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Hebrew Podcasts
Lessons 1-2
Introduction
Learning a new language requires work and commitment, but the unique dialog format of Hebrew
Podcasts makes it easy and fun. You can play each lesson multiple times to internalize the material, and
you can repeat each line out loud to practice pronunciation and memorize expressions.
The lessons are packed with tidbits of information about the features of the Hebrew language including
idiomatic and colloquial expressions and grammar rules. The lessons also touch on Israeli cultural and
geographical topics that you'll find useful especially if you plan to visit Israel.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
Now let’s use the second person. I’ll say “You’re Noa”
את נועה Postcard from Israel
Àt No-à
את נועה
אתmeans you. This is the feminine form. Let’s hear the masculine
form. Noa will say “You’re Danny”
אתה דני
À-tà Dà-ni
אתה דני
אתהmean you when speaking to a male.
Timna Valley Park is a National Park in
Next, let’s learn how to say thank you. Repeat after Noa9 the Negev desert near Eilat. The Park is
תודה noted for its natural sandstone formations.
To-dà It includes what are believed to be the
oldest Copper mines in the world, dating
תודה
back to at least 4000 BC and worked
Wonderful! almost continuously by many civilizations
including the Egyptians and Romans.
Okay, Noa, let’s say some really simple sentences. To do that, let’s
learn a few nouns and a few verbs.
Let’s start with the nouns. Repeat after Noa, a book is
ספר
Sé-fér Postcard from Israel
ספר
Hebrew is
עברית
Iv-rit
עברית
A teacher is
מורה
Mo-ré Soreq Cave is an active cave with a
מורה uniquely dense concentration of
stalactites. The cave was discovered in
And a house or a home is 1968 near Bet Shemesh. It is 83 meters
long, 60 meters wide and 15 meters high.
בית Some of the stalactites have been dated
Bà-yit as 300,000 years old.
בית
Great!
Now for the verbs. The following verbs are all in the present tense.
We say these verbs differently depending on the gender of their
subject. In the following examples, Noa will speak about me, so
we’ll hear the masculine form. Repeat after Noa, “You can”
אתה יכול
À-tà yà-hol
אתה יכול
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© Yedwab, 2009. All rights reserved.
Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
You go
אתה הולך
À-tà ho-léh Postcard from Israel
אתה הולך
You love
אתה אוהב
À-tà o-hév
אתה אוהב
You play
אתה משחק United Buddy Bears in Jerusalem
À-tà mé-sà-hék
In 2007, the “United Buddy Bears“ stood
אתה משחק
hand in hand in Cairo along the River
You learn or you study Nile, for the first time promoting their
international unifying message in an Arab
אתה לומד country. In summer, they arrived in
À-tà lo-méd Jerusalem, where the municipality
אתה לומד facilitated the exhibition on Safra Square
right in front of the town hall and in close
Outstanding! proximity to the Old City. The Buddy
Okay, we’re ready for a simple sentence. How would we say Bears advocate living together in peace
“Danny is learning Hebrew”? and harmony.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
Good!
Now let’s learn to ask “How are you?”
?מה שלומך
Mà shlom-hà?
?מה שלומך
? מה שלומךthat's “how are you”? And to answer, let’s learn the word
for “good”
טוב
Tov
טוב
And we already know how to say thank you. So let’s practice
?מה שלומך
Mà shlom-hà?
?מה שלומך
And I answer
!טוב תודה
Tov to-dà!
!טוב תודה
That’s good, thank you!
You’re doing really well. Learning a language is all about practice,
repetition, and recitation. It helps consolidate all these new words in
the brain.
At this point it’s a good time to mention that in Hebrew nouns have
a gender and other parts of the sentence such as verbs and
adjectives also change form to agree with the gender of the subject.
So far we’ve heard a lot of the masculine form because Noa was
talking about me or to me. Now let’s go back and change some of
our examples to their feminine form by having Noa speak of herself.
Noa, how would you say that you love Hebrew?
אני אוהבת עברית
À-ni o-hé-vét iv-rit
אני אוהבת עברית
We see אוהבturns into אוהבת.
Let’s see another example. How do you say “a new city”?
עיר חדשה
Ir hà-dà-shà
עיר חדשה
We see חדשturns into חדשה. That’s because the word for city, עיר,
is a feminine noun.
