Greetings and Everyday Phrases

You can read every letter and vowel now, and you know where the stress falls. Time to talk. This lesson gives you a set of whole phrases to learn by ear and by heart. The grammar inside them (pronoun endings, verb forms, the construct state) comes in later lessons, and you will enjoy meeting these phrases again when it does.

Almost every phrase here comes from a real conversation in the Hebrew Bible: shepherds at a well, a farmer greeting his workers, a father calling his son, sailors questioning a stranger. Classical Hebrew was a spoken language before it was a written one, and its stories are full of dialogue. Where a phrase is a modern Israeli convention instead, this lesson says so plainly. You will hear both kinds, and it helps to know which is which.

שָׁלוֹם: one word, many jobs

שָׁלוֹם [sha-LOM] means much more than "peace" in the sense of "no war." Its root idea is wholeness: being complete, safe, well, in good shape. Brown, Driver and Briggs list "completeness, soundness, welfare, peace" (BDB, under שָׁלוֹם). That is why one word can greet a person, ask how they are, report that they are fine, and send them on their way.

Asking "Is he well?"

Jacob reaches a well near Haran and finds shepherds there. After asking where they are from, he asks after his uncle Laban:

וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ וַיֹּאמְרוּ שָׁלוֹם וְהִנֵּה רָחֵל בִּתּוֹ בָּאָה עִם־הַצֹּאן׃

Genesis 29:6, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And he said to them, 'Is it well with him?' And they said, 'Well. And look, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep.'"

• הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ [ha-sha-LOM LO]: word for word "(is there) wellbeing to him?" The prefix הֲ makes a yes-or-no question (more below). לוֹ is "to him."
• שָׁלוֹם: the answer. The shepherds simply repeat the word: "well." That is how classical Hebrew says yes.
• There is no verb "is." Hebrew often leaves it out in the present (a noun clause, lesson 19).

You can use the same frame for anyone by changing the little word after שָׁלוֹם: הֲשָׁלוֹם לְךָ [ha-sha-LOM le-KHA] "are you well?" to a man; הֲשָׁלוֹם לָךְ [ha-sha-LOM LAKH] to a woman; הֲשָׁלוֹם לָכֶם [ha-sha-LOM la-KHEM] to a group. These three are built on Genesis 29:6; the endings are the regular ones you will learn in lesson 9.

Asking about someone's welfare

Years later Joseph, now governor of Egypt and not yet recognized, receives his brothers:

וַיִּשְׁאַל לָהֶם לְשָׁלוֹם וַיֹּאמֶר הֲשָׁלוֹם אֲבִיכֶם הַזָּקֵן אֲשֶׁר אֲמַרְתֶּם הַעוֹדֶנּוּ חָי׃

Genesis 43:27, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And he asked them about their welfare, and said, 'Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?'"

Two phrases to keep:

• שָׁאַל לְ... לְשָׁלוֹם, "to ask someone about (their) welfare," the classical way of saying "to greet." The same phrase describes Moses and his father-in-law (וַיִּשְׁאֲלוּ אִישׁ־לְרֵעֵהוּ לְשָׁלוֹם, "they asked each other about their welfare," Exodus 18:7) and David running to his brothers on the battle line (1 Samuel 17:22).
• הַעוֹדֶנּוּ חָי [ha-o-DE-nu KHAI], "is he still alive?" Here the question prefix is הַ, with patah, because the next letter is the guttural ע (Gesenius, section 100).

The brothers answer in the next verse, and again the answer repeats the question word:

וַיֹּאמְרוּ שָׁלוֹם לְעַבְדְּךָ לְאָבִינוּ עוֹדֶנּוּ חָי

Genesis 43:28 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And they said, 'Your servant, our father, is well; he is still alive.'" Notice the polite third person: they call their father "your servant," and themselves too elsewhere. Courtesy in classical Hebrew often means talking about yourself as עַבְדְּךָ "your servant" (or, for a woman, אֲמָתְךָ "your maidservant," as Abigail says in 1 Samuel 25:25).

Peace be to you

The steward of Joseph's house calms the frightened brothers with a phrase that is still used in Hebrew today:

וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁלוֹם לָכֶם אַל־תִּירָאוּ

Genesis 43:23 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And he said, 'Peace to you (all); do not be afraid.'" שָׁלוֹם לָכֶם [sha-LOM la-KHEM] is classical. The familiar שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם [sha-LOM a-le-KHEM], literally "peace upon you," with the reply עֲלֵיכֶם שָׁלוֹם, belongs to later Jewish usage. Use it freely in conversation, but know that the classical form is שָׁלוֹם לְךָ or שָׁלוֹם לָכֶם.

