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Just to be clear, I believe this should be an in-depth Hebrew language Q&A site, this has nothing to do with Judaism or Israel, just Hebrew. – Madara Uchiha Feb 6 '12 at 19:54

72 Example Questions

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up vote 11 down vote

added by sq33G Dec 26 '11 at 10:23

up vote 11 down vote

added by Reb.Cabin Jul 23 '12 at 15:04

	This could be a somewhat problematic question as it is very broad. – Madara Uchiha Jan 14 at 22:04
	Then again it's just a sample question to give us an idea. An actual question should compare with just one of those related languages. – hippietrail Feb 4 at 9:30

up vote 10 down vote

added by Madara Uchiha Nov 25 '11 at 9:51

It was already written in the bible, That when israelis people get down - they fall very deep. – ParPar Dec 18 '11 at 14:06

True, however there are newer words which do not appear in the bible. For instance, internet (אינטרנט), etc. – Madara Uchiha Dec 18 '11 at 16:39

and...what did you mean to say? – ParPar Dec 19 '11 at 14:48

@JNF: Hebrew is a spoken language. Slang and International words (such as טלוויזיה and אינטרנט are allowed). – Madara Uchiha Nov 27 '12 at 19:46

Just for clarification, is this question about how to utter a word vocally, or how to correctly write the niqudot / vowel points? – hippietrail Feb 4 at 9:26

show 3 more comments

up vote 10 down vote

added by Monica Cellio Nov 27 '11 at 22:50

There is a pattern although it is very complicated. – ParPar Dec 18 '11 at 14:08

Sometimes there is not a pattern but then it comes to imply something. – ParPar Dec 18 '11 at 14:10

Not the place for answers, trying to feel out what will be good questions. – Hrafn Jan 20 '12 at 2:56

At a stopping "ta'am", like ethnahta or sof pasuq, it will change. At "softer" stops, like segol or zaqef qoton, it sometimes will, depending on the context. – blockhead Mar 12 '12 at 8:15

No need for more than ten votes - save for other questions – Inkbug Sep 23 '12 at 20:54

show 1 more comment

up vote 10 down vote

added by Monica Cellio Dec 1 '11 at 3:53

I didn't quite understand that one. Could you give an example? (I speak Hebrew, if you can write Hebrew it's preferable.) – Madara Uchiha Dec 2 '11 at 14:18

Vav is usually "and", but there are cases where translators render it "or" (and sometimes "but" or other connective words) instead. The question is whether they are reasoning from context ("it can't mean 'and' there so must be something else") or if there's a rule. See: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/11051/472 . – Monica Cellio Dec 2 '11 at 17:17

Just a thought: If you want this site to get off the ground ASAP you probably shouldn't up-vote questions that already have 10 votes (unless you don't think any of the other question deserve an up-vote) – Ari A May 15 '12 at 2:35

Agreed, though what we really need is more users. The page says we need 14 more users, but with 5 up-votes per person and needing 40 questions at 10+, we need at least 80 people (and only that few if they basically agree -- what are the chances of that? :-) ). – Monica Cellio May 16 '12 at 14:16

up vote 10 down vote

added by cwallenpoole Dec 19 '11 at 7:10

The most correct way is like "v", but when we want to spell some word in English contains "w", we usually use double "Vav". – ParPar Dec 19 '11 at 13:36

Also, in some cases, Vav as the first letter in the word may also be pronounced as "oo". – Madara Uchiha Dec 19 '11 at 16:03

Amusing how you compromise by calling it "wav" - rather than "vav" or "waw" – sq33G Dec 26 '11 at 10:11

If you speak the Yemini dialect, "w" is more correct than "v". Also those who believe the Yemini dialect to be close to the "correct" way, will also say it that way, even if they don't normally come from that region. – GMNoob Jan 9 '12 at 8:18

No need for more than ten votes - save for other questions – Inkbug Sep 23 '12 at 20:52

show 3 more comments

up vote 10 down vote

added by sq33G Dec 26 '11 at 10:08

	This question would be better with a ltitle more context -- why is this particular word interesting? – Monica Cellio Dec 26 '11 at 15:27
	If you prefer, I can replace the particular word with <insert word here>. It was the only interesting word in the email subject I happened to have open when writing the question. – sq33G Dec 27 '11 at 11:14
	Oh, ok! So you meant this question to be analagous to the "how do I vocalize X" question? – Monica Cellio Dec 30 '11 at 14:04
	@sq33G Please do so. – Madara Uchiha Jan 13 '12 at 15:27

up vote 10 down vote

added by René Nyffenegger, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Sep 16 '12 at 18:48