This concept of all nouns having gender feels very strange to
English speakers and makes learning Hebrew harder. But don’t be
discouraged. You’ll get the hang of it, I promise.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
Some nouns, like animals or professions have two forms, one for
male and one for female. There are examples of that in English too,
like an actor and an actress and a rooster and a hen.
In our lesson, we learned how to say a teacher, מורה. Well, that
was the word for a male teacher. For a female teacher the word is
מורה
Mo-rà
מורה
And to say “new teacher” speaking of a female teacher
מורה חדשה
Mo-rà hà-dà-shà
מורה חדשה
And to say “nice teacher” speaking of a female teacher
מורה נחמדה
Mo-rà néh-mà-dà
מורה נחמדה
Very good!
Let’s look at another example. I learn Hebrew, when spoken by a
woman, it’s
אני לומדת עברית
À-ni lo-mé-dét iv-rit
אני לומדת עברית
Excellent!
Noa, I hope you’re not tired yet because we have some more words
to learn so we can make some more sentences. Let’s learn how to
say he and she.
Let’s repeat after Noa, “he is learning Hebrew”
הוא לומד עברית
Hoo lo-méd iv-rit
הוא לומד עברית
And “she is learning Hebrew”
היא לומדת עברית
Hee lo-mé-dét iv-rit
היא לומדת עברית
Well done!
Now let’s see a couple of verbs in the infinitive. The infinitive is the
form of the verb that describes the action: to tell and to sing. Let’s
hear these two verbs in the infinitive. To tell is
לספר
Lé-sà-pér
לספר
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
And to sing is
לשיר
Là-shir
לשיר
Wonderful!
Now let’s see two examples with these two verbs. To say “She can
tell” or “she is able to tell” is
היא יכולה לספר
Hee yé-ho-là lé-sà-pér
היא יכולה לספר
Fantastic!
Noa, how would you say “she can sing”?
היא יכולה לשיר
Hee yé-ho-là là-shir
היא יכולה לשיר
Good job!
The word for a song is שיר. In plural, the word for songs is שירים.
So to say “she can sing songs”, we would say
היא יכולה לשיר שירים
Hee yé-ho-là là-shir shi-rim
היא יכולה לשיר שירים
Nice!
Noa, how do you say “with us”?
איתנו
Ee-tà-noo
איתנו
So “she is learning with us” or “she is studying with us” would be
היא לומדת איתנו
Hee lo-mé-dét ee-tà-noo
היא לומדת איתנו
Very good!
Let’s see a variation. “She is coming with us”
היא באה איתנו
Hee bà-à i-tà-noo
היא באה איתנו
באהthat's the verb for coming. It’s the feminine form. To hear the
masculine form, which is בא, let’s see how to say “He is coming
with us”
הוא בא איתנו
Hoo bà i-tà-noo
הוא בא איתנו
Super!
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1A – Prelude to Lesson 1
Easy Level
Lesson 1A – Exercise
Match each picture with the correct Hebrew word. Draw a line between the word and the
picture.
מורהmo-rà
ספרsé-fér
ביתbà-yit
עירeer
לשירlà-shir
חדשhà-dàsh
לומדתlo-mé-dét
מהmà
הולכתho-lé-hét
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these materials without permission from the copyright owner.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1 – Introduction
Beginner Level
I answered you, Rina, with תודה,נהדר. Great, thank you. Rina said בסדר גמורwhich means “all
1 2 3
right”.
Rina, if I wanted to say ‘thank you very much!’ I would say: 4
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1 – Introduction
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1 – Introduction
Beginner Level
And to speak about both teachers ‘my teachers’, you would say... to love לאהוב
my teachers המורים שלי Lé-é-hov
Hà-mo-rim shé-li
Okay, Rina, tell us more about your Hebrew teacher: I/you/he love/loves הוא/אתה/אני
(male singular) אוהב
She is a new teacher היא מורה חדשה À-ni/À-tà/Hoo o-hév
Hee mo-rà hà-dà-shà I/you/she love/loves היא/את/אני
from Tel-Aviv. .מתל אביב (female singular) אוהבת
mi-tél à-viv. À-ni/Àt/Hee o-hé-vét
She is very nice היא נחמדה מאוד
we/you/they love הם/אתם/אנחנו
Hee néh-mà-dà mé-od (male plural) אוהבים
and she plays with us והיא משחקת איתנו À-nàh-noo/À-tém/Hém o-hà-vim
vé-hee mé-sà-hé-két ee-tà-noo
we/you/they love הן/אתן/אנחנו
and sings songs with us. .ושרה איתנו שירים (female plural) אוהבות
vé-shà-rà ee-tà-noo shi-rim. À-nàh-noo/À-tén/Hén o-hà-vot
Okay, we heard quite a bit here. Let’s examine what we heard:
דני אוהב לשיר
Rina, you said that your Hebrew teacher is new Dà-ni o-hév là-shir
Yes. She is a new teacher. . היא מורה חדשה.כן Danny loves to sing
Kén. Hee mo-rà hà-dà-shà.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1 – Introduction
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1 – Introduction
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 1 – Introduction
Beginner Level
Lesson 1 – Exercises
Match each sentence with its Hebrew translation. Then draw a line to connect them.
