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Hebrew phrasebook Travel Guide

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Hebrew is spoken as a daily language in Israel and is used as a religious language by Jews worldwide.

Hebrew is written with a different alphabet than most European languages, and is written from right to left.

Contents

Pronunciation guide

The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, though some can function as vowels. Vowels are indicated with a system of dots and dashes next to the letters, but these are usually omitted except in Bibles and children's books. It is common for words, especially foreign words, to be spelled in more than one way; the Abu'l`afia Synagogue has five different spellings of its name on its signs.

The accent is usually on the last syllable; most of the exceptions are segolates (words in which segol, the e-sound, was inserted after the accent), such as elef "thousand". Some words have a diphthong "ua" or "ia" which is one syllable but sounds like two, like English "oil". This is called pattach gnubah "stolen a-sound" and occurs in shavua "week", which is accented on the "u".

Five letters (מנצפכ) have a different form at the end of a word (םןץףך, respectively). These are named by adding סופית (so-FEET) "final" to the name of the letter, e.g. נון סופית.

א aleph 
glottal stop or silent ('sometimes used as the letter a when rendering English in Hebrew')
ב beth 
like bear or maven
ג gimel 
like gone
ד daleth 
like dude
ה he 
like harp; silent at the end of a word, unless it has a dot in it
ו vav 
like violin; also or or tune when used as a vowel
ז zayin 
like zany
ח cheth 
voiceless gargle, i.e. like the scotish loch
ט teth 
like tuck
י yod 
like yet; also say or honey when used as a vowel
כ ך kaph 
like keep, or halfway between keep and heap
ל lamedh 
like leave
מ ם mem 
like mother
נ ן nun 
like never
ס samekh 
like some
ע `ayin 
constriction of the throat, but you can just say ', though there are some minimal pairs
פ ף pe 
like upon or loofa
צ ץ tsadi 
like boots
ק qoph 
like coo, but further back in the throat
ר resh 
voiced gargle as in French
ש sin, shin 
like shoot or seem
ת tav 
like teeth; in some dialects sometimes like juice or teeth

Phrase list

Somewhat unusually, Hebrew verbs conjugate according to the gender of the sentence's object: different verb forms must thus be used when speaking to men and women. These have been noted below when appropriate.

Basics

Hello. 
שלום. (shah-LOHM)
The Hebrew greeting, though the English "Hi" is also used.
Bye. 
שלום. (shah-LOHM)
Yes, the greeting is the same for the start and end of conversation. See also "See you later".
See you later. 
להתראות. (leh-hit-rah-'OHT)
The most common farewell greeting, besides the English "Bye".
Good morning. 
בוקר טוב (BOH-ker TOHV)
Good afternoon. 
צהריים טובים (tsoh-hoh-RAH-yeem toh-VEEM)
Good evening. 
ערב טוב (EH-rev TOHV)
Good night. 
לילה טוב (LIGH-lah TOHV)
How are you? (addressing to a man). 
‫מה שלומך?‬ (mah shlom-KHAH)
How are you? (addressing to a woman). 
‫מה שלומך?‬ (mah shloh-MEKH)
How are you? (What's new?). 
‫מה נשמע?‬ (mah nish-MAH)
Thank you. 
תודה (toh-DAH)
Please. 
בבקשה (be-vah-kuh-SHAH)
Excuse me. 
סליחה (slee-KHAH)
I don't understand. (a man). 
אני לא מבין (ahni loh meh-VEEN)
I don't understand. (a woman). 
אני לא מבינה (ahni loh meh-VEENA)

Pronouns

I 
אני (ah-NEE)
You (singular, masc.) 
אתה (ah-TAH)
You (singular, fem.) 
את (aht)
He 
הוא (hoo)
She 
היא (hee)
We 
אנחנו (ah-NAKH-noo)
You (plural, masc.) 
אתם (ah-TEM)
You (plural, fem.) 
אתן (ah-TEN)
They (plural, masc.) 
הם (hem)
They (plural, fem.) 
הן (hen)

Asking Questions

Who? 
‫מי?‬ (mee)
What? 
‫מה?‬ (mah)
Where is ...? 
‫איפה?‬ (ey-FOH)
Where to? 
‫לאן?‬ (leh-AH-n)
Where from? 
‫מאיפה\מאין?‬ (mee-ey-FOH/meh-Ah-een)
When? 
‫מתי?‬ (mah-TIGH)
Why? 
‫למה?‬ (lah-MAH), ‫מדוע?‬ (mah-DOOah)
How much? 
‫כמה?‬ (kah-MAH)
Where are you from? 
When speaking to a male: ‫מאין אתה?‬ (meh-'IGHN ah-TAH)

When speaking to a female: ‫מאין את?‬ (meh-'IGHN aht)

Do you speak English? 
When speaking to a male: ‫אתה מדבר אנגלית?‬ (ah-TAH meh-dah-BEHR ahn-GLEET?)
When speaking to a female: ‫את מדברת אנגלית?‬ (aht meh-dah-BEH-ret ahn-GLEET?)

