Tip #20

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How to say it in Hebrew
Tip #20

I am often asked ...

I am often asked - how do I say "what" in Hebrew? ;)

"What do you want?"

That seems to be the most straightforward thing in the world!
Isn't it מָה - like in
"what is this" – מָה זֶה?" It definitely is!

Here are some examples:
What do you want to tell me? מָה אַתָּה רוֹצֶה לְהַגִּיד לִי?
What do I need to do? מָה אֲנִי צָרִיךְ לַעֲשׂוֹת?

It's a question word like any other, like מָתַי, לְאָן… And just like these question words it has an interesting variation!
"When" can become "whenever,""where" can become "wherever" and "what can become "whatever!"

How do we say it in Hebrew then?
We have a special modification, too!
For example, to turn "when" into "whenever" we do not add "- ever," we add… "ש-! "
"מָתַי ש-"

We'll visit you whenever you want! נְבַקֵּר מָתַי שֶׁאַתָּה רוֹצֶה!
Same for the other question words:
You can put it wherever* you want – אַתָּה יָכֹל לָשִׂים אֶת זֶה אֵיפֹה שֶׁאַתָּה רוֹצֶה
We'll go wherever* you want – נֵלֵךְ לְאָן שֶׁתִּרְצֶה
And, of course -
I'll give you whatever you will ask for! אֶתֵּן לְךָ כָּל מָה שֶׁתְּבַקְּשִׁי!

* because there are two different words for "where?" and "where to?" - אֵיפֹה and לְאָן.

"What you want is ..."

Where is the problem, then? Why is this worth a newsletter? Because it goes a little bit deeper than that… To understand it, we need to be aware what happens to the word when we add "-ever" to it. Then, a question word essentially stops being a question and turns into a reference point!
I could rephrase "whenever" as "the time when," "wherever" as "the place where," and "whatever" as "the thing that." ;)

And the biggest problem is that it's easy to notice it in the "-ever" words, but there are other cases, when we even do not notice that the question word stopped being a question word!
In English often we use the same question word, unchanged!
In Hebrew, however, question words are strictly reserved for asking questions, and all the rest gets the "ש-" addition.

Consider these two sentences:
מָה אַתָּה רוֹצֶה? "What do you want?" and
אֶתֵּן לְךָ אֶת מָה שֶׁאַתָּה רוֹצֶה "I will give you what you want!"

See? In English it's one and same "what," but in Hebrew they are different!

Let's have some more examples:
(a)
מָתַי נִפְגָּשִׁים? "When do we meet?"
מָתַי שֶׁתִּהְיֶה מוּכָן! "When(ever) you are ready!"
(b)
אֲנִי לֹא יוֹדֵעַ לְאָן לָלֶכֶת "I don't know where to go!"
תֵּלֵךְ לְאָן שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי לְךָ! "Go where I told you to!"
(c)
אֲנִי לֹא מֵבִין מָה צָרִיךְ לַעֲשׂוֹת… I don't understand what to do…
מָה שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לַעֲשׂוֹת עַכְשָׁו זֶה כָּכָה: What you need to do now is this:…

You see? It's not very consistent in English, but absolutely consistent in Hebrew!
When(ever) you ask a question – מָתַי שֶׁאַתֶּם שׁוֹאֲלִים שְׁאֵלָה – (even in quoted speech!) you use the question word alone.
When you use the question word as a reference to something – time, place, anything else – then you add a "ש-"! ;)

Hope it makes more sense now!
Happy to answer any question and to be here for you when(ever) you need me!
שְׂמֵחָה לַעֲנוֹת עַל כְָּל שְׁאֵלָה וְלִהְיוֹת פֶּה מָתַי שֶׁאַתֶּם צְרִיכִים אוֹתִי!)

Happy Hebrew- learning,
Alisa

Tip #20

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