I don't understand the question? (even after reading the verse) – Madara Uchiha Jan 6 '12 at 11:30

@Truth, since there are exactly two you would expect cherubayim, like yadayim for a person's two hands. – Monica Cellio Jan 15 '12 at 5:45

I think it's because "כרובים" is also a name of angels, and they are not always in pairs ... – banana Feb 18 at 9:04

up vote 10 down vote

added by GMNoob Jan 9 '12 at 11:45

Studio. This is a question for a dictionary, not a SE site.Google translate gets it translate.google.com/?source=osdd#auto/en/…. Perhaps you want to ask why the same word is used for studio and language class--that would be more interesting. – mmdanziger Nov 12 '12 at 18:43

Yes that would be a better question. But I never would have thought to look it up in the dictionary since I "know" that it means language class. So it's really more of a follow up question. – GMNoob Nov 15 '12 at 8:36

up vote 10 down vote

added by GMNoob Jan 9 '12 at 11:47

	What's Machir Pritzutz in Hebrew first? xD. Seriously though, we need to determine a correct Hebrew latiniztion syntax... – Madara Uchiha Jan 13 '12 at 15:29
	@Truth it literally means "Price explosion", and in the context of a food package it means something to the effect of "new low price" – GMNoob Jan 14 '12 at 15:44
	In which case, that's Me(c)hir Pitzuz, there's no ר in פיצוץ. Also, It's pronounces as "e" not "a" ;). And by this question you basically mean "What is the English equivalent to [Insert Hebrew slang here]". If it's true, please edit your question to reflect that. – Madara Uchiha Jan 21 '12 at 14:07
	Is there a transliteration scheme for Hebrew that works for Biblical and Modern Hebrew? Should it reflect the spelling or the pronunciation? Should it reflect spellings with and without niqudot and other marks? – hippietrail Feb 4 at 9:30

up vote 10 down vote

added by GMNoob Jan 9 '12 at 11:48

up vote 10 down vote

added by HodofHod Jan 15 '12 at 17:58

To be clear, the body of this question will also include further queries, such as: "Who created them?", "Where they always of the same form they are today?". This is intended as a broader question on the origins of nekudos. – HodofHod Feb 26 '12 at 16:53

up vote 10 down vote

added by Monica Cellio Jan 16 '12 at 4:50

	A better question would be to ask how was Tet pronounced historically, as Tet was the one who changed, not Taf (Tet was T'et, like a Tet followed by an A'in טע) – Madara Uchiha Feb 6 '12 at 19:56
	@Truth, reworded to address your concern. (Wow, is the limited character count here challenging!) – Monica Cellio Feb 9 '12 at 19:54

up vote 10 down vote

added by HodofHod Jan 25 '12 at 1:50

up vote 10 down vote

added by HodofHod Jan 25 '12 at 2:08

This seems like a rather general question, I think you should be a bit more specific. (It's like asking what are the various frameworks for PHP and which is still in active development on SO, only larger :X) – Madara Uchiha Feb 6 '12 at 20:02

@Truth, So you think it's Too Broad? I definitely think it's answerable in its current form. – HodofHod Jun 11 '12 at 4:03

Seems like two directions one could take answers here, because there are actually two questions! In a practical direction, one might contrast the handwritten script of madern Hebrew to the ordinary block script, because they are essentially different alphabets. In a historical direction, one might talk about Rashi, which isn't so so different, and then go to paleo Hebrew and Phoenician, which are completely different alphabets for very similar languages. So I think the question is broad and ambiguous, but admissable. – Reb.Cabin Jul 23 '12 at 14:50

For setting a precedent, I think that two separated questions would best-serve the site. – NewAlexandria Nov 5 '12 at 15:17

up vote 10 down vote

added by HodofHod Jan 25 '12 at 17:16

For example, sometimes you say "kol" ("all"), and sometimes "chol". Sometimes "bein" ("between"), and sometimes "vein". And the same is true when they're used as prefixes. – HodofHod Jan 25 '12 at 17:21

Not a great question, since it is so easily answerable via wikipedia. But could be a good question if it's about exceptions to the rule – Tal Fishman Jan 26 '12 at 15:41

@TalFishman. I disagree. For one, if you hadn't linked to it, I would never have seen that page, no matter how much searching I would've done. Second, once having found that page, I would have to spend an hour just learning all the technical terms there, before I could understand it. – HodofHod Jan 26 '12 at 16:16

The question here is when should one use a Dagesh, which is a legitimate question. – Madara Uchiha Feb 6 '12 at 19:58

@MadaraUchiha - But the answer is almost all the rules of Hebrew grammar... – banana Feb 18 at 9:15