David sends ten young men to greet the rich herdsman Nabal, and dictates the greeting they should use:

וַאֲמַרְתֶּם כֹּה לֶחָי וְאַתָּה שָׁלוֹם וּבֵיתְךָ שָׁלוֹם וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־לְךָ שָׁלוֹם׃

1 Samuel 25:6, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And you shall say thus: 'To life! Peace to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that is yours.'" The opening לֶחָי is hard; many translators take it as "to life" or "to the living one," and others read it differently. You do not need it. The rest is a model of a formal greeting: וְאַתָּה שָׁלוֹם "and you, peace," וּבֵיתְךָ שָׁלוֹם "and your house, peace."

Go in peace

To send someone off, classical Hebrew says "go to peace," with the preposition לְ "to, toward." Jethro says it to Moses (Exodus 4:18), Jonathan to David (1 Samuel 20:42), and Eli the priest to Hannah:

וַיַּעַן עֵלִי וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי לְשָׁלוֹם

1 Samuel 1:17 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

A small point about the bare word. In modern Israel שָׁלוֹם by itself means "hi" and "bye." In classical texts people do not open a conversation with a single שָׁלוֹם; they ask after welfare, wish peace "to" someone, or bless. The bare word appears as an answer: "(he is) well."

The reapers' greeting: Ruth 2:4

Ruth has gone to glean in the barley field of Boaz. Boaz arrives from town and greets his harvest workers. Their exchange is the most famous greeting in the Hebrew Bible, and it still works in a classroom.

וְהִנֵּה־בֹעַז בָּא מִבֵּית לֶחֶם וַיֹּאמֶר לַקּוֹצְרִים יְהוָה עִמָּכֶם וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה׃

Ruth 2:4, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And look, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, 'The LORD be with you.' And they said to him, 'The LORD bless you.'"

Word by word

• יְהוָה: the divine name. As lessons 2 and 3 explained, by long Jewish practice it is not pronounced as written; it is read aloud as Adonai [a-do-NAI], "the Lord," and the vowel points printed with it point to that reading. Many English Bibles print it "the LORD" in small capitals. In class you may hear some people say [ha-SHEM], "the Name," in conversation, a later Jewish custom.
• עִמָּכֶם [i-ma-KHEM]: "with you," plural. It is the preposition עִם "with" plus the ending כֶם "you (plural)." The dagesh in מ shows the doubled m that עִם shows whenever an ending is added.
• No verb. "The LORD (be) with you" is a noun clause; it can be a wish or a statement. In a greeting it is a wish.
• יְבָרֶכְךָ [ye-va-REKH-kha]: "may he bless you," a verb with the ending ךָ "you (one man)." The reapers answer one man, so the ending is singular. The same word opens the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24.
• לַקּוֹצְרִים: "to the reapers," לְ + the article + קוֹצְרִים "reapers." Lesson 7 explains how לְ and הַ merge into לַ.

To greet one person in the same style, change the ending of "with you": יְהוָה עִמְּךָ [a-do-NAI i-me-KHA] to a man (built here; the pattern is spoken by Abimelech to Abraham, אֱלֹהִים עִמְּךָ "God is with you," Genesis 21:22, and this exact wording greets Gideon in Judges 6:12, a book outside this course's text set) and יְהוָה עִמָּךְ [a-do-NAI i-MAKH] to a woman (built). Careful: עִמָּךְ is also the pause form for a man, as in אָנֹכִי עִמָּךְ "I am with you," said to Jacob (Genesis 28:15). The reply to a woman is יְבָרְכֵךְ יְהוָה [ye-va-re-KHEKH a-do-NAI] (built; it is the regular feminine of the form in Ruth 2:4, Gesenius, section 58, but this exact wording is not in the books this course uses).

Answering a call: הִנֵּנִי

When someone calls your name, the classical answer is הִנֵּנִי [hi-NE-ni], "here I am." It is the word הִנֵּה "look, here is, behold" with the ending "me."

וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת־אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי׃

Genesis 22:1, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham, and he said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'"

Moses at the burning bush answers the same way when God calls "Moses, Moses" (מֹשֶׁה מֹשֶׁה, Exodus 3:4). A few verses later in Genesis 22, Isaac calls to his father and Abraham answers הִנֶּנִּי בְנִי "here I am, my son" (Genesis 22:7). The spelling הִנֶּנִּי, with segol and a doubled n, is a second form of the same word; you will see both. A group answers הִנֶּנּוּ [hi-NE-nu], "here we are" (Numbers 14:40).

