Lesson 19 - A Day at the Beach

Hebrew Lesson Number 19:

A Day at the Beach

While Jonathan & Eran are waiting eagerly for the weekend, Liat decided to take a day off from work and spend it on the beach. Whom did she meet? What did she do? Was it fun? Join us to this Hebrew lesson and find out!

Isn’t it great to play hooky from work every now and then!  In Israel, all along the Mediterranean coast, there’s no better place to do that than at the beach--the warm sand, the cool waves, playing matkot, eating artikim . . . even surfing!

During Lesson 19, Liat tells us such a colorful story about her day at the beach yesterday, it’s almost as if we were there with her.  rak shniya--just a second!  This story happened yesterday.  Doesn’t that mean we need a different verb tense?  bediyuk--exactly!  Until now, we have been studying Hebrew verbs in the present tense.  Learn Hebrew Pod shiur mispar tsha-esre gives us our first look at the past tense.  

And, of course, we’ll learn the Hebrew words for such wonderful things as taking a day off from work, swimming in the sea, resting on the sand . . . The perfect Hebrew lesson to listen to while relaxing on the beach!

חוף הים בתל אביב

Team Conversation from the Lesson:

Eran, Liat and Jonathan

Our Hebrew Teachers

Jonathan:  shalom uvruchim ha-ba-im le-shi-ur mispar tsha esre - Hello and welcome to Lesson number nineteen. shalom Eran, ma shlomcha?

Eran:  Hey Jonathan, wow! It’s been a very busy week for me – shavu-a me-od amus bishvili. I’m so happy it’s almost the weekend. I can’t wait for shabbat - for Saturday, so I can rest a little bit - kedey she-uchal lanu-ach kzzat.

Jonathan:  Eran, I agree with you 100%. It’s been a very hectic week for me as well and I'm also looking forward to resting on shabbat. Liat, how are you today? Unlike Eran and I, you look quite fresh, energetic…and if I may say so ... also very tanned - me-od shezufa!

משתזפות בחוף הים

Liat:  shalom Eran, shalom Yonatan, You’re absolutely right!   I am quite tanned today – ani dey shezufa ha-yom. That’s because I spent all day yesterday…

Jonathan:  at the beach!  Right?

Liat:  nachon Yonatan. I was feeling overwhelmed by the performances and recordings I had this week. I thought it might be a good idea for me not to wait for the weekend. To take a day off, and do nothing except relax and enjoy the wonderful weather. Something in nature but not out of the city…

Eran:  And what is better than spending some time at the beach!

כסא נוח ושמשייה בחוף הים

Liat:  Exactly!  As we know, Israel, located along the Mediterranean Sea, has many wonderful beaches. If you are, for example, in Haifa or Asdod, Bat-Yam or Tel-Aviv… all you need to do is take the bus - et ha-otobus, the bicycle - et ha-ofana-im, or just walk – o pashut lalechet, to the sea shore – le-chof ha-yam. eyze kef! - What fun!

Jonathan:  Liat, would you mind sharing your wonderful experience with me, Eran, and our students, by telling us a little bit more (in Hebrew of course) about your day?

Liat: be-simcha Yonatan! - With pleasure!

Jonathan:  toda!  ze i-hi-ye ne-hedar! - That will be wonderful. Before going on with your Hebrew monologue Liat, I would just like to remind our students that, aside from the use of the Podcasts, we offer our members the B and C Hebrew audio/visual lessons, which are a continuation and expansion of the Hebrew Lesson marked ‘A’.   In the Hebrew Audio Lessons section, you will also find ‘pdf’ transcriptions of the full conversations and exercises for the A, B and C lessons.

Eran:  As a member at Learn Hebrew Pod, you will also enjoy the benefits of additional interactive & beneficial exercises available for you on our website. If you are interested in developing and improving your Hebrew reading skills, we also provide you with a special section dedicated to just that.

The Learn Hebrew Pod Reading Course

Liat: Please see for yourself & view our website at www.LearnHebrewPod.com.  

And don’t forget to write us with feedback, opinions & stories of your personal experience.

Jonathan:  We welcome your suggestions, as we would like to enhance our future Hebrew lessons to meet your requests.

And now Liat, we would love to hear more about your visit to the beach yesterday.

Liat: bevaday Yonatan, definitely Jonathan!

אתמול לקחתי יום חופש מהעבודה

Yesterday I took a day off from work

*Subscribe to Learn Hebrew Pod - Speaking or Reading Hebrew courses and listen to the ‘A Day at the Beach’ monologue here

Some Grammar from This Lesson:

New Vocabulary and Past Tense

בגד ים

Liat:  And the word ‘chof ha-yam’ is literally translated as ‘the sea shore’. In English we have another more commonly used word, which Eran used - the beach. 

We can see that when I said yaradeti le-chof ha-yam – I went to the beach.

Eran: And a sentence later she said ba-chof – ba-chof pagahsti et Yael ve-Ronit

So in Hebrew we can say ha-chof, or chof ha-yam, in both cases we mean the beach.

ערסל תלוי בין שני עצים על חוף הים

זמן עבר

Jonathan:  nachon! The word zman is literally - time. Hebrew doesn’t have an exact term for the English word – Tense. zman avar is Time of the Past, meaning Past Tense.

As we know, a different conjugation of verbs and nouns according to their gender is a very common practice in Hebrew. Eran, with your permission, I will take the part of the translator for the next demonstration, and what I would like you to do is repeat each of Liat’s sentences, and apply them to yourself, that is, say them using the first person, masculine pronoun. 

We will again start with the English sentence; Liat will then give the feminine version and Eran will follow with the masculine one…