Discussion Group for General Hebrew Questions

[Babelfish]

Yes and yes

[AlanF_US]

Thanks and thanks!

Is there a difference between האזין and הקשיב?

[Babelfish]

Other than האזין being slightly more formal and old-style than הקשיב, not that I know (colloquially, people also use שמע for the same meaning, although strictly speaking it means to hear).

[AlanF_US]

Thanks again!

What can you tell me about the difference between these sentences? Is the use of בשבוע more colloquial than שבועיות?

למדנו את השפה העברית אולי שעה-שעתיים שבועיות.‏
למדנו את השפה העברית אולי שעה-שעתיים בשבוע.‏

[AlanF_US]

Also, what's the difference between
לעולם
and
לנצח
?

I wrote this sentence:
אני רק סמח שאנחנו לא ילדים לעולם.‏
but was told that this would be better:
אני רק שמח שלו נשארנו ילדים לנצח.‏

I understand the fixed misspelling, and the addition of the verb נשארנו, but the correcter wasn't able to give me a rule for when to use לעולם vs. לנצח other than to say that לעולם לא generally replaces אף פעם. He didn't give me a rule for when אף פעם is used.

[Baldanders]

לעולם is normally used in negative statements and is therefore more semantically akin to "never" (specifically in reference to the future, as opposed to מעולם, which refers to the past).

Use in non-negative statements is also possible, but very rare.
Which is why I don't think your sentence is strictly incorrect, just a tad confusing, considering contemporary usage of the word.

I think אני רק שמח שאנחנו לא לעולם ילדים is less ambiguous and could work.

[raaly123]

לעולם
and
לנצח

Sooo, in general those are synonyms. עולם means world and נצח means foreverness or endlessness. The world is endless, it is forever, that's why those are synonyms. But the words are still used differently in different situations. Hebrew is not English, it has no sharp rules sometimes. It's a friendly language that does everything for the sake of its speakers So in fact none of the two sentences is wrongs, it's just a matter of what sounds better. As a native speaker, I would say that לעולם is more commonly used (in modern Hebrew) in negative sentences. While לנצח in positive. Example:
אני לעולם לא אוכל עגבנייה
I will never eat a tomato. Literally: I will eat a tomato in the world. Sounds weird and confusing, huh? Well, it has an explanation. Think of it as until the world ends. Now, the second one:
אני אוהב עגבניות לנצח
I will love tomatoes forever. For and endless period of time.
Hebrew really isn't as hard as it may look, seeing that people actually want to learn it makes me happy Feel free to ask any other questions! I'm here anytime!

[AlanF_US]

Thanks, raaly123 and Golv!

My next question has to do with בהיר. Does אדום בהיר mean "bright red" (that is, intense red) or "light red" (that is, pale red) or possibly either one?

I usually hear בהיר in combination with יום, where it would likely be translated as "clear" (that is, the sun is clear of clouds), but the sky could be described as either pale blue or intense blue.

[Babelfish]

בהיר means light when referring to colors.

[Baldanders]

I don't know, I think it can mean both.
What else do you use to mean " bright"? There is בוהק, but I don't hear it often.

[AlanF_US]

Thanks for your answers about בהיר, even if it looks like there's no consensus. Let's see whether anyone else responds.

In the meantime, I discoved this word: מקטורן
Do people still use it these days? Does it refer to a special kind of jacket? Does its meaning differ from that of ג׳קט
?

[AlanF_US]

Another question: how would you translate "banter"? The word refers to an exchange of teasing remarks. Morfix gives "לצון". Is that what you would use? Is it a frequently used word?

[Babelfish]

I don't know, I think it can mean both.
What else do you use to mean " bright"? There is בוהק, but I don't hear it often.

I'd use מבריק, it's more colloquial. Come to think of it, it might depend on the exact intention of bright in English when referring to colors...

מקטורן is hardly ever heard nowadays, so even if it does differ in meaning from jacket I wouldn't notice

לצון is defined in my old Even-Shoshan dictionary as "ליצנות, דברי שחוק והיתול", which seems to match banter well enough. It's not a commonly used word, though, so except in formal or old-fashioned text, I doubt people would understand it correctly. I don't know, maybe I'd use שיחה מבודחת or something like that

[AlanF_US]

Great! Thanks once again for your answers.

And now another question: how would you translate the different senses of "cute" in Hebrew? I'm not really sure how

חמודי
חמוד
חמודה

are used, whether they can be used for adults (and animals?) as well as children, and whether they cover both looks and behavior. How would you translate these?

"What a cute little girl, with such big eyes!"
"It was cute how the cat and the dog were sleeping together."
"Their daughter who is in grad school now is cute. I would even say hot."

And how does נחמד fit in?

[Babelfish]

I don't think different senses of "cute" in Hebrew translate differently... חמוד is masculine, חמודה is feminine; חמודי is most often used for direct addressing towards children or when referring to them, it has a childish feel to it. Anyway, חמוד/ה can refer to adults, children and animals, looks as well as behaviour, and be used in all three examples you gave.

נחמד translates well as "nice". It can be used in your second example, just as "nice" could - it refers to actions, character, behaviour (unless you say someone's looks are nice) and of course doesn't mean the same as "cute".

[Baldanders]

I'd use מבריק, it's more colloquial. Come to think of it, it might depend on the exact intention of bright in English when referring to colors...

I actually meant bright in the sense of "having a strong a colour" (that is, the meaning we were discussing).
For instance, consider these sentences:
I don't wear bright colours.
The peacock has bright feathers.

I can only see בהיר or בוהק fitting here.

[AlanF_US]

Thanks.

Is there a distinction between ארס and רעל (and their derivatives)?

[Babelfish]

According to Wiktionary, רעל = poison while ארס = venom, i.e. a poison specifically carried by an animal.

[AlanF_US]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

New subject: I'm having trouble figuring out when to use the construct state (סמיכות) and when to use של. I realize that the construct state is older and more formal, and that של is used more widely these days, especially in speech and informal writing. Wikipedia ( ) says that modern Hebrew avoids the construct state except for fixed terms, expressions, titles, and names. But I think that is probably overstated. When I try to use של universally (to construct a noun phrase or to show possession), I am often corrected. Examples:

בפעולה של כתיבה
בזמן פעולת כתיבה

Also, is it true that certain kinship terms are more likely to be used with סמיכות to indicate a possessive:

אחי
אחותי

than של?

האח שלי
האחותי שלי

And is אבא שלי more common in every context than אבי? What about סבא, סבתא, and the other Aramaic kinship terms?

[Babelfish]

It's true, specific kinship terms are used almost always with possessive suffixes: אח, אחות, בעל ,אשה (רעיה), חמות - I think these are the only ones. The rest are used with של. No idea why
Wikipedia does overstate the avoiding of construct state IMO, especially in writing. Possessive suffixes are indeed rarely used on nouns, except for specific terms of kinship as we've mentioned and certain fixed expressions (but they're widely used with prepositions); construct state may be limited in used, but I think you'd still encounter expressions like מסעדת דגים in speech as well, I at least have never heard מסעדה של דגים instead and it actually doesn't "feel" like having the same meaning...