הִנֵּנִי is not just "present." It means "I am here and ready, what do you need?" That makes it a good classroom roll call answer: the teacher reads your name, you answer הִנֵּנִי. The word is the same for a man or a woman.

Names and who you are

"What is your name?"

Jacob wrestles through the night with a mysterious man at the Jabbok river. At dawn the man asks:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו מַה־שְּׁמֶךָ וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב׃

Genesis 32:28, Westminster Leningrad Codex (32:27 in most English Bibles)

"And he said to him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Jacob.'"

Three things to notice:

1. Verse numbers. Hebrew Bibles count Genesis 32 one verse ahead of most English Bibles, because the Hebrew counts the first line of the chapter (English 31:55) as 32:1. This course always gives the Hebrew number, the one the WLC uses.
2. The dagesh. מָה "what" is joined to the next word by a maqaf, its vowel becomes patah, and the first consonant of the next word is doubled: מַה־שְּׁמֶךָ [ma-she-ME-kha]. Because the shin is doubled, its shewa is vocal (lesson 2). You will see the same doubling in מַה־תְּבַקֵּשׁ and מַה־לָּךְ below (Gesenius, section 37).
3. The pause form. שְׁמֶךָ "your name" stands at a strong break in the verse, and words at such breaks often take a fuller vowel. In the very next verse, in mid-phrase, the same word is שִׁמְךָ [shim-KHA]: לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ, "no longer shall your name be called Jacob" (Genesis 32:29). Both are correct; the position decides (Gesenius, section 29).

Jacob answers with his name alone: יַעֲקֹב. That is the most natural answer. You can also answer with a pronoun and your name, the way Joseph reveals himself to his brothers: אֲנִי יוֹסֵף [a-NI yo-SEF], "I am Joseph" (Genesis 45:3).

Then Jacob asks the man's name in return, politely:

וַיִּשְׁאַל יַעֲקֹב וַיֹּאמֶר הַגִּידָה־נָּא שְׁמֶךָ

Genesis 32:30 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And Jacob asked and said, 'Tell me, please, your name.'" הַגִּידָה־נָּא [ha-GI-da-NA] is "tell, please." The man does not answer.

Hebrew has two words for "I": אֲנִי [a-NI] and אָנֹכִי [a-no-KHI]. Both are classical and mean the same; modern Hebrew uses אֲנִי. Both turn up in a single scene: Jacob says אָנֹכִי עֵשָׂו (Genesis 27:19) and Esau says אֲנִי בִּנְךָ (Genesis 27:32).

"Who are you?"

Blind Isaac, unsure which son stands before him, asks מִי אַתָּה בְּנִי [MI a-TA be-NI] "who are you, my son?" (Genesis 27:18). To a woman: מִי־אַתְּ בִּתִּי [MI AT bi-TI], "who are you, my daughter?", Naomi's question to Ruth (Ruth 3:16).

וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יִצְחָק אָבִיו מִי־אָתָּה וַיֹּאמֶר אֲנִי בִּנְךָ בְכֹרְךָ עֵשָׂו׃

Genesis 27:32, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And Isaac his father said to him, 'Who are you?' And he said, 'I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.'" Notice אָתָּה here with qamets under the alef: another pause form of אַתָּה.

The pronouns for "you" are worth learning now, because every question uses them:

"Where are you from?"

Jacob's first question at the well in Genesis 29:4 is אַחַי מֵאַיִן אַתֶּם [a-KHAI me-A-yin a-TEM], "my brothers, where are you from?" Calling strangers "my brothers" is friendly, not a claim of family. The shepherds answer מֵחָרָן אֲנָחְנוּ [me-kha-RAN a-NAKH-nu], "we are from Haran." מֵ is "from," a short form of מִן (lesson 7). You will read the whole scene at the end of this lesson.

The sailors in the book of Jonah fire a whole list of questions at the stranger asleep in their ship:

מַה־מְּלַאכְתְּךָ וּמֵאַיִן תָּבוֹא מָה אַרְצֶךָ וְאֵי־מִזֶּה עַם אָתָּה׃

Jonah 1:8 (second part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"What is your work? And where do you come from? What is your country? And from what people are you?" Jonah answers עִבְרִי אָנֹכִי [iv-RI a-no-KHI], "I am a Hebrew" (Jonah 1:9). A woman would say עִבְרִיָּה אָנֹכִי [iv-ri-YA a-no-KHI] (built; the feminine appears with the article, הָעִבְרִיָּה "the Hebrew woman," in Deuteronomy 15:12).

