Some Useful Greetings and Sayings in Hebrew - Part 2
Sayings (and words):
Yes - (cen) כן (it’s pronounced as ken, not “sen”)
No - (lo) לא
Question words:
What - (ma) מה
Who - (mi) מי
Why - (lama) למה
How- (e’ikh) איך
Where (eifo) איפה, (le’an) לאן
When - (matay) מתי
How many/how much - (kama) כמה
I’m sorry - (ani mitz-ta’er/et) אני מצטער/ת. If you’re a male, then you should say “(ani) mitz-ta’er”; anf if you’re a female, then it’s “(ani) mitz-ta’eret (אני מצטערת)”.
We’re sorry - (anchnu mitz-ta’arim) אנחנו מצטערים (m.p); (anchnu mitz-ta’arot) אנחנו מצטערות (f.p)
I apologize (or I am apologizing) - (ani mitnatzel/et) אני מתנצל/ת. If you’re a boy/man, then it’s "ani mitnatzel (אני מתנצל); if you’re a girl/woman, then it’s “ani mitnatzelet” (אני מתנצלת).
We apologize - (anachnu mitnatzlim) אנחנו מתנצלים (m.p); (anachnu mitnatzlot).
Excuse me - if it’s said to a man, then it’s “סלח לי” (slach li); and if it’s said to a woman, then it’s “סלחי לי” (silchi li). However, if you are talking to more than one person, then it’s “סלחו לי” (silchu li)
**Welcome -**there are ways of saying “welcome”
Said to a guy - (baruch ha’ba) ברוך הבא
Said to a girl/woman - (brucha ha-ba’ah) ברוכה הבאה
Said to people (m.p) - (bruchim ha’baiim) ברוכים הבאים - it is also said to both men and women
Said to people (f.p) - (bruchot ha’baot) ברוכות הבאות
(literally, “baruch haba” means “blessed is he who comes”).
Example: Bruchim ha’baiim le’Israel (welcome to Israel).
Note: In Hebrew, “Israel” isn’t pronounced as “Izrael” as in English.
- How to say “I (don’t) love you”?
Well, it depends on: your sex and whom do you say it to.
So, if you’re a boy/man and want to say it to another boy/man, then it’s “אני אוהב אותך” (ani ohev otcha); if you’re a girl/woman and want to say it to a boy/man, then it’s “אני אוהבת אותך” (ani ohevet otcha).
If you’re a boy and want to say it to a girl, then it’s “אני אוהב אותך” (written the same, but the word “אותך” is pronounced as “otach”).
If the word “you” is plural: if you want to say it to more than one person - for example to three or more boys/men or both a boy(s)/man (men) and a girl(S)/woman (women) and you’re a boy/man, then it’s “אני אוהב אתכם” (ani ohev etchem); and if you want to say it to girls/women, then it’s “אני אוהב אתכן” (ani ohev etchen).
But, if you’re a girl and want to say it to boys/men or both a boy(s)/man(men), then it’s “אני אוהבת אתכם”(ani ohevet etchem); but if you want to say it to girls/women, then it’s “אני אוהבת אתכן” (ani ohevet etchen).
We (don’t) love you - (anachnu (lo) ohavim otcha) אנחנו (לא) אוהבים אותך - said to a boy/man by other boys/men or boys/men and girls/women; (anachnu (lo) ohavim otach - written the same) said to a girl; (anachnu (lo) ohavot otcha) אנחנו (לא) אוהבות אותך - said to a boy/man by girls/women; (anachnu (lo) ohavot otach - written the same) - said to a girl/woman.
- How to say “I hate you”?
If said to a girl by a boy, it’s “אני שונא אותך” (ani sone otach); and if it’s said to a boy, then it’s ani sone otcha (written the same).
If said to a boy by a girl, then it’s “אני שונאת אותך” (ani sonet otcha); and if it’s said to a girl - ani sonet otach.
If it’s said to more than one person (boys/men or to both boys/men and girl(s)/women) by a boy, then it’s “אני שונא אתכם” (ani sone etchem); and if it’s only said to girls/women, then it’s “אני שונא אתכן” (ani sone etchen); if it’s said by a girl to men/boys or to both boys/men and girls/women, then it’s “אני שונאת אתכם” (ani sonet etchem); and if it’s said only to girls/women, then you say “etchen” instead of “etchem”.
Q&A:
- How do you say: what’s your name?