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up vote 10 down vote

added by Alex Jan 26 '12 at 5:44

up vote 10 down vote

added by Double AA Jan 29 '12 at 6:16

	I would have given more background were the number of characters not so limited. – Double AA Jan 29 '12 at 6:17
	"mileil misharet havarot-petuchot" = "penultimately stressed connective open syllables" – Double AA Feb 12 at 18:34

up vote 10 down vote

added by Alex Jan 30 '12 at 7:27

related area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/36772/… – Double AA Feb 12 at 18:37

up vote 10 down vote

added by ruakh Apr 10 '12 at 15:28

Who said that the dagesh is ignored in "litPor", "likPotz". Israelis are lazy when speaking Hebrew and many errors are propagated. (As against that, no doubt many would say that language is dynamic and should change to reflect common usage) – Epicentre Oct 16 '12 at 5:52

@Epicentre: I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. Are you saying that you would only like to see questions about so-called "correct" Hebrew, and not questions about spoken Modern Israeli Hebrew? – ruakh Nov 13 '12 at 22:39

We should definitely welcome questions about modern spoken Hebrew - and all other periods. (e.g. Is it a mistake to leave out the aleph in lemaleh or to pronounce it lemal'ot) – Epicentre Nov 14 '12 at 7:42

@Epicentre - regarding lemal'ot - it's quite widely used throught the Bible and Chazal. Moreover, it was lately decided by the Academy of the Hebrew Language that it's acceptable. – yair Nov 20 '12 at 22:46

up vote 10 down vote

added by Roy Apr 17 '12 at 14:33

"Chutzpah," Hebrew slang used in English – b a Aug 29 '12 at 5:37

"chutpzah" is yiddish, not hebrew. – GMNoob Nov 15 '12 at 8:41

@GMNoob well, no, chutzpah is Hebrew. There are many Hebrew words that are shelved in Yiddish, like tzudik = tzadik, tachles = tachlit, dos = dat etc. – yair Nov 20 '12 at 22:54

Another Hebrew word that entered English is Maven = mevin = understands. +1 I like questions I have an answer for :-) – yair Nov 20 '12 at 22:55

@GMNood The Talmud came before Yiddish: google.com/… – b a Dec 4 '12 at 7:45

show 1 more comment

up vote 10 down vote

added by Double AA Apr 19 '12 at 7:44

up vote 10 down vote

added by yoel Jun 14 '12 at 15:14

This is a good question. If a word is spelled in Hebrew letters, it might take a couple of guesses to find the right shoresh if the shoresh begins with a nun, yud, heh. Example: what is the shoresh of הוגש, "he was served food?" If the word was only heard or transliterarted, one might have to check a large number of possibilities: kaf or quf? Chet or chaf? Tet or tav? Samekh or sin? Ayin or alef? Vav or vet? Initial nun? And then there are all the foreign roots, especially from Aramaic. It's usually easy to find a shoresh, but sometimes really hard! – Reb.Cabin Jul 23 '12 at 13:47

up vote 10 down vote

added by jake Jun 14 '12 at 20:13

I asked this on judaism.SE here, since Biblical Hebrew questions are considered on topic there, but it would have been nice to have a Hebrew.SE where it could attract more attention. – jake Jun 14 '12 at 20:15

up vote 10 down vote

added by Vitaly Mijiritsky, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Sep 16 '12 at 18:50

Or the shoresh רפא?! This is an instance of another question I Supported as a good question, that being ~"How does one find the shoresh of an unfamiliar word?"~ – Reb.Cabin Jul 23 '12 at 13:54

up vote 10 down vote

added by Reb.Cabin Jul 25 '12 at 13:09

	To clarify, your question is why the masculine numbers have a ה at the end? – b a Nov 19 '12 at 4:27
	Yes, that's right. The masculine numbers look and sound like feminine words, and vice versa. Also, the masculine "you" אתה "atah' has a feminine form and sound and the feminine "you" את "at" has a masculine form. These reversals are jarring to the new learner and the question pops up in every class I teach, and I don't have an answer :) – Reb.Cabin Nov 20 '12 at 15:17

up vote 10 down vote

added by Monica Cellio Sep 24 '12 at 0:38

It is called patach genuva ("stolen patach"), and it appears not only below final chet but also below final 'ayin and final heh (with mappik). – kodkod Oct 10 '12 at 16:34

I learned it as the "Furtive Patach". – NealWalters Apr 22 at 23:52

up vote 10 down vote

added by Epicentre Oct 14 '12 at 5:45

There are several standards. But like most standards, they are not always used by-the-letter. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… – Nir Levy Oct 16 '12 at 8:22

up vote 10 down vote

added by Double AA Oct 21 '12 at 5:50

up vote 10 down vote

added by mmdanziger Nov 11 '12 at 11:10

It means "be in a constant state of remembrance," i.e. even on weekdays. Rashi. – b a Dec 5 '12 at 2:48