Yes and no

Classical Hebrew has no all-purpose word for "yes." To agree, a speaker repeats the key word of the question, the way the shepherds answer שָׁלוֹם to הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ. In Genesis 29:5 Jacob asks הַיְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־לָבָן, "do you know Laban?", and they answer יָדָעְנוּ [ya-DA-nu], "we know (him)."

The word כֵּן [KEN] means "so, thus, right, rightly." When Moses tells Pharaoh כֵּן דִּבַּרְתָּ, he means "you have spoken rightly" (Exodus 10:29). When God rules on the claim of Zelophehad's daughters, the verdict begins כֵּן בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד דֹּבְרֹת, "the daughters of Zelophehad speak right" (Numbers 27:7). From this sense of "right, so it is," כֵּן became the everyday "yes" of later and modern Hebrew. Use it in class; just know that Jacob would have said יָדָעְנוּ, not כֵּן.

"No" is easier. לֹא [LO] is "not," and it can stand alone as an answer. Joseph's brothers, accused of spying, answer:

וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו לֹא אֲדֹנִי וַעֲבָדֶיךָ בָּאוּ לִשְׁבָּר־אֹכֶל׃

Genesis 42:10, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And they said to him, 'No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food.'" When Sarah denies laughing, she says לֹא צָחַקְתִּי "I did not laugh," and the answer comes back לֹא כִּי צָחָקְתְּ, "No, but you did laugh" (Genesis 18:15). לֹא כִּי is "no, rather."

Cain's famous answer is a classic "I don't know": asked אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ "where is Abel your brother?", he answers לֹא יָדַעְתִּי "I do not know," and adds the question הֲשֹׁמֵר אָחִי אָנֹכִי "am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). One verse gives you a question word, a negative and the question prefix all at once.

Please: נָא and polite speech

נָא [NA] is a little particle that follows a command or a wish and softens it: "please, I pray, do." BDB calls it a particle of entreaty or exhortation. It usually stands right after the verb, often joined by maqaf:

• הַגְמִיאִינִי נָא מְעַט־מַיִם מִכַּדֵּךְ, "please let me drink a little water from your jar" (Genesis 24:17, Abraham's servant to Rebekah).
• אִמְרִי־נָא אֲחֹתִי אָתְּ, "please say you are my sister" (Genesis 12:13, Abram to Sarai).
• שִׁמְעוּ־נָא הַחֲלוֹם הַזֶּה, "please listen to this dream" (Genesis 37:6, Joseph to his brothers).
• קְרָא נָא־זֶה, "please read this" (Isaiah 29:12). Here נָא is joined to the following word instead.

After a maqaf, נָא sometimes takes a dagesh, as in הַגִּידָה־נָּא (Genesis 32:30). That is the same doubling you saw after מַה־: a consonant at the start of a word tightly joined to a preceding word ending in a vowel is sometimes doubled. It does not change the meaning.

Two more polite openers:

• בִּי אֲדֹנִי [BI a-do-NI], "pardon me, my lord; please, my lord." Joseph's brothers start with it (Genesis 43:20), and Judah opens his great speech with it: בִּי אֲדֹנִי יְדַבֶּר־נָא עַבְדְּךָ דָבָר, "please, my lord, let your servant speak a word" (Genesis 44:18).
• אַל־נָא [al-NA], "please don't." Abraham bargaining for Sodom: אַל־נָא יִחַר לַאדֹנָי, "please let the Lord not be angry" (Genesis 18:32).

The modern word for "please," בְּבַקָּשָׁה [be-va-ka-SHA], is literally "with a request." The noun בַּקָּשָׁה "request" belongs to the latest books of the Hebrew Bible (Esther, Ezra); the phrase as "please" is modern. Israelis also say it for "you're welcome" and "here you are."

Asking questions

Yes-or-no questions with הֲ

Put הֲ (hateph patah) on the first word of a statement and it becomes a question (Gesenius, section 100). The spelling changes before certain letters:

Watch out: the question prefix הַ looks like the article הַ "the" (lesson 7), but the article is followed by a doubled consonant (הַצֹּאן "the sheep"), and the question prefix usually is not. Context settles the rest.

