Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Shira: Hi, everyone, Shira here, and welcome back to Basic Bootcamp Lesson 4, Counting from One to One Hundred in Hebrew. This is the fourth in a five-part series that will help you ease your way into Hebrew.
Amir: שלום,אמיר אני. "I'm Amir!"
Amir: In this lesson, you will learn one of the essentials in Hebrew…numbers.
Shira: So everybody…pull out your abacuses…
Amir: Ha ha.
Shira: Just kidding!
Amir: At least, we'll try to make learning numbers as easy for you as using an abacus.
Shira: Yes, we'll start with the basics. In this lesson, we will count from one to ten.
Amir: So, the following conversation takes place at a gym.
Shira: That's right. It's between Yossi and his coach, who will be counting his push-ups.
Amir: Now, let's listen to the conversation.
Dialogue
Amir: אחת (1),
Shira: ו-
Amir: שתיים (2)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שלוש (3)
Shira: ן-
Amir: ארבע (4)
Shira: ן-
Amir: חמש (5)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שש (6)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שבע (7)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שמונה (8)
Shira: ן-
Amir: תשע (9)
Shira: ן-
Amir: עשר (10),
[Slow version]
Shira: Let's hear it slowly now.
Amir: בואו נשמע את זה עוד פעם.
Amir: אחת (1),
Shira: ו-
Amir: שתיים (2)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שלוש (3)
Shira: ן-
Amir: ארבע (4)
Shira: ן-
Amir: חמש (5)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שש (6)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שבע (7)
Shira: ן-
Amir: שמונה (8)
Shira: ן-
Amir: תשע (9)
Shira: ן-
Amir: עשר (10),
[With English translation]
Shira: And now with the translation.
Amir: ועכשיו עם התרגום.
Amir: אחת (1)
Shira: "One"
Amir: ו-
Shira: "And,"
Amir: שתיים (2)
Shira: "Two"
Amir: שלוש (3)
Shira: "Three"
Amir: ארבע (4)
Shira: "Four"
Amir: חמש (5)
Shira: "Five"
Amir: שש (6)
Shira: "Six"
Amir: שבע (7)
Shira: "Seven"
Amir: שמונה (8)
Shira: "Eight"
Amir: תשע (9)
Shira: "Nine"
Amir: עשר (10)
Shira: "Ten!"
Post-dialogue Banter
Shira: You know, I feel like I've heard a lot of those words before somehow.
Amir: You most probably have. Numbers are everywhere. We encounter them every day.
Shira: At home, in the stores, at school, at work…they never leave us alone.
Amir: Yes, but you know, in Hebrew, sometimes letters can also represent numbers.
Shira: That's right! I remember how confused I was in the beginning when kids would tell me they were in כיתה ד'.
Amir: Oh, yeah, "fourth grade."
Shira: Yes, but I used to have to say the letters and count on my fingers at the same time. א' ב' ג' ד' oh, "fourth grade."
Amir: That’s funny! But you get used to it after a while. These letters representing numbers show up as dates in the Hebrew calendar, they also appear in school grades, days of the week, and in biblical references.
Shira: I would recommend learning at least the first twenty. That way you won't have to count on your fingers like I did.
Amir: Fingers and toes if you are counting up to twenty.
Shira: True! Okay, let's get back to our normal numbers. Amir is going to read out each number, and you can repeat after him.
Amir: Okay, here we go. I will say it and give you time to repeat aloud after me.
Vocab list
Amir: אחת
Shira: "one"
Amir: (Slow) אחת
Amir: אחת
Amir: ו-
Shira: "and"
Amir: (Slow) ו-
Amir: ו-
Amir: שתיים (2)
Shira: "two"
Amir: (Slow) שתיים
Amir: שתיים
Amir: שלוש (3)
Shira: "three"
Amir: (Slow) שלוש
Amir: שלוש
Amir: ארבע (4)
Shira: "four"
Amir: (Slow) ארבע
Amir: ארבע
Amir: חמש (5)
Shira: "five"
Amir: (Slow) חמש
Amir: חמש
Amir: שש (6)
Shira: "six"
Amir: (Slow) שש
Amir: שש
Amir: שבע (7)
Shira: "seven"
Amir: (Slow) שבע
Amir: שבע
Amir: שמונה (8)
Shira: "eight"
Amir: (Slow) שמונה
Amir: שמונה
Amir: תשע (9)
Shira: "nine"
Amir: (Slow) תשע
Amir: תשע
Amir: עשר (10)
Shira: "ten"
Amir: (Slow) עשר
Amir: עשר
Vocabulary Usage