Select the correct form of the verb and write it in the space. Pay attention to gender and
plurality.
1. Ri-nà __________ lé-béit sé-fér. . רינה ________ לבית ספר.1
Hol-him א( הולכים
Ho-léh ב( הולך
Ho-lé-hét ג( הולכת
2. Hoo __________ ét hà-mo-rà. . הוא ________ את המורה.2
O-hév א( אוהב
O-hà-vim ב( אוהבים
O-hà-vot ג( אוהבות
3. Hà-mo-rim __________. .________ המורים.3
Néh-màd א( נחמד
Néh-mà-dim ב( נחמדים
Néh-mà-dà ג( נחמדה
4. A-nàh-noo __________. .________ אנחנו.4
Mé-sà-hé-két א( משחקת
Mé-sà-hék ב( משחק
Mé-sàh-kim ג( משחקים
5. Hém __________ shi-rim shél hà-noo-kà. . הם ________ שירים של חנוכה.5
Là-màd א( למד
Lom-dim ב( לומדים
Lo-mé-dét ג( לומדת
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these materials without permission from the copyright owner.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
ווis often used as a vowel. It can sound like O. For example, in the There are five Hebrew letters that are
word אוהבת. It can also sound like the double O in book. For written differently when they are at the
example, in the word גמורthat we heard in our previous lesson end of a word. These are:
when Rina said בסדר גמור.
שלומך כף סופית
ווcan also be used as a consonant and sound like the letter V. Noa, Shlom-hà Kàf so-fit ך
let’s hear an example of a word like that. How do you say a virus?
שלום מם סופית
A virus Vi-roos וירוס Shà-lom Mém so-fit ם
וירוסmeans a virus. This word is obviously borrowed from another מצוין נון סופית
language. Hebrew is an ancient language that has been revived Mé-tsoo-yàn Noon so-fit ן
around the end of the nineteenth century. Therefore, words like ינשוף פא סופית
virus, atom, and telephone were brought into Hebrew from other
languages.
Yàn-shoof Pé so-fit ף
עץ צדי סופית
The letter ווhas another function. Because Hebrew does not have a Éts Tsà-di so-fit ץ
letter that sounds like W, it uses two consecutive ווto make this
sound. For example the word וולביwhich means a wallaby. This עץmeans a tree or wood.
usage is typically for words that were borrowed from another
language.
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
Tet (Tét) טית ט When you look up Hebrew words in the
dictionary, remember to strip any prefixes.
The letter טיתsounds like the letter T. For example9 Examples:
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
So, Noa, to finish off, how about an animal that begins in ?תו
An alligator Tà-nin תנין
That’s right, תנין, which means an alligator.
And with תוwe come to the end of this lesson that was entirely
dedicated to the Hebrew alphabet. You can find more information in
the lesson guide that goes together with this podcast. You can
download the lesson guide from our web site at
http://hebrewpodcasts.com.
That’s it for today. In our next lesson Noa will be back. We’ll learn
some new vocabulary related to school and we’ll touch on the
subject of counting and ordinal numbers.
Until then
!שלום ולהתראות
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Hebrew Podcasts
Lesson 2 – Alphabet
Beginner Level
Lesson 2 – Exercise
Match each animal with its Hebrew name. Draw a line between the word and the picture.
זבובz-voov
אריהar-yé
כלבké-lév
תניןtà-nin
קיפודki-pod
גמלgà-màl
ברוזbar-vàz
סוסsoos
צפרדעtsfàr-dé-à
פילpil
© Both the podcast and this accompanying lesson guide are copyrighted material. All rights reserved. You may not distribute
these materials without permission from the copyright owner.
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