Speech can also make a question with no prefix at all, by tone of voice alone. Classical texts do this sometimes, and modern Hebrew does it nearly always: modern speakers rarely use הֲ. In this course, use it; it is one of the pleasures of classical style.

Question words

מִי who? It never changes for gender or number: מִי אַתָּה "who are you?" (to a man), מִי־אַתְּ (to a woman). With prefixes: לְמִי "whose? to whom?", as in Boaz's question about Ruth, לְמִי הַנַּעֲרָה הַזֹּאת, "whose is this young woman?" (Ruth 2:5); בַּת־מִי אַתְּ "whose daughter are you?" (Genesis 24:23).

מָה what? It changes its vowel and often doubles the next letter (Gesenius, section 37): מַה־תְּבַקֵּשׁ [ma-te-va-KESH], "what are you looking for?", the question a stranger asks the young Joseph wandering in a field (Genesis 37:15). מַה־לָּךְ הָגָר, "what is (the matter) with you, Hagar?" (Genesis 21:17). מַה־זֹּאת עָשִׂית, "what is this you have done?" (Genesis 3:13). Before some words it stays מָה, as in מָה אַרְצֶךָ (Jonah 1:8).

Where? Hebrew has several words. אַיֵּה [a-YE] "where (is)?": Isaac carrying the wood says וְאַיֵּה הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" (Genesis 22:7). אֵי [E] is a shorter form: אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ (Genesis 4:9). אֵיפֹה [e-FO] "where?": הַגִּידָה־נָּא לִי אֵיפֹה הֵם רֹעִים, "tell me, please, where they are pasturing" (Genesis 37:16). Modern Hebrew uses אֵיפֹה for everything.

From where, to where. מֵאַיִן "from where?" (Genesis 29:4). אָנָה "to where?" The angel asks the runaway Hagar both: אֵי־מִזֶּה בָאת וְאָנָה תֵלֵכִי, "where have you come from, and where are you going?" (Genesis 16:8).

How many, why. כַּמָּה "how many, how much": Pharaoh asks old Jacob כַּמָּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֶּיךָ, "how many are the days of the years of your life?" (Genesis 47:8), a polite "how old are you?" לָמָּה "why?" (literally "for what?"): לָמָּה זֶּה תִּשְׁאַל לִשְׁמִי, "why do you ask my name?" (Genesis 32:30).

Blessing and thanks

Here classical and modern Hebrew really differ. Modern Israelis say תּוֹדָה [to-DA] "thanks" and תּוֹדָה רַבָּה [to-DA ra-BA] "thanks a lot." In the Hebrew Bible, תּוֹדָה is thanksgiving and praise, and the thank offering brought to the sanctuary: מִזְמוֹר לְתוֹדָה, "a psalm for thanksgiving" (Psalm 100:1); זֶבַח תּוֹדָה, "a sacrifice of thanksgiving" (Psalm 116:17). The verb from the same root is the call to praise: הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי־טוֹב [ho-DU la-do-NAI ki-TOV], "give thanks to the LORD, for he is good" (Psalm 136:1).

So how does a person thank another person in Genesis, Ruth or Samuel? In three ways.

1. Bless them

When Ruth has shown loyalty, Boaz does not say "thank you." He says:

וַיֹּאמֶר בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ לַיהוָה בִּתִּי

Ruth 3:10 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And he said, 'May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter.'" To a man the form is בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה לַיהוָה [ba-RUKH a-TA la-do-NAI], which is exactly how Saul greets Samuel (1 Samuel 15:13). Naomi, hearing who helped Ruth, says of Boaz בָּרוּךְ הוּא לַיהוָה, "may he be blessed by the LORD" (Ruth 2:20), and before she even knows his name, יְהִי מַכִּירֵךְ בָּרוּךְ, "blessed be the one who took notice of you" (Ruth 2:19).

A note on לַיהוָה: the preposition לְ before the divine name is pointed לַ, the vowel it takes before אֲדֹנָי, because the reader says la-Adonai (lesson 7 shows the rule for hateph vowels).

2. Say you have found favor

Ruth's answer to Boaz's kindness is a set phrase of gratitude:

וַתֹּאמֶר אֶמְצָא־חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ אֲדֹנִי כִּי נִחַמְתָּנִי

Ruth 2:13 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And she said, 'May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me.'" אֶמְצָא־חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ [em-tsa-KHEN be-e-NE-kha], "may I find favor in your eyes," works as a gracious "thank you, you are very kind."