Shira: Okay, so we've more or less mastered the basic numbers one to ten, but how can we count above ten?
Amir: Well Shira, we form the numbers eleven through nineteen simply by adding עשרה to the numbers one through nine. A few of the numbers are pronounced a little differently than when they appear as in one to ten.
Shira: So how do they go?
Amir: אחת עשרה, שתיים עשרה, שלוש עשרה, ארבע עשרה, חמש עשרה, שש עשרה, שבע עשרה, שמונה עשרה ,תשע עשרה. So did you notice any small differences, Shira?
Shira: Well, twelve, thirteen, seventeen, and nineteen were pronounced a little bit differently.
Amir: Correct. Let's hear those again, a little slower this time…
Amir: אחת עשרה
Shira: "eleven"
Amir: (Slow) אחת עשרה
Amir: אחת עשרה
Amir: שתים עשרה
Shira: "twelve"
Amir: (Slow) שתים עשרה
Amir: שתים עשרה
Amir: שלוש עשרה
Shira: "thirteen"
Amir: (Slow) שלוש עשרה
Amir: שלוש עשרה
Amir: ארבע עשרה
Shira: "fourteen"
Amir: (Slow) ארבע עשרה
Amir: ארבע עשרה
Amir: חמש עשרה
Shira: "fifteen"
Amir: (Slow) חמש עשרה
Amir: חמש עשרה
Amir: שש עשרה
Shira: "sixteen"
Amir: (Slow) שש עשרה
Amir: שש עשרה
Amir: שבע עשרה
Shira: "seventeen"
Amir: (Slow) שבע עשרה
Amir: שבע עשרה
Amir: שמונה עשרה
Shira: "eighteen"
Amir: (Slow) שמונה עשרה
Amir: שמונה עשרה
Amir: תשע עשרה
Shira: "nineteen"
Amir: (Slow) תשע עשרה
Amir: תשע עשרה
Shira: Great, now we’ve covered the most difficult part. Let's take a look at the multiples of ten, which, once you know one to ten, are really easy!
Amir: "Twenty" and "one hundred" are a bit of the odd ones out this time, so let’s just see them first. עשרים and מאה.
Shira: Other than these two, you add -ים as an ending to your number and change the vowels a bit.
Amir: So fifty, for example, would be חמישים.
Shira: Listen and repeat…
Amir: חמישים {pause}
Shira: So as you might have noticed, חמיש- is from חמש ("number five"), and -ים indicates that it is a multiple of ten.
Amir: Let's go over each of these new numbers, starting with twenty.
Amir: עשרים
Shira: "twenty"
Amir: (Slow) עשרים
Amir: עשרים
Amir: שלושים
Shira: "thirty"
Amir: (Slow) שלושים
Amir: שלושים
Amir: ארבעים
Shira: "forty"
Amir: (Slow) ארבעים
Amir: ארבעים
Amir: חמישים
Shira: "fifty"
Amir: (Slow) חמישים
Amir: חמישים
Amir: שישים
Shira: "sixty"
Amir: (Slow) שישים
Amir: שישים
Amir: שבעים
Shira: "seventy"
Amir: (Slow) שבעים
Amir: שבעים
Amir: שמונים
Shira: "eighty"
Amir: (Slow) שמונים
Amir: שמונים
Amir: תשעים
Shira: "ninety"
Amir: (Slow) תשעים
Amir: תשעים
Amir: מאה
Shira: "one hundred"
Amir: (Slow) מאה
Amir: מאה
Shira: So, now that we're done with the multiples of ten, we’re going to venture into some important number territory. But still, not higher than one hundred to start.
Amir: That’s right, we don’t want to overload you. I mean this may be a boot camp, but there’s no torture employed here.
Shira: So, hmm, how can we start this? How old are you, Amir?
Amir: Me? Okay, um, I see where you're going with this. Actually, you might have to employ torture to get this information. Okay, okay, I am in the double digits. Let’s say, thirty-four.
Shira: So to make a number that isn't in a denomination of ten, here's all you do. "Thirty," we remember, is שלושים. Well, now all you do is add ו- or -וּ, the Hebrew word for "and," and then the rest.
Amir: Like: שלושים וארבע
Shira: Great, because ארבע is the name for "four." So all you have to do is say "thirty and four."
Amir: Yes, so let's try it with more numbers. How old are you, Shira? It's okay; they'll believe whatever we say. They can't see us!
Shira: So what’s "twenty-one" in Hebrew?
Amir: Yah, twenty-one, right! That’s עשרים ואחת.
Shira: Yes, because it's "twenty" עשרים and אחת, which is the number for "one." Okay, okay, Amir, let's tell them our real ages. We're actually "sixty-eight." How do we say that?
Amir: Well, if you remember, for "sixty," remember it is שישים. So we just add the "eight" at the end. שישים ושמונה.

