The Focus of This Lesson Is Asking People Where They Are From.
מאין את/אתה?
מֵאַיִן אַתְּ/אַתָּה?
Me-ayin at/atah?
"Where are you from?"

In the dialogue, both Anna and Yonatan asked where the other was from. The phrase consisted of two words: מאין (me-ayin) and את (at) or אתה (atah), depending on who was speaking. The first word in this phrase is מאין (me-ayin), and this phrase means "from where" or in older English "from whence." This phrase is actually very formal in Hebrew and would be used in more of a formal setting or an educational setting. It's a phrase that you learn as correct when you are learning Hebrew, but not one that you would use in day-to-day Hebrew. The second part of the phrase is את (at) or אתה (atah), which is the masculine and feminine forms of "you." In the dialogue, Yonatan used the feminine form את (at) because he was talking to Anna and Anna use the masculine form אתה (atah) because she was talking to Yonatan. The order of the words is different from in English, and you should remember that the verb "to be" is implied here because there is no other verb present. The literal word for word translation would be "from where (are) you?"

What to Use in Day-to-Day Hebrew

You would most often hear the above phrase in an education setting, like when you are learning Hebrew in an Ulpan or when you are speaking with someone who values speaking correct Hebrew. When you want to say the same thing in day-to-day Hebrew, you would use the word מאיפה (me-eifo), which means the same thing, but is not considered "correct" Hebrew. The phrase would then be מאיפה אתה? (me-eifo atah) or מאיפה את? (me-eifo at?). Me-eifo means exactly the same thing as מאין (me-ein), meaning "from where."

You can also use this to ask about other people, using pronouns other than "you" or even items that you want to know the origin of.

For Example:

1. מאיפה הם?
   מֵאֵיפֹה הֵם?
   Me-eifo hem?
   "Where are they from?"
2. מאיפה החולצה שלך?
   מֵאֵיפֹה הַחוּלְצָה שֶׁלָּךְ?
   Me-eifo ha-ħul'tzah shelakh?
   "Where is your shirt from?"

Examples From This Lesson Using מאיפה

If Anna and Yonatan had used informal Hebrew in their conversation, they would have said the following:

1. מאיפה את?
   מֵאֵיפֹה אַתְּ?
   Me-eifo at?
   "Where are you (feminine) from? (informal)"
2. מאיפה אתה?
   מֵאֵיפֹה אַתָּה
   Me-eifo atah?
   "Where are you (masculine) from?"

Examples From This Dialogue

1. מאין את?
   <מֵאַיִן אַתְּ?
   Me-ayin at/atah?
   "Where are you (feminine) from?"
2. מאין אתה?
   מֵאַיִן אַתָּה?
   Me-ayin atah?
   "Where are you (masculine) from?"

The Reply to מאין אתה?:

Whether you use the formal version of "where are you from" or the informal version, the answer is the same. To answer this question, you would say אני מ (ani mi-) and then the place where you are from. Ani means "I" and mi means "from." Here again we have an implied "to be" verb.

Examples From the Dialogue

1. אני מארצות הברית.
   אֲנִי מֵאַרְצוֹת הַבְּרִית.
   Ani me-ar'tzot ha-brit.
   "I am from the United States."
2. אני מקנדה.
   אֲנִי מִקַּנַדָה.
   Ani mi-kanada.
   "I am from Canada."

You can also answer using other pronouns or nouns like in our earlier examples.

For Example:

1. הם מגרמניה.
   הֵם מִגֶּרְמַנְיָה.
   Hem mi-germaniya.
   "They are from Germany."
2. החולצה מפוקס.
   הַחוּלְצָה מִפוֹקְס.
   Ha-ħul'tzah mi-fox.
   "The shirt is from Fox."

בסדר גמור (beseder gamur)

This phrase is similar to the English phrase "it's totally okay." Beseder gamur means "completely okay." It's a common answer to the question מה שלומך? (mah shlomekh/mah shlom'kha) or "How are you?" Beseder means "okay," and as we learned in other podcast lessons, the literal translation of this word is "in order." Gamur means "finished" or "complete" and here becomes "completely." You may notice that the order of these two words is the reverse of the order you would use in English, as is the case with most adjectives in Hebrew. Other uses for gamur are similar to the English usage of the words "complete" and "finished," like the "food is finished," which is האוכל גמור (ha-okhel gamur). This would mean that the food is finished or gone, not that the food is finished cooking; in that case, you would use the word for "ready" מוכן (mukhan). You can also use the word gamur when you want to say that you are tired at the end of the day אני גמור (ani gamur).

ארצות הברית (ar'tzot ha-brit)

Ar'tzot ha-brit is the phrase that we use in Hebrew for the "United States." The first word is the plural form of e'retz. This word has several different meanings, such as "land," "country," "earth," or "world." In this case, it means "lands." The second part of this phrase, ha-brit, means "the covenant" or "the alliance." These two words have been placed together in what is called a s'michut in Hebrew. A s'michut is the construction of two closely related nouns into one noun phrase. There are special forms for s'michuts in Hebrew, and one of these forms is that the second word of the s'michut carried the definite article ha, as you see in this s'michut. So, we would literally translate this phrase as "the covenant lands" or "the lands of the covenant."

The Staggering Growth of Israel's Population

Israel has been built on immigration. At the time of the founding of the modern country, the population of Israel was around 800,000. Today, Israel has a population of just under 8 million people. Since Israel was founded as a homeland for Jewish people, immigration has been very important to its existence. In 1950, Israel created the Law of Return; this law granted all Jewish people the right to settle in Israel and have Israeli citizenship. In 1970, they expanded that law to include people of Jewish ancestry, meaning that people with one Jewish grandparent or parent were also entitled to Israeli citizenship. In the years since the creation of the State of Israel, Jewish people have returned to Israel from all over the world. These new citizens are given rights to certain things that will make the transition a little easier for them, like housing, tax breaks, and free language courses. In general, Israelis are very accepting of the many new immigrants who come to live in Israel. This creates great diversity in Israel, and Israeli society changes along with the new cultures within its borders. The new immigrants usually blend well into Israeli society, learning Hebrew and Israeli customs and joining in to Israeli society.