Hello and welcome to Hebrew Podcasts. Today’s podcast is our first lesson. In this lesson you’ll learn spoken Hebrew by listening to a dialog and a discussion of vocabulary, grammar, and idioms.
With each podcast there’s a lesson guide where you can read the transcript, see the full translation, get additional information, and do a few exercises to reinforce the lesson. You can download the lesson guide from our web site at http://hebrewpodcasts.com.
In this first beginner-level lesson we’ll meet Rina. She’ll help us practice some greetings and learn some new words.
Let’s begin.
שלום רינה!
Shà-lom Ri-nà!
Hello Rina!
שלום דני. מה שלומך?
Shà-lom Dà-ni. Mà shlom-hà?
Hello Danny. How are you?
נהדר, תודה. מה שלומך?
Né-hé-dàr, to-dà. Mà shlo-méh?
Great, thank you. How are you?
בסדר גמור.
Bé-sé-dér gà-moor.
All right.
I greeted Rina by saying שלום. This is the most common greeting in Hebrew and it can mean either hello or goodbye.
שלום רינה!
Shà-lom Ri-nà!
Hello Rina!
The word, שלום, can also mean peace or well being. We see it used next when Rina asks me “How are you?”
מה שלומך?
Mà shlom-hà?
How are you?
In Hebrew, שלומךָ is a single-word combination of the words: שלום שלךָ. This is what we say to a male person. שלומךְ is a combination of the words: שלום שלךְ, which is what we say to a female person.
Let’s practice:
שלום רינה. מה שלומךְ?
Shà-lom Ri-nà. Mà shlo-méh?
Hello Rina. How are you?
שלום דני. מה שלומךָ?
Shà-lom Dà-ni. Mà shlom-hà?
Hello Danny. How are you?
I answered you, Rina, with נהדר, תודה. Great, thank you.
Rina, if I wanted to say ‘thank you very much!’ I would say:
תודה רבה!
To-dà rà-bà
When I asked you how you are, Rina, you said:
בסדר גמור
Bé-sé-dér gà-moor
That means all right. בסדר means all right, בסדר גמור emphasizes that it’s completely all right.
Let’s listen to this short dialog again. This time we’ll pause after each line so that you can practice by repeating out loud:
שלום רינה!
Shà-lom Ri-nà!
Hello Rina!
שלום דני. מה שלומך?
Shà-lom Dà-ni. Mà shlom-hà?
Hello Danny. How are you?
נהדר, תודה. מה שלומך?
Né-hé-dàr, to-dà. Mà shlo-méh?
Great, thank you. How are you?
בסדר גמור.
Bé-sé-dér gà-moor.
All right.
Okay, now suppose I wanted to introduce myself to you Rina. I would say:
שלום, אני דני.
Shà-lom, à-ni dà-ni.
Hello, I’m Danny.
This means, hello, I’m Danny. Rina, you would then respond with:
נעים מאוד! אני רינה.
Nà-im mé-od! à-ni Ri-nà.
Pleased to meet you! I’m Rina.
נעים מאודis an expression that means ‘Pleased to meet you!’. Literally, it means ‘very pleasant’. That’s a very useful expression.
נעים מאוד!
Nà-im mé-od!
Pleased to meet you!
Next, I’m going to ask Rina if she goes to school.
רינה, את הולכת לבית ספר?
Ri-nà, àt ho-lé-hét lé-véit sé-fér?
Rina, do you go to school?
In Hebrew, a question is often formed simply by the way we emphasize and without changing word order. For example, the statement: you go, is את הולכת and when we turn it into a question: do you go? It simply becomes את הולכת?
Finally, בית ספר, school, is composed of two words, בית ספר.
ספר means a book, and בית ספר literally means book house.
לבית ספרmeans to school.
Rina, let’s listen to your answer
כן. אני הולכת לבית הספר קידמה.
Kén, à-ni ho-lé-hét lé-véit hà-sé-fér kid-mà.
Yes. I go to the school Kidmah.
You said yes, you go to the school named Kidmah.
In my question, we heard לבית ספר, to school, but when Rina answered, we heard לבית הספר, to the school.
הולכת, that’s a verb that means go. In Hebrew, verb forms change based on the gender and plurality of the subject. In our case, the subject is Rina.
הולכת is therefore the feminine form of the verb to go.
Let’s consider some variations.
If Avi, a man, wanted to say ‘I go to school’, he would say...
אני הולך לבית הספר
À-ni ho-léh lé-véit hà-sé-fér
Rina, if you and Noa, two girls, wanted to say ‘we go to the city’, you would say...
אנחנו הולכות לעיר
À-nàh-noo hol-hot là-ir
Let’s hear my question and Rina’s answer again.
רינה, את הולכת לבית ספר?
Ri-nà, àt ho-lé-hét lé-véit sé-fér?
Rina, do you go to school?
כן. אני הולכת לבית הספר קידמה.
Kén, à-ni ho-lé-hét lé-véit hà-sé-fér kid-mà.
Yes. I go to the school Kidmah.
So, Rina, please tell us about your Hebrew Teacher, המורה לעברית.
אני אוהבת את המורה לעברית.
À-ni o-hé-vét ét hà-mo-rà lé-iv-rit.
I love the Hebrew teacher.
Rina loves her Hebrew teacher. We hear אוהבת, which is the feminine form of the verb to love.
עברית is Hebrew. לעברית means of Hebrew – the teacher of Hebrew.
Let’s try some variations
Rina, if you were speaking about a male English teacher, then you would say...