OK, but what is the grammatical construct? Does it exist for other binyanim? Are there other examples of such a thing or is it a one-off quirk? Also, at this stage it is more important to vote up the question (assume you think it is legitimate) than to answer it. – mmdanziger Dec 5 '12 at 8:49

@mmdanziger It exists for other words: See Rashi to BeMidbar 6:23, 25:17, Devarim 31:26. I know no more. And I would upvote it if I hadn't used up my five for this proposal, but it's worth commenting on in case anyone actually wants to know in the mean time. – b a Dec 14 '12 at 5:40

similar q dikdukian.weeklyshtikle.com/2012/09/… – Double AA May 2 at 14:57

It is called the "infinitive absolute," which is almost always paired up with another verb of the same root for emphasis: שמוע תשמעו or מות יומת. In some cases it can operate like an imperative. See נשא in Num 4:2. – Aaron Jun 5 at 19:23

up vote 10 down vote

added by mmdanziger Nov 11 '12 at 11:12

up vote 10 down vote

added by mmdanziger Nov 11 '12 at 11:15

up vote 10 down vote

added by b a Jan 4 at 22:12

	great question! – Roy Jan 14 at 21:34
	One is more like an adjective, the other like a verb. Think, the door is closed (סגורה) vs the door is being closed (נסגרה) – blockhead Jan 20 at 10:38

up vote 7 down vote

added by Monica Cellio Nov 9 '12 at 21:01

Asked on BH – Monica Cellio Nov 9 '12 at 21:01

up vote 7 down vote

added by AdamRedwine Nov 14 '12 at 20:37

up vote 6 down vote

added by b a Jan 1 at 6:42

E.g. להצטרף vs. להסתדר. – b a Jan 1 at 6:43

up vote 3 down vote

added by mmdanziger Nov 11 '12 at 11:11

up vote 2 down vote

added by Daniel.J.Shapiro Oct 20 '12 at 23:29

	I've never heard anyone in real life use "יישומון". Real life usage is mostly "ווידג'ט" as in "כתבתי השבוע שני ווידג'טים". You can ask the same for "טכנולוגיה עילית" vs. "Hi-tech". – Nir Levy Oct 21 '12 at 8:37
	Thanks for the information. – Daniel.J.Shapiro Oct 21 '12 at 14:07

up vote 2 down vote

added by anthony-arnold Mar 19 at 4:15

	For example, my own name, Anthony. אנתוני ,אנטוני ,עיתוני אנטהוני, or something else? Or are they all correct? – anthony-arnold Mar 19 at 4:23
	אנטהוני --- that would definitely not be correct. It does defy one of the basic rules concerning open and closed syllables. – H3br3wHamm3r81 Mar 24 at 19:47
	@H3br2wHamm2r81 Yes, I didn't think it would by correct. These are all examples from Google transliteration. I personally use אנטוני. – anthony-arnold Mar 24 at 21:50
	There are rules in modern Hebrew about transliterating foreign words. Always use א instead of ע, use ט instead of ת (for the "t" sound), use 'ת for the "th" sound, use ק instead of כ, etc. Following those rules, Anthony would probably be אנת'וני if you wanted it to be pronounced the same as it is in English. Otherwise, it would be אנטוני, as you spell it for a more "Hebrew sounding" name (pronounced with a hard "t"). – Daniel Apr 15 at 20:45
	I just realized that you are asking generally about transliterating into Hebrew, not specifically about your name. I found this chart of rules of thumb for transliterating: docs.google.com/… – Daniel Apr 15 at 20:53

up vote 1 down vote

added by Inkbug Jul 15 '12 at 13:44

For example, stack exchange badges. – Inkbug Jul 15 '12 at 13:45

Maybe "תעודה"? – b a Jul 24 '12 at 21:51

But תעודה is a certificate / diploma - not exactly badge. (I thought of מדליה, פרס, תג, but they all don't exactly mean badge.) – Inkbug Jul 25 '12 at 4:59

The intended meaning is the same, though (a mark of achievement). You were talking about Stack Exchange badges, where that would fit. I don't know what you would call an actual physical badge. – b a Aug 7 '12 at 19:39

I believe "עיטור" would suit in most cases, and "תעודה" in some. Also "סמל" and "מדליה" and "אות" and also "ציון". Borrowed from aka.idf.il/Main/Smalim/smalim.aspx?catId=5865. – Nir Levy Oct 4 '12 at 13:38