Tip #27

How to say it in Hebrew
Tip #27

I am often asked ...

...how to say in Hebrew "chance" and the answer is, as usual - it depends. :D

"By chance!"

"I met her by chance yesterday!"
"I planned nothing, it just happened by chance!"

The word for chance is - מִקְרֶה

But how do we say "by"?
It often happens that Hebrew prefers a simpler preposition compared to English!
Lucky us - לְמַזָּלֵנוּ!
Here we just say "IN chance" - בְּמִקְרֶה!

So, the first sentence would be -
פָּגַשְׁתִּי אוֹתָהּ אֶתְמוֹל בַּמִּקְרֶה
And the second
לֹא תִּכְנַנְתִּי כְּלוּם, זֶה פָּשׁוּט קָרָה* בַּמִּקְרֶה!

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*Mark the root of the word "chance" - מִקְרֶה
it's same as in the word - לִקְרוֹת to happen.
(Like in - what's up - literally, "what's happening?" - מָה קוֹרֶה?)

"It's such a chance! You shouldn't miss it!"

Here, I have something special for you! We have special word for "a lucky chance," - in contrast to something random, something that makes you shrug your shoulders, - it is something that makes you happy, makes you feel lucky, - an opportunity, in other words!

And this word is - הִזְדַּמְּנוּת

So, the sentence above - "it's such a chance! don't miss it!" would be
זֹאת כָּזֹאת הִזְדַּמְּנוּת! אַל תְּפַסְפֵס אוֹתָהּ!

If you happen to buy something cheap, or just something convenient and on your way, you tell your friends - if I translate loosely - "Look, what I happened to buy!" - !תִּרְאוּ מָה קָנִיתִי בַּהִזְדַּמְּנוּת

We like this word so much, that we even have a verb made of it! A wife could say "if you happen to pass a shop on your way, please buy some buns and shoko for the little one!"
אִם יִזְדַּמֵּן לְךָ לַעֲבֹר בְּמַכֹּלֶת תִּקְנֶה בְּבַקָּשָׁה לְחַמָּנִיּוֹת וְשׁוֹקוֹ לַקָּטָן! And then - well, you better not come home empty-handed. :)

This is it for today! If you happen to see the word "lucky chance" somewhere - אִם יִזְדַּמֵּן לָכֶם לִרְאוֹת אֶת הַמִּלָּה "הִזְדַּמְּנוּת" אֵיפשֶׁהוּ - now you know exactly what it means! ;)

Stay in touch and happy Hebrew-learning!

Alisa