There is more than one way to say it in Hebrew:
In a casual way:
If you’re talking to a boy/man, then it’s "ma ha’shem shel’cha?" - ?מה השם שלך; if you’re asking a girl/woman that question, then it’s written the same, but the word שלך is pronounced as “shelach”. And, if you want to ask more than one person (e.g: boys, boys and girl), then you should say "ma ha’shem shelachem?" - ?מה השם שלכם; and if you want to ask girls, then you should exchange “m” with “n”, so it’d be “shelachen” (שלכן).
E’ich kor’im lecha*/lach?* - ?איך קוראים לך**. You say lecha when you’re talking to a boy/man; and lach is said when you’re talking to a girl/woman.
Eich kor’im lachem/lachen? - ?איך קוראים לכם/ן (Lakhem - masculine plural; Lakhen - feminine plural. But, if you’re asking both a man/boy and a girl/woman, then you should say “lakhem”)
In a formal way (but not many people use that way to ask someone what’s his name):
When ask a boy/man - ma shimcha (?מה שמך)
When ask a girl/woman - ma shmech (written the same as above)
When ask boys/men or both boys and girls - ma shimchem (?מה שמכם)
When ask only girls/women - ma shimchen (?מה שמכן)
Now, to answer those questions, you have more than one way to answer:
“My name is…”
If they ask you “ma ha’shem shelcha/shelach?"/"ma shimcha/shmech?” (it’s the same), then you can say “ha’shem sheli hu… (…השם שלי הוא)” or “sh’mi… (…שמי)”.
Another way: if they ask you “e’ich kor’im lecha/lach?”, then say “kor’iim li…” (…קוראים לי).
- Where are you from?
If you ask a boy/man, then it’s “?מאיפה אתה” (me-ei-fo a-ta?)
If you ask a girl/woman, then it’s “?מאיפה את”* (me-ei-fo at?)
If you’re asking people (men/boys or both boys/men and girls/women), then it’s “?מאיפה אתם” (me-ei-fo atem?); but, if you’re asking only girls/women, then you should say אתן (aten), instead of atem (?מאיפה אתן)
I am from… - (ani me…) …אני מ
Examples:
- Person A: Shalom lecha, adoni. Me’eifo a-ta? (Hello, sir. Where are you from)
Person B: *Ani me’artzot ha’brit (I am from United States. When we write US in Hebrew, it’s frequently abbreviated as ארה"ב (if you want to write it fully, then it’s “ארצות הברית”) - Person A: Hi, geveret. Ha’iim at tayeret? (Hi, miss. Are you a tourist?)
The Miss: Ken, ani tayeret mi’sfarad (Yes, I am (a tourist) from Spain).
Note: don’t pronounce “me” as the English word “me”.
- How to say “do you speak…?”
If it’s said to a boy/man - ({ha-iim} a-ta medaber…) ?..האם) אתה מדבר)
If it’s said to a girl/woman - ({ha-iim} at medaberet…) ?.. האם) את מדברת)
If it’s said to either boys/men or both boys/men and girls/women - ({ha-iim} atem medabrim)
?.. האם אתם מדברים
If it’s said to girls/women - ({ha-iim} aten medabrot) ?.. האם) אתן מדברות)
“I (don’t) speak…” - (ani {lo} medaber/et…) …אני (לא) מדבר/ת
We (don’t) speak… - (anachnu {lo} medabrim/medabrot…) …אנחנו (לא) מדברים/ות
Another way of asking “do you speak…”: instead of “medaber/et (מדבר/ת)”, you can use the verb “dover/et” (דובר/ת), which literally means “speaker”.
Here are some things that can help you
Made by me.
About the "letter “ch” - it’s not pronounced as “sh” or “ch”. It can either be “ח” (het) or כ/ך (haf/haf sofit).
Watch those videos. They’re helpful.
Extra tips:
- The Hebrew language is written from right to left.
- Unlike English, we don’t have tense auxiliary verbs. But, we have basic sounds and forms to express tenses, depending on the pronoun and tense.
- Every noun in Hebrew has a gender, either masculine or feminine (there are also some unisex nouns). Even numbers have a gender. Example: we have two ways of saying the number 3: shalosh (f) - shlosha (m). We say “shalosh” when the noun is feminine (e.g: Yesh li shalosh achayot - I have three sisters); and we say “shlosha” when the noun is masculine (e.g: Hayom halachti li’shlosha mekomot - Today, I went to three places).
So, if you ask me how to say something to somebody in Hebrew, then be specific (to whom the sentence is said and by who).
That’s all for now. There’s a chance I’ll add more later (took me long time to write all of this )