Learn how to ask "Where?"
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| Shalom, ani Yana. Hi everybody! I’m Yana. |
| Welcome to HerewPod101.com’s “Ivrit be-shalosh dakot”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Hebrew. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to ask "What" questions in Hebrew. |
| This time, we are going to ask questions using the interrogative word "Where?" |
| Imagine you are talking to your friend on the phone and you want to ask where he is now. You will ask him eifo ata? eifo at? This is the exact translation of "Where are you?" |
| [slowly] Eifo ata? |
| [slowly] Eifo at? |
| So let’s break down this question: |
| First we had: |
| Eifo, which is the basic translation of "Where" in Hebrew. |
| And then just the familiar `you` in Hebrew- ata or at. |
| So in Hebrew, "Where" is simply translated as Eifo? |
| So for example, if you want to ask "Where do you live?" You will say Eifo ata gar? Eifo at gara? |
| The interrogative word will always come first in Hebrew, just like in English. |
| But be careful, because several variations of Eifo are possible in Hebrew. For example, if you want to ask "Where do you come from?" you will use Me- Eifo instead of just Eifo. |
| So that question in Hebrew is Me-eifo ata? Me-eifo at? |
| Does it sound familiar? You are absolutely right! We studied this sentence in lesson 11! |
| The word Eifo also changes if you want to say “to where”-. If you say, for example, Le-eifo ata nosea? Le-eifo at nosaat? |
| This literally means "Where are you going to?" |
| Another, even more common use of `where to` in Hebrew is Lean? |
| The previous sentence can be said as Lean ata nosea? Lean at nosaat? |
| If you remember we talked about the verb Linsoa in previous classes, so as a reminder- it is used for long distance destinations or simply to indicate driving to someplace. (and not just `going to`). |
| So let’s review again how to use the various forms of `Where` in Hebrew; |
| Eifo -Where, Le-eifo- Where to, and Me-eifo- Where from. |
| Eifo? Eifo rehov Dizengoff? |
| Le-eifo? Or Lean?- Lean ata nosea be-hufsha? Lean at nosaat be- hufsha? |
| Me-eifo? Me-eifo ata? Me-eifo at? |
| Can you translate all these sentences?! |
| I am sure you can! |
| The prefixes Le-, Me-/Mi- are easy to remember as direction “to”/ “towards”, and “from” (relatively). |
| They are used in many other word combinations. |
| For example- Sham- is “there”. Le-sham- is “to there”- like in; |
| Ani holeh le-sham. |
| Ani holehet le-sham. |
| I am going there. |
| And Mi-sham- is “from there”, like in; |
| Ani ba mi-sham. |
| Ani baa mi-sham. |
| I am coming from there. |
| Now it’s time for Yana’s insights. |
| The word Lean, as I mentioned is more commonly used than Le-eifo. |
| You can use it for all cases- when talking about short distance or long distance destinations. |
| In this lesson, we learned how to correctly use the interrogative Hebrew word for "Where", Eifo, but also its different variations. |
| Now you can avoid getting lost! |
| In the next lesson we’ll learn more about asking questions, this time using "When" in Hebrew. |
| I’ll be waiting for you in the next Ivrit be-shalosh dakot!! |
| Lehitraot ve-ad ha-paam ha-baa!! |
19 Comments
HideWhere are you from?
Hi kris,
Thanks for posting your question!
Well, this is a complicated issue, actually. It is true that "מאיפה" is not grammatically correct according to the Hebrew academy... as your friend said, one must ask "מאין אתה בא" (where are you coming from) and not "מאיפה אתה בא".
That said, this 'mistake' is so common in Hebrew, and the usage of "מאין" is becoming slowly so rare (and considered even old-fashioned sometimes), that it's hard to say that using "מאיפה" here is "wrong", as the correctness of a language depends eventually on the way it's being used, not only on dry rules...
To conclude, Hebrew is a dynamic language that is still forming, even after more than 3000 years, this is part of the fun and difficulty in it 😁😉
I hope that helps 😄
Best,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com
what is the difference between מֵאַיִן and מאיפה ?
A friend once told me that מאיפה is wrong when asking "from where". But I don't trust his hebrew. He's not even Israeli but his father is😉
Toda
Kris
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for posting and for introducing yourself! I'll try to help you understand this.
We have 4 possible directions of speaking (in singular form):
female - female
female - male
male - male
male - female
For example, an "I love you", has 4 ways to be said according to the above directions.
Some questions, as "where are you?" don't involve the identity of the speaker, and depend solely on the recipient. So in "Where are YOU" - the word "you" will be conjugated according to the recipient.
If we add a verb, for example, "I know where you are", the verb "know" would be conjugated according to the gender of the speaker.
Does it make sense now? Please let me know if more examples or explanation are needed.
Yours,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com
Hi
I am from Singapore. :)
Hi,
Shalom.
I'm confused after 20 lessons.
Can I know the musculine and feminine forms are applied to the speakers or recipients please? I always thought the forms are applied to the recipients but in this lesson, Yana mentioned the different musculine or feminine forms are for the speakers.
For e.g. Eifo at? When speaker is female asking either male or female?
And Eifo ata? is when a male asking either male or female?
Hope you can reply soonest as I can't proceed further without making clear this important issue.
Thank you very much.
Could you please explain, what the difference between Eifo at / Eifo ata and Eifo at nimtset / Eifo ata nimtsa is? Thanks in advance!
Shalom Jessica,
Thank you for taking your time to leave us a comment.
Looking forward to seeing you often here.:wink:
Cristiane
Team HebrewPod101.com
.אני מקנדה
Hi Arto Kalishian
Thanks for commenting,
The difference is a very important -
1. Me Eifo At - מאיפה את - where are you from?
2. Eifo at? - איפה את - where are you?
The letter מ in a beginning of a word implies a location - I'm from Tel Aviv = אני מתל אביב.
Hope it's clear now,
Roi
Team Hebrewpod101.com
Thank you for the lesson. Could you kindly explain what is the difference between:
1. Me Eifo At
2. Eifo at?
Me = Where OR
Eifo = Where?