: Sure. For example, you can say..הילדה רוצה גם עוגה וגם גלידה. |
| Sherah: ..which means "The girl wants both cake and ice cream.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Amir: פקק |
| Sherah: meaning "traffic jam" |
| Amir: It can also mean “cap”, “cork” or “plug”. |
| Sherah: When talking about a traffic jam, most people just say פקק but if you want to be more specific, you can say פקק תנועה. |
| Amir: תנועה means “traffic” or “movement”. |
| Sherah: This word was really funny to me in the beginning because you use it when you’re talking about bottles and also when you’re talking about cars. |
| Amir: It is kind of funny. Another interesting thing about the word is that it reflects the sound a bottle makes when you undo the cork. פקק |
| Sherah: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Amir: For example, you can say..היו פקקים כל הדרך. |
| Sherah: .. which means "There were traffic jams the whole way. " Okay, what's the next word? |
| Amir: לאו דווקא |
| Sherah: this is an Aramaic expression meaning "not necessarily". |
| Amir: The technical translation of this phrase would be something like “actually no”. |
| Sherah: Right, לאו means “no”, but it’s not often used in speech besides this expression. |
| Amir: דווקא is a hard word to translate into English because it can have so many different meanings. |
| Sherah: Here it would means something like “exactly so” or “precisely”. |
| Amir: לאו דווקא is a very fun expression to use in Hebrew. |
| Sherah: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Amir: Sure. For example, you can say.. הוא הגיע לאו דווקא בגלל האוכל. |
| Sherah: .. which means "He didn’t necessarily come for the food." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Sherah: In this lesson, you'll learn how to compare and contrast words. When comparing and contrasting in Hebrew, there are two important words to know – יותר meaning “more” and פחות meaning “less”. |
| Amir: In the first sample sentence from the dialogue, we see the basic pattern for comparing one thing to another. |
| Sherah: Ella says, “It's easier than traveling from place to place by bus.” |
| Amir: In Hebrew, that’s: זה קל יותר מלנסוע באוטובוס ממקום למקום. |
| Sherah: In the beginning of the sentence, Ella says זה (ze) by which she means “driving in a car” |
| Amir: Then she says קל יותר (kal yoter) meaning “easier”. |
| Sherah: She follows this with מלנסוע באוטובוס. |
| Amir: this means “than to travel by bus”. |
| Sherah: The basic pattern to compare one thing to another begins with the first thing you want to compare and the adjective you want to use. |
| Amir: Then you need then יותר (yoter), meaning “more”, for example something like nice, easy, light or difficult. |
| Sherah: In the dialogue, Ella used קל which means “easy” or “light”. |
| Amir: קל יותר is followed by the preposition -מ meaning “from”. |
| Sherah: Then you need the thing you want to compare to. |
| Amir: In previous lessons, we covered the comparison of two nouns. |
| Sherah: Here we are comparing two actions – to travel by car or to travel by bus. |
| Amir: Right, fortunately, the basic structure is the same. |
| Sherah: Let’s hear some example of comparison of nouns and comparison of actions. |
| Amir: The first example is with nouns: העט הכחול טוב יותר מהעט השחור. |
| Sherah: This means: “The blue pen is better than the black pen.” Of course, in English we have a special word for “better” but in Hebrew it’s “more good” or טוב יותר. |
| Amir: The example of comparing two actions is: לרוץ בחוץ מעניין יותר מלרוץ בחדר כושר. |
| Sherah: This means: “Running outside is more interesting than running at a gym.” |
| Amir: The English and the Hebrew are the same - “more interesting” and מעניין יותר. |
| Sherah: When you want to say something is “less” than another thing, you would use the word פחות meaning “less”. |
| Amir: In everyday Hebrew, the adverb “less” or פחות usually comes before the adjective. |
| Sherah: Right. Let’s hear these same examples but with פחות. |
| Amir: The first example is: העט הכחול פחות טוב מהעט השחור. |
| Sherah: meaning “The blue pen is worse (less good) than the black pen.” Again, the English and Hebrew are different because the Hebrew would be directly translated as “less good”. |
| Amir: Next we have our example with two actions: לרוץ בחדר כושר פחות מעניין מלרוץ בחוץ. |
| Sherah: The English translation of this is “Running at a gym is less interesting than running outside.” |
| Amir: I agree, I hate running at the gym. |
| Sherah: In the next sample sentence, Daniel says that the two take the same amount of time because they take the same route. |
| Amir: He says: כֵּן, כִּי נוֹסְעִים בְּאוֹתוֹ מַסְלוּל. |
| Sherah: He uses a word that’s quite useful when comparing things and that is אותו meaning “same”. |
| Amir: This word has four forms depending on the word you’re using it to describe. |
| Sherah: The masculine singular is אותו, like in the dialogue. The feminine singular is אותה. |
| Amir: The masculine plural is אותם and the feminine plural is אותן. |
| Sherah: In the dialogue, the word מסלול was used, so it was אותו מסלול since מסלול is masculine singular. |
| Amir: It is also used in the next sample sentence from the dialogue, which is: זֶה לוֹקֵחַ אוֹתוֹ זְמַן |
| Sherah: Or, “it takes the same time”. The second part of the sentence also uses one of our comparison words. |
| Amir: The second part of the sentence is: נוֹחַ יוֹתֵרבְּמְכוֹנִית. |
| Sherah: This means “it’s more comfortable in a car” |
| Amir: The last sample sentence from the dialogue is: אָז זֶה לוֹקֵחַ פָּחוֹת זְמַן, כִּי בְּאוֹטוֹבּוּס אַתְּ בְּדֶרֶךְ כְּלַל צְרִיכָה לְהַחְלִיף אוֹטוֹבּוּסִים. |
| Sherah: This means: “So then it takes less time because in a bus you usually have to change buses.” |
| Amir: Here we have the opposite of יותר which is פחות meaning “less”. |
| Sherah: Let’s hear some sample sentence with these comparison words. |
| Amir: The first sample sentence is: הוא אוהב לשחות בים יותר מבבריכה. |
| Sherah: Or: He likes to swim in the sea more than in a pool. This uses the comparison pattern we talked about in the beginning of the lesson. |
| Amir: הם נהנים מאותם דברים. |
| Sherah: In English it’s: They enjoy the same things. |
| Amir: אנחנו הולכים ברגל פחות מהילדים שלנו. |
| Sherah: Meaning: “We walk less than our children.” |
Outro |
| Sherah: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Amir: תודה |
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