Numbers (mispaRIM)

0 
אפס (EH-fess)
1 
אחת (ah-KHAT)
2 
שתיים (SHTAH-yeem)
3 
שלש (shah-LOSH)
4 
ארבע (AHR-bah)
5 
חמש (khah-MESH)
6 
שש (shesh)
7 
שבע (SHEH-vah)
8 
שמונה (shmo-NEH)
9 
תשע (TEY-shah)
10 
עשר (EH-sehr)
11 
אחת עשרה (ah-khat es-REH)
12 
שתים עשרה (shtem es-REH)
13 
שלוש עשרה (shlosh es-REH)
14 
ארבע עשרה (ar-bah es-REH)
15 
חמש עשרה (kha-mesh es-REH)
16 
שש עשרה (shesh es-REH)
17 
שבע עשרה (shva es-REH)
18 
שמונה עשרה (shmo-nah es-REH)
19 
תשע עשרה (tshah es-REH)
20 
עשרים (es-REEM)
25 
עשרים וחמש (es-REEM ve-khah-MESH)
30 
שלשים (shlo-SHEEM)
40 
ארבעים (ar-bah-EEM)
50 
חמשים (khah-mee-SHEEM)
60 
ששים (shee-SHEEM)
70 
שבעים (shiv-EEM)
80 
שמונים (shmo-NEEM)
90 
תשעים (tish-EEM)
100 
מאה (MEH-'ah)
200 
מאתיים (m'ah-TAH-yeem)
300 
שלש מאות (sh-LOSH meh-'OHT)
1000 
אלף (EH-lef)
1% 
אחוז (ah-KHOOZ ah-KHAD)
5% 
חמישה אחוזים (kha-misha ah-KHOOZIM)
100% 
מאה אחוז (MEH-'ah ah-KHOOZ)
Half 
חצי (KHE-tsee)
Quarter 
רבע (REH-vah)
More 
יותר (yoh-TEHR)
Less 
פחות (pah-KHOHT)

Time

Today 
היום (hah-YOHM)
Yesterday 
אתמול (et-MOHL)
Tomorrow 
מחר (mah-KHAHR)
The day before yesterday 
שלשום (shil-SHOHM)
The day after tomorrow 
מחרתיים (makh-rah-TAH-yeem)


Days of the week

Except for Shabbat, these are ordinal numbers. But both these and the names of the first 6 letters in the Hebrew Alfa-Beit are used.

Sunday 
יום ראשון (yohm ree-SHOHN)
Monday 
יום שני (yohm shey-NEE)
Tuesday 
יום שלישי (yohm shlee-SHEE)
Wednesday 
יום רביעי (yohm rvee-EE)
Thursday 
יום חמישי (yohm khah-mee-SHEE)
Friday 
יום ששי (yohm shee-SHEE)
Saturday 
שבת (shah-BAHT)

Months

In everyday life, most Israelis use the Gregorian Calendar. The month names pronunciation resembles Central-European (e.g. German) pronunciation.

January 
ינואר ("Yah-no-ar")
February 
פברואר ("Feb-ruh-ar")
March 
מרץ ("Meh-rtz")
April 
אפריל ("Ah-pril")
May 
מאי ("Mah-y")
June 
יוני ("Yuh-nee")
July 
יולי ("Yuh-lee")
August 
אוגוסט ("O-guh-st")
September 
ספטמבר ("September")
October 
אוקטובר ("October")
November 
נובמבר ("November")
December 
דצמבר ("Deh-tsember")

For holidays and events, Israeli Jews and Jews worldwide use a lunisolar calendar, in which the month begins at the new moon and a thirteenth month is added every few years. The months are numbered starting from Nisan or Aviv (March-April), but the year number is incremented in Tishrei; thus Elul 5760 is followed by Tishrei 5761. Besides meaning "spring" and "Nisan", "Aviv" is also the name of a stage that the growth of barley reaches at that time.