המורה לאנגלית
Hà-mo-ré lé-àn-glit
The English Teacher
And to speak about both teachers ‘my teachers’, you would say...
המורים שלי
Hà-mo-rim shé-li
my teachers
Okay, Rina, tell us more about your Hebrew teacher:
היא מורה חדשה
Hee mo-rà hà-dà-shà
She is a new teacher
מתל אביב.
mi-tél à-viv.
from Tel-Aviv.
היא נחמדה מאוד
Hee néh-mà-dà mé-od
She is very nice
והיא משחקת איתנו
vé-hee mé-sà-hé-két ee-tà-noo
and she plays with us
ושרה איתנו שירים.
vé-shà-rà ee-tà-noo shi-rim.
and sings songs with us.
Okay, we heard quite a bit here. Let’s examine what we heard:
Rina, you said that your Hebrew teacher is new
כן. היא מורה חדשה.
Kén. Hee mo-rà hà-dà-shà.
Yes. She is a new teacher.
חדשה is the feminine singular form of the Hebrew adjective חדש. If you were talking about your teachers—in plural—you would say...
מורים חדשים
Mo-rim hà-dà-shim
New teachers
Rina’s teacher is from Tel-Aviv. Let’s listen to that again in the dialog:
היא מורה חדשה מתל אביב.
Hee mo-rà hà-dà-shà mi-tél à-viv.
She is a new teacher from Tel-Aviv.
Hebrew uses prefixes like ל in לעברית, or מ in מתל אביב. Those prefixes are the prepositions of, and from, respectively.
Next Rina told us that her teacher is very nice. She is very nice is
היא נחמדה מאוד
Hee néh-mà-dà mé-od
She is very nice
She is very nice and she plays with us. Let’s listen to how Rina said that:
היא נחמדה מאוד והיא משחקת איתנו
Hee néh-mà-dà mé-od vé-hee mé-sà-hé-két ee-tà-noo
Let’s hear that again
היא נחמדה מאוד והיא משחקת איתנו
Hee néh-mà-dà mé-od vé-hee mé-sà-hé-két ee-tà-noo
Rina’s new teacher also sings with the kids. So Rina,
את אוהבת לשיר?
Àt o-hé-vét là-shir?
Do you like to sing?
כן, זה נחמד.
Kén. Zé néh-màd.
Yes, it’s nice.
אני לומדת לשיר
À-ni lo-mé-dét là-shir
I’m learning to sing
שירים של חנוכה.
shi-rim shél hà-noo-kà.
Hanukkah songs.
כמו למשל
Kmo lé-mà-shàl
Like for example
"מעוז צור ישועתי..."
“mà-oz tsoor yé-shoo-à-ti…”
“Ma'oz Tzur Y'shu'ati…”
To sing, לשיר, is nice, זה נחמד.
So Rina, what song are you learning now for Hanukkah?
אני לומדת לשיר
À-ni lo-mé-dét là-shir
I’m learning to sing
"מעוז צור ישועתי..."
“mà-oz tsoor yé-shoo-à-ti…”
“Ma'oz Tzur Y'shu'ati…”
לומדת, that’s another verb in its feminine singular present tense, just like הולכת and משחקת.
Before we conclude our lesson, let’s listen again to the entire dialog. We’ll pause after each line for you to repeat it out loud.
שָׁלוֹם רִנָּה!
שָׁלוֹם דָּנִי. מָה שְּׁלוֹמְךָ?
נֶהְדָּר, תּוֹדָה. מָה שְּׁלוֹמֶךְ?
בְּסֵדֶר גָּמוּר.
רִנָּה, אַתְּ הוֹלֶכֶת לְבֵית סֵפֶר?
כֵּן. אֲנִי הוֹלֶכֶת
לְבֵית הַסֵּפֶר קִדְּמָה.
אֲנִי אוֹהֶבֶת
אֵת הַמּוֹרָה לְעִבְרִית.
הִיא מוֹרָה חֲדָשָׁה
מִתֵּל אָבִיב.
הִיא נֶחְמָדָה מְאֹד
וְהִיא מְשַׂחֶקֶת אִתָּנוּ
וְשָׁרָה אִתָּנוּ שִׁירִים.
אַתְּ אוֹהֶבֶת לָשִׁיר?
כֵּן, זֶה נֶחְמָד.
אֲנִי לוֹמֶדֶת לָשִׁיר
שִׁירִים שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה.
כְּמוֹ לְמָשָׁל
."מָעוֹז צוּר יְשׁוּעָתִי..."
That’s it for today. In our next lesson we’ll meet Noa and we’ll review the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Until then
שלום ולהתראות!
This lesson’s vocabulary
|
you (fem.) |
את |
|
Kidmah school |
בית הספר קידמה |
|
school |
בית ספר |
|
alright |
בסדר גמור |
|
Danny |
דני |
|
she |
היא |
|
and |
ו... |
|
it |
זה |
|
new (fem.) |
חדשה |
|
Hanukkah |
חנוכה |
|
like |
כמו |
|
yes |
כן |
|
learning (fem.) |
לומדת |
|
for example |
למשל |
|
to sing |
לשיר |
|
from |
מ... |
|
very |
מאוד |
|
how are you |
מה שלומך |
|
teacher |
מורה |
|
Hebrew teacher |
מורה לעברית |
|
play (fem.) |
משחקת |
|
great |
נהדר |
|
nice |
נחמד |
|
nice (fem.) |
נחמדה |
|
Rina |
רינה |
|
songs |
שירים |
|
hello |
שלום |
|
sings (fem.) |
שרה |
|
thank you |
תודה |
|
Tel-Aviv |
תל אביב |