Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Hi!
Welcome to Introduction to Hebrew.
My name is Alisha and I'm joined by...
שלום! ברוכים הבאים להכרות לשפה העברית
Hi everyone! I'm Idit
In this lesson, we'll focus on teaching you the most useful Hebrew words and phrases for absolute beginners!
Make sure you're repeating the words out loud after I say the examples!
Are you ready? Let's get started!
Expressing Thanks and Forgiveness
The best phrase to learn when studying a new language is one that expresses gratitude and appreciation. If you had to learn only a single phrase, this would be it!
We taught you this phrase in the first lesson of this series. Do you remember what it was?
תודה
todah
It means "thank you."
Keep repeating after Idit until you get it!
תודה
todah
Your turn!
תודה
todah
תודה
todah
But what if you want to expressive even greater thanks, like in English when you say "thank you very much?"
Then you would add a רבה after the תודה.
todah rabah
"thank you very much"
Altogether, it's...
תודה רבה
todah rabah
"thank you very much"
The next phrase we'll teach you, is perhaps the second most useful phrase of all. It's to apologize or to excuse yourself.
סליחה
It means "excuse me" or "I'm sorry."
סליחה
sliħah
"I'm sorry."
Use this phrase when you want to grab a waiter's attention, or when you're hustling through the busy streets of Jerusalem!
סליחה
sliħah
"I'm sorry."
Your turn!
סליחה
sliħah
"I'm sorry."
Imagine you're on the street and you want to stop someone to ask them for directions. What do you say?
סליחה
sliħah
"I'm sorry."
OK. One last time...
סליחה
sliħah
"I'm sorry."
Now you can say "thank you," "thank you very much," "excuse me," and "I'm sorry" in Hebrew. Let's move on.
Where is...?
Asking where something is is an incredibly important and useful phrase to learn. You're going to need this when asking where the bathroom, the train station, or where the hotel is.
To ask where something is, put the Hebrew word for "where" first, and then add the place you want to find...
איפה
eifo
That's Hebrew for "where."
For example, if you want to ask "Where is the bathroom?"
איפה השירותים?
Eifo ha-sherutim?
"Where is the bathroom?"
For the train station, it'll be...
איפה תחנת הרכבת?
Eifo taħanat ha-rakevet?
"Where is the train station?"
And so on.
You can ask where something is, by starting with...
איפה
eifo
"where"
You might have noticed that this sentence is a few words shorter than the English equivalent.
Well, that's because in Hebrew we don't have a word for "is," and the word for "the" is connected to the noun. So in the sentence, איפה השירותים, you're actually saying "where the bathroom?"
So, that makes it a little simpler. You only need to know the word for "where..."
איפה
eifo
"where"
...and the destination you want to get to. Let's practice these two sentences again. First is "where is the bathroom?"
איפה השירותים?
Eifo ha-sherutim?
"Where is the bathroom?"
Your turn!
איפה השירותים?
Eifo ha-sherutim?
"Where is the bathroom?"
The second word of this sentence is the word we use for bathroom in Hebrew.
שירותים
shirutim
"bathroom (services)"
Technically, this word means "services."
OK. Now let's teach you some vocabulary so that you can use it in the sentence.
Here are some of the most common words you'll need to learn:
בית מלון
beit malon
"hotel"
בית מלון
beit malon
"hotel"
If you ask someone this question, they'll direct you to the closest hotel.
If you'd like to ask where a specific hotel is, like Hilton for example, simply place the name after "hotel."
בית מלון
בית מלון הילטון
איפה בית המלון הילטון?
beit malon
"hotel"
beit malon hilton
"the Hilton hotel"
Eifo beit ha-malon Hilton?
"Where is the Hilton hotel?"
Next...
מכולת
makolet
"convenience store"
מכולת
איפה המכולת?
makolet
"convenience store"
Eifo ha-makolet?
"Where is the convenience store?"
Our second example sentence was "where is the train station?"
איפה תחנת הרכבת?
Eifo taħanat ha-rakevet?
"Where is the train station?"
The second word in this sentence means "station," and the last word means "train."
איפה תחנת הרכבת?
Eifo taħanat ha-rakevet?
"Where is the train station?"
Your turn!
איפה תחנת הרכבת?
Eifo taħanat ha-rakevet?
"Where is the train station?"
You can substitute almost anything and simply start with...
איפה
eifo
"where"
...to ask where something is in Hebrew.
In this final lesson, you learned how to say "thank you," "excuse me," "I'm sorry," and how to ask where something is in Hebrew.
And in this series, we introduced you to the basics of Hebrew pronunciation, grammar, writing, and more.
Let's conclude with some parting advice from Idit. Listen to some of her tips on how to learn Hebrew from a native Hebrew speaker's perspective.
Parting Advice - Insider Knowledge
The best way to learn Hebrew, particularly if you want to improve your communication skills, is to watch and study contemporary Hebrew videos. That's because we often use expressions in daily conversation that aren't necessarily introduced in grammar text books.
The biggest mistake that I see learners make is stressing to much about making the gutteral letter sounds. They may sound funny to you in the beginning, but if you loosen you mouth and just go with the flow, you'll learn that it's actually fun to make these sounds.
Watching contemporary videos, such as our videos here at HebrewPod101, will ensure that you're learning real, applicable Hebrew in the fastest and most effective way. And you'll be able to perfect the sound of Hebrew by repeating after us in the videos.
You've reached the end of this course 'Introduction to Hebrew', but it's only the beginning of your journey to Hebrew fluency! Where do you go from here? Try our Hebrew in 3 minutes series where we teach you basic grammar and even more useful phrases! Or check out any of our other video series. We have many different categories for you to choose from.
Good luck as you continue learning Hebrew, and I'll see you in another video!
Bye!
Bye!

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