Lesson 13 - Purim Party

Hebrew Lesson Number 13: 

Purim Party

Finally it is Purim! Learn Hebrew Pod invites you to join Eran and Liat, as they plan which party to go to, what costumes to wear, and how very exciting…which of them is going to win the Great Purim Contest!!.

ani Purim, ani Purim, sameyach umvadeyach . . . My name is Purim and I come great fun and frolic bringing. Just once a year I visit you to cheer you with my singing!  

Purim is here!  What an awesome holiday . . . achla chag!!  So much laughter, music, and dancing.  And everyone has permission to dress up in costumes and be silly . . . children and grown-ups alike!

!פורים שמח

In honor of Purim, we’ll have a little merriment here at Learn Hebrew Pod too!  Eran and Liat will let us in on the secret of whom they will be masquerading as this year.  And they’ll help us learn a whole list of other costumes (some of which they have worn in past years).  By the time we’re done, you’ll be able to speak in Hebrew all about parties and good times with friends.

How will you celebrate Purim this year?  Will you hear the reading of Megilat Esther and make noise with your gragger--ra-ashan?  Will you go to a party, wear a tachposet, and eat plenty of hamantaschen?  (Did you know that in Israel, we call theseozney haman--Haman’s ears?)

Learn Hebrew Pod - Lesson No. 13

Some Hebrew Grammar from This Lesson

Cheese Cream Rule/

The ‘im’ and ‘ot’ Suffixes with Different Hebrew Building Blocks.

Jonathan: Okay. Due to the holiday, let’s have a very brief Hebrew Grammar discussion this lesson, which we will continue in Lesson 13B. Eran, we see our famous cheese cream rule immediately at the beginning of your Hebrew dialogue…

Eran: nachon Yonatan, but now, every time we say chag same-ach we know the correct order of the words in Hebrew. 

chag same-ach is literally, holiday happy. chag is holiday, happy is sameach. The translation is of course, happy holiday - sameach chag….

any way, I think that from now on, we can refer to the cheese cream rule… also as the chag same-ach rule, holiday happy.  

In Hebrew, place the noun before the adjective which describes it!

Liat:  And if I may, I would like to direct our Hebrew students’ attention to the fact that the verb masquerading in Hebrew, when talking about us princesses and queens, uses the same suffix that we’re already familiar with from the Hebrew building block Paal, the ‘ot’ suffix. 

We are masquerading – anachnu mitchapsot

You are masquerading – aten mitchapsot

They are masquerading – hen mitchapsot

Eran: The same applies when talking about us Gentlemen…the suffix ‘im’, which we’re familiar with from many Hebrew words,  stays with us ...even though in this case, this Hebrew verb is not in the Pa-al building block.

We are masquerading – anachnu mitchapsim

You are masquerading – atem mitchapsim

They are masquerading – hem mitchapsim

Jonathan: That’s all true! As we can see, even though, for the purpose of the holiday, we have learned a word which is not in the Pa-al building block, these Hebrew verbs preserves at least some of the rules with which we are already familiar, from our Pa-al discussion!

The suffixes for the plural present tense conjugations are still the same whenever it is a ‘we’ ‘you’ or ‘they’ conjugation. 

For males, it is the ‘im’ suffix -   anachnu mitchapsim, atem mitchapsim, hem mitchapsim.

For females i it is the ‘ot’ suffix - anachnu mitchapsot, aten mitchapsot, hen mitchapsot.

Last thing regarding this word, Liat, can you identify the root of these Hebrew verbs?

Liat: Jonathan, even though I’m not yet familiar with this new Hebrew building block, I can see that the stem of these verbs also exists in other places in our dialogue, such as in the word ‘costume’ – tachposet. Can you see that Eran?

השנה התחפשתי לליצן

Eran: Liat, you are so smart! Of course I can see that! mitchapes, mitchapeset, mitchapsim…mitchapsot…. And also in thacposet which is the Hebrew noun for costume ….  The T the Ch the P and the S reappear in all of these Hebrew verbs,   so I would say that the root…..includes all of these?

Jonathan: That’s a very good answer Eran! Even though, as we very well know, most Hebrew roots consist not of 4  letters but of 3!

The letter T which represents the Hebrew letter taf, is a part of the new building block we’re ‘meeting’ here for the first time. It is called the hitpa-el building block. 

It uses the T as part of its infixes ...But we’ll get to that in our future Hebrew lessons, so…..taking the T out of the potential root  ‘candidates’ …that leaves us with…

Eran: Ch, P and S

Liat: Which represent the Hebrew letters chet, pey and sin

השנה התחפשתי למרדכי היהודי

Jonathan: Okay! ….Liat and Eran, do you always mitchapsim - masquerade as ha-malka Esther and Mordecai? 

Eran:  Of course not, Jonathan. If I am always Mordecai, my friends will recognize me…and that’s no fun…lo kef!

Liat: And I just enjoy this great opportunity that we have every year, to be…even though for a very limited time ...whoever we like to be! I LOVE that!

השנה התחפשתי לאסתר המלכה