Streetwise Hebrew

Kombina

Some Israelis say we are a ‘Medinat Kombina’, a ‘kombina’ state. So how do you use this word, and how can you even turn it into a verb?

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I’ll Be Back in the Afternoon

In Hebrew, צוהריים means noon and אחר הצוהריים means afternoon. But the actual afternoon hours, the ones we Israelis think of as afternoon, may be completely different than your own. So what do we mean when we say, “call me in the afternoon”? Guy explains

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Politeness in Hebrew

People say that Israelis can come across as rude. Are we simply too direct? Contrary to popular belief, there are ways to be courteous in modern Hebrew.

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Mishpachot

What Hebrew language teachings can we pick up from documentary TV series “Mishpachot,” by the Heymann Brothers? The series is composed of five Israeli families who utilize many different layers of the language

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Accent and Pronunciation

Today, I’ll give you a few tips: how to improve your accent and pronunciation in Hebrew. There are many things you can do on your own, at home

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סחבק – Sahbak

What’s “sahbak”? In Arabic it means your friend, but what’s the meaning in Hebrew? And what’s sahbakiya? And there’s even a verb, lehistahbek

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Ata or At?

In Hebrew, the default form is the masculine form. But what happens when a navigation application speaks to women as if they were guys?

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Oh, Come on Already!

The word כבר, meaning “already,” has so many functions in modern Hebrew that we decided to dedicate an entire episode to it.

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Ima Polanyia

Polish mother or Jewish mother? What does “Ima Polanyia” mean in contemporary Hebrew?

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