Nisan 
ניסן (nee-SAHN)
Iyar 
אייר (ee-YAHR)
Sivan 
סיון (see-VAHN)
Tammuz 
תמוז (tah-MOOZ)
Av 
אב (ahv)
Elul 
אלול (eh-LOOL)
Tishrei 
תשרי (TISH-rey)
Cheshvan 
חשון (khesh-VAN)
Kislev 
כסלו (KISS-lev)
Tevet 
טבת (tey-VET)
Shevat 
שבט (shuh-VAT)
Adar 
אדר (ah-DAR)
Second Adar (the leap month) 
אדר שני (ah-DAR shey-NEE)

Duration

Day 
יום (yom)
Week 
שבוע (shah-VOOah)
Month 
חודש (KHO-desh)
Year 
שנה (shah-NAH)
Hour 
שעה (shah-AH)
Minute 
דקה (dah-KAH)
Second 
שניה (shnee-YAH)
Time 
זמן (zmahn)

Seasons

Spring 
אביב (ah-VEEV)
Summer 
קיץ (KAH-yits)
Autumn 
סתיו (stahv)
Winter 
חורף (KHO-ref)
What time is it? 
מה השעה? (mah hah-shah-AH?)

Colors (tzva-`IM)

black 
שחור (sha-KHOR)
white 
לבן (la-VAN)
gray 
אפור (a-FOR)
red 
אדום (a-DOM)
blue 
כחול (ka-KHOL)
yellow 
צהוב (tza-HOV)
green 
ירוק (ya-ROK)
orange 
כתום (ka-TOM)
purple 
סגול (sa-GOL)
brown 
חום (khum)

Transportation

Bus and train

How much is a ticket to _____? 
כמה עולה כרטיס ל (KA-ma `oLE karTIS le___?)
One ticket to _____, please. 
כרטיס אחד ל___, בבקשה (karTIS eKHAD le___, bevakaSHA)
Where does this train/bus go? 
לאן הרכבת הזאת נוסעת?/לאן האוטובוס הזה נוסע (leAN haraKEvet haZOT noSA`at?/leAN haOtobus haZE noSEa?)
Where is the train/bus to _____? 
איפה הרכבת ל___?/איפה האוטובוס ל (EIfo haraKEvet le___?/EIfo haOtobus le___?)
Does this train/bus stop in _____? 
הרכבת הזאת עוצרת ב___?/האוטובוס הזה עוצר ב(haraKEvet haZOT oTZEret be___?/haOtobus haZE oTZER be___?)
When does the train/bus for _____ leave? 
מתי יוצאת הרכבת ל___?/מתי יוצא האוטובוס ל (maTAI yoTZET haraKEvet le___?/maTAI yoTZE haOtobus le___?)
When will this train/bus arrive in _____? 
מתי הרכבת הזאת מגיעה ל___?/מתי האוטובוס הזה מגיע ל (maTAI haraKEvet haZOT magi`A le___?/maTAI haOtobus haZE magi`A le___?)

Directions

How do I get to _____ ? 
איך אני מגיע/ה ל (eikh aNI maGI`a/magi`A(f) le___?)
...the train station? 
תחנת הרכבת (takhaNAT haraKEvet)
...the bus station? 
תחנת האוטובוס (takhaNAT haOtobus)
...the airport? 
שדה התעופה (sde hateuFA)
...downtown? 
מרכז העיר (merKAZ ha`IR)
...the youth hostel? 
אכסניית נוער (akhsaniYAT NO`ar)
...the _____ hotel? 
מלון (maLON ___?)
...the Chinese/Indian/Russian/Polish consulate? 
קונסוליה ה סינית/הודית/רוסית/פולנית (conSULia ha SInit/HOdit/ruSIT/polaNIT?)
Where are there a lot of... 
איפה יש הרבה (EIfo yesh harBE...)
...hotels? 
מלונות (meloNOT)
...restaurants? 
מסעדות (mis`aDOT)
...bars? 
ברים (BArim)
...things to see? 
דברים לראות (dvaRIM lirOT)
Can you show me on the map? 
אתה יכול להראות לי במפה (aTA yaKHOL leharOT li bamaPA)
street 
רחוב(reKHOV)
Go left. 
לך שמאלה (lekh SMOla)
GO right. 
לך ימינה (lekh yaMIna)
left 
שמאל(smol)
right 
ימין (yaMIN)
straight ahead 
ישר (yaSHAR)
towards the _____ 
לכיוון (lekiVUN)
past the _____ 
אחרי (akhaREY)
before the _____ 
לפני (lifNEY)
Watch for the _____. 
חפש את ה (khaPES et ha___)
intersection 
צומת (TZOmet)
north 
צפון (tzaFON)
south 
דרום (daROM)
east 
מזרח (mizRAKH)
west 
מערב (ma`aRAV)
uphill 
למעלה(leMA`la)
downhill 
למטה (leMAta)

Taxi

Taxi! 
מונית (moNIT!)
Take me to _____, please. 
קח אותי ל____, בבקשה (kakh oTI le___, bevakaSHA)
How much does it cost to get to _____? 
כמה זה עולה עד ל (KAma ze `oLE `ad le___)
Take me there, please. 
קח אותי לשם בבקשה (kakh oTI leSHAM, bevakaSHA)
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