Lesson focus

Shira: So let’s move on to our Grammar Point for today. It’s how to construct or use these numbers, or how to put them together.
Amir: So one to ten were pretty easy. But there is something that needs special attention here…and that’s gender.
Shira: Oooo, gender. The numbers one through nineteen change according to the gender of the noun following them.
Amir: Not only that, but all the numbers except for one come before the noun, whereas one comes after the noun. Let's see this in action.
Shira: So here we go. Listeners, try to repeat after Amir whenever she says a new phrase.
Amir: אחת {pause}
Shira: "one" (feminine).
Amir: אחד {pause}
Shira: "one" (masculine).
Shira: Let's try some examples with nouns.
Amir: ילדה אחת {pause}
Shira: "one girl"
Amir: גבר אחד {pause}
Shira: "one man"
Shira: ילדה ("girl") is obviously feminine in gender and גבר ("man") is masculine. Here's one hint to help you remember Hebrew genders. Feminine words usually end with the sounds ["-a"] or ["-et"]. And most of the masculine words end with other consonants.
Amir: Unfortunately, number endings are quite the opposite in Hebrew. After the number three, feminine numbers end in consonants and masculine numbers end in the sound ["-a"].
Shira: This is the reason that even Israelis have a difficult time using the right gendered numbers. So, please don't stress if you don't get these correct right away. You won't be the only one. So, now for the number two.
Amir: שתיים {pause}
Shira: "two" (feminine).
Amir: שניים {pause}
Shira: "two" (masculine).
Amir: Before we move on to the next number, we have another thing to tackle. With two, the number two, you drop the "-m" at the end of the number when the number is placed before a noun.
Shira: I think examples would help us understand this.
Amir: שתי ילדות {pause}
Shira: "two girls"
Amir: שני גברים {pause}
Shira: "two men"
Shira: Now number three.
Amir: שלוש {pause}
Shira: "three" (feminine)
Amir: שלושה {pause}
Shira: "three" (masculine)
Shira: Now let's say them with the examples.
Amir: שלוש ילדות {pause}
Shira: "three girls"
Amir: שלושה גברים {pause}
Shira: "three men"
Amir: Okay, enough, enough. I think we've got the idea. The rest of the numbers up to ten behave the same way.
Shira: Once you move on to the teens, you take the feminine or masculine number and add עשרה for feminine numbers or עשר for masculine numbers.
Amir: So, let's see an example of this with the number sixteen.
Amir: שש-עשרה {pause}
Shira: "sixteen" (feminine)
Amir: שישה-עשר {pause}
Shira: "sixteen" (masculine)
Shira: Now let's say them with the examples.
Amir: שש-עשרה ילדות {pause}
Shira: "sixteen girls"
Amir: שישה-עשר גברים {pause}
Shira: "sixteen men"
Amir: All you have to do is practice now!

Outro

Shira: Well, that's it for this lesson.
Amir: Thanks again for listening. And שלום!
Shira: See you!

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