Streetwise Hebrew

The Hebrew word אסור means forbidden, must not. Its root, אסר, provides us all sorts of ways to say, “we shouldn’t do that.” So let’s try to follow the rules because otherwise we might end up as an אסיר!

Israelis google lots of questions with the word מותר. To whom are they turning for answers? Doctors, experts, rabbis and others knowledgeable people. They want to know what’s allowed and what’s forbidden

The word לתאר means “to describe” as well as “to imagine.” Guy explains how to use this verb and teaches a slang term to use when rolling your eyes at someone

A listener wrote asking, “what can we say in Hebrew when we see the horrendous footage from Ukraine?” Guy explains some of the words and phrases we can use, and what to say when we are left speechless

I need to make some בירורים, inquiries about someone, לברר a few things about him. This is Guy’s second episode dedicated to the root ב-ר-ר

In Hebrew, ?הייתי ברורה means ,“was I clear?” Guy’s school principal would lecture them after they did something wrong, and she would end with ?הייתי ברורה. This episode is dedicated to the word ברור

How do you translate the word “nice” to Hebrew? Well, it depends on the context. Guy explains when we can use נעים and when we must opt for a more appropriate Hebrew word

We pick up where we last left off with the root יצר. This time, we focus on the nifal, piel and pu’al verb formats

A listener asked, “how do you say creative in Hebrew?” There is so much to cover with the root י.צ.ר! So roll up your sleeves and prepare your notebook and pencil because we’re about to get our creative juices going

An Argentinean architect listener of the podcast wrote to say that we had to do an episode about the word לבנות (livnot), which means to build. We don’t have it in us to tear down his hopes. So today we check out the root בנה