3. Bless God for the person

When Abraham's servant finds Rebekah, he blesses God on the spot: בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם, "blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham" (Genesis 24:27).

The priestly blessing

The best-known blessing in the Hebrew Bible is the one Aaron and his sons were to say over Israel. It is three lines, each longer than the one before, and is still said in synagogues and at family occasions. Read it aloud slowly.

יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ׃

Numbers 6:24, Westminster Leningrad Codex

יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ׃

Numbers 6:25, Westminster Leningrad Codex

יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם׃

Numbers 6:26, Westminster Leningrad Codex

[ye-va-REKH-kha a-do-NAI ve-yish-me-RE-kha. ya-ER a-do-NAI pa-NAV e-LE-kha vi-khu-NE-ka. yi-SA a-do-NAI pa-NAV e-LE-kha ve-ya-SEM le-KHA sha-LOM.]

"May the LORD bless you and keep you. May the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD lift up his face toward you and give you peace." The first word is the reapers' reply from Ruth 2:4, and the last word is שָׁלוֹם. The final kaf of וִיחֻנֶּךָּ carries a dagesh; it is still read [ka].

Times of day: words classical, greetings modern

Israelis greet with בֹּקֶר טוֹב [BO-ker TOV] "good morning," עֶרֶב טוֹב [E-rev TOV] "good evening" and לַיְלָה טוֹב [LAI-la TOV] "good night." Every word is classical: you will read עֶרֶב, בֹקֶר and טוֹב in Genesis 1. But no one in the Hebrew Bible greets anyone this way. These greetings are modern. Notice the word order: the adjective follows the noun, as it always does in Hebrew (lesson 8).

Other modern phrases you will hear: לְהִתְרָאוֹת [le-hit-ra-OT] "see you," סְלִיחָה [se-li-KHA] "excuse me, sorry" (the noun appears in Psalm 130:4 as "forgiveness"), בְּסֵדֶר [be-SE-der] "OK," and מַה נִּשְׁמָע [ma nish-MA] "what's new?", literally "what is heard?"

Classroom phrases

A Hebrew classroom runs on short commands. Most of the ones below are real imperatives from the texts. Commands have different forms for a man, a woman and a group; lesson 13 teaches them properly. For now, learn them as words.

Say them: קְרָא [ke-RA], קִרְאִי [kir-I], קִרְאוּ [kir-U]; כְּתֹב [ke-TOV], כִּתְבִי [kit-VI], כִּתְבוּ [kit-VU]; שְׁמַע [she-MA], שִׁמְעִי [shim-I], שִׁמְעוּ [shim-U]; אֱמֹר [e-MOR], אִמְרִי [im-RI], אִמְרוּ [im-RU].

Isaiah 29 has a scene that sounds like a reading class gone wrong. A sealed book is handed to someone who can read, with the words "please read this," and he says he cannot, because it is sealed. Then it is handed to someone who cannot read:

וְנִתַּן הַסֵּפֶר עַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדַע סֵפֶר לֵאמֹר קְרָא נָא־זֶה וְאָמַר לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סֵפֶר׃

Isaiah 29:12, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And the book is given to one who does not know writing, saying, 'Please read this,' and he says, 'I do not know writing.'" יָדַע סֵפֶר, "to know a document," is the classical way of saying "to be able to read."

Two more classical phrases make good classroom Hebrew:

• Hezekiah's officials ask the Assyrian commander to speak Aramaic, not Hebrew, so the people on the wall will not understand: דַּבֶּר־נָא אֶל־עֲבָדֶיךָ אֲרָמִית כִּי שֹׁמְעִים אֲנָחְנוּ, "please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand (it)" (Isaiah 36:11). שֹׁמְעִים אֲנָחְנוּ "we hear" means "we understand." The same verse calls the Hebrew language יְהוּדִית, "Judean." The name עִבְרִית for the language is later.
• אַךְ־הַפַּעַם [akh-ha-PA-am], "just this once more" (Genesis 18:32), for asking to try again. Modern Hebrew says עוֹד פַּעַם [od PA-am] "again."

The last line is a teacher's favorite. At the end of the sixth day God looks at everything he has made, וְהִנֵּה־טוֹב מְאֹד, "and look, (it was) very good" (Genesis 1:31). Say טוֹב מְאֹד when a student reads well.

Putting it together

Updated October 28, 2026.