Let's take look of a simple dialog: visitors from America arrives to their
relatives' house in Israel. This conversation is full of little words you might
hear all around you among Israelis:
|
- Shalom, shalom! |
- שלום, שלום! |
Shalom, how are you
(plural)? |
- Shalom, ma shlomkhem? |
- שלום! מַה שלוֹמכֶם?
|
(We are) Ok. How was
your flight? |
- Beseder.
Eikh hayta ha tisa? |
- בְּסֵדֶר. אֵיך הַיתָה הַטִיסָה?
|
(It was) totally Ok. |
- Beseder
gamur. |
- בסדר גָמוּר.
|
Did you fly El-Al? |
- Tastem
El-Al? |
- טַסְתֶּם אֶל־עַל?
|
No, El-Al are too
expensive. We flied with American (Airlines) to London, and British
(Airways) from there. |
- Lo, El-Al hem yekarim
miday. Tasnu American (Airlines) le-London, u-mi-sham British (Airways). |
- לֹא, אל־על הֵם יְקָרִים מִדַּי. טַסנוּ
אַמֵרִיקָן לְלוֹנדוֹן, וּמִשָם בּריטיש. |
Did you take a cab from
the airport? |
- Lakachtem monit
mi-NATBAG? |
- לָקַחְתֶּם מוֹנִית מִנַתְבָּ"ג?
|
No, Yoni picked us from
the airport and took to his house. |
- Lo, Yoni lakax otanu mi
Ben Gurion elav habayta. |
- לא, יוֹני לָקַח אוֹתָנוּ מנתב"ג אֵלָיו
הַבַּיְתָה.
|
That's great. When did
you arrive then? Yesterday? |
- Yofi, yofi. Az matay
higa`tem? Etmol? |
- יוֹפי, יוֹפי. אַז מַתַּי הִגַעתֶּם?
אֶתמוֹל?
|
We're already three days
here in Israel. |
- Anaxnu kvar shlosha
yamim ba Aretz. |
- אֲנַחְנוּ כּבָר שלוֹשָה יָמִים בָּאָרֶץ. |
Nu, then you are real
old-timers here! |
- Nu, az atem kvar
vatikim po! |
- נוּ, אַז אַתֶּם כְּבָר וַתִּיקִים פֹּה! |
(laughter) |
-
|
|
Remarks:
נַתְבָּ"ג
is a commonly used abbreviation for the Ben-Gurion Airport, or Nemal
Te`ufa Ben-Gurion: N.T.B.G.
Expressions "בסדר גמור" ,"מה שלומכם"
are very common; you'd better memorize them טוב-טוב :)
?איך היתה הטיסה - In English (at least in
American English) we would probably say "How was your flight?"
In Hebrew it's usually enough to specify the subject, so it's more like "How was
the flight?"
As we already know, Israelis "take" taxi, exactly like Americans. (If you
think about it, you're riding а taxi; "taking" is just an idiomatic
expression, and such expressions don't have to be the same in all languages. In
this case it's the same, which means we're lucky: it's easier for us to learn.
Don't expect it always to be the same though.)
אל-על means "Skywards" or "To the Heights". You have
probably heard of El-Al - Israeli national airlines company, but if you have
not, take a look at Wikipedia.
אותנו, אליו - otanu,
elav
-- For some reason, many textbooks for beginners either ignore proposition
conjugation, or give them in "advanced" lessons. I don't think it's a good
approach. Propositions with suffixes are the very essence of Hebrew, and
avoiding them for a while only means you're postponing your ability to
communicate. You'd better start learning this construct as soon as possible.
אל means to, towards, into.
אליו הביתה means "to his house" or more literally "to his
home".
Conjugation of אֶל
אֵלַי |
to me
|
|
אֵלֵינוּ |
to us |
אֵלֶיךָ |
to you (m. sing.) |
|
אֱלֵיכֶם |
to you (m. pl.) |
אֵלַיִך |
to you (f. sing.) |
|
אֱלֵיכֶן |
to you (m. pl.)* |
אֵלָיו |
to him |
|
אֱלֵיהֶם |
to them (m. pl.)** |
אֵלֶיהָ |
to her |
|
אֱלֵיהֶן |
to them (f. pl.)*,** |
*) these forms (feminine plural) are used more and more rarely.
**) classical vocalization is slightly different (אֲלֵיכֶן),
however the vocalization present here reflects the modern pronunciation, which
makes a better difference between
אֱלֵיכֶן
and עֲלֵיכֶן,
and also makes it easier to remember.
This short dialogue is actually giving us lots of material to discuss.
What about אותנו, and all those verbs like
טסנו, לקחנו... Too much for a single lesson though. I need
a break for today, but I promise: the saga will continue.