How to say it in Hebrew
Tip #42

I am often asked ...

How to say "inside" in Hebrew?
Who is inside?
Remember the newsletter about אַחֲרֵי and אַחַר כָּךְ? Remember what made אַחַר כָּךְ so special? Right, no noun could be used after it! That's an expression that "has the last word"! ;) Like here, for example:
אֶעֱשֶׂה אֶת זֶה אַחַר כָּךְ
(I'll do it later/afterwards)


Why am I talking about it now? Because בִּפְנִים behaves exactly like that! It is used to "seal" the sentence! It answers the question "where?" and answers it completely. Nothing follows it, it's self- sufficient. :)

Examples:
לָמָּה אַתָּה לֹא בִּפְנִים? לְמִי אַתָּה מְחַכֶּה?(Why aren't you inside? Who are you waiting for?)
לָמָּה הוּא לֹא פֶּה, אֵיפֹה הוּא? הוּא בִּפְנִים… הוּא מִתְבַּיֵּשׁ…
(- Why is he not here, where is he? - He's inside.. he is being shy…)

The opposite of בִּפְנִים is
בַּחוּץ.

- and it works exactly in the same fashion!

Examples:
כַּמָּה זְמַן אֶפְשָׁר לְבַלּוֹת בַּחוּץ - תַּחֲזֹר הַבַּיְתָה כְּבָר!(How long can you stay outside - come home already!)
שָׁכַחְתִּי אֶת הַכְּבִיסָה בַּחוּץ וְעַכְשָׁו הִיא מְלֻכְלֶכֶת שׁוּב(I forgot the laundry outside and now it's dirty again.)

*Note the following!
If you want to answer the question "where to?" then you use the form
פְּנִימָה (or the opposite
הַחוּצָה)
!אַל תַּעַמְדוּ לְיַד הַדֶּלֶת, כָּנְסוּ פְּנִימָה, בְּבַקָּשָׁה(Don't stand near the door, come inside, please!)
!וְעַכְשָׁו – כֻּלָּם הַחוֹצֶה, קְדִימָה, לְהִזְדָּרֵז

(And now - all out, come on, hurry up!)

And here is an example that combines both states!
בְּבַקָּשָׁה, אֵל תַּכְנִיס אֶת הָאוֹפַנַּיִם פְּנִימָה! תַּשְׁאִיר אוֹתָם בַּחוּץ.
(Please, don't take the bicycle inside! Leave it outside!)
What's inside the box?
Now, if we want to specify "inside what" – then (and only then!) we use בְּתוֹךְ.
Like in the "what's inside the box?" question -
מָה יֵשׁ לֵךְ בְּתוֹךְ הַקֻּפְסָה?

More examples:
סִפּוּר בְּתוֹךְ סִפּוּר בְּתוֹךְ סִפּוּר בְּתוֹךְ סִפּוּר. (A story within a story within a story.)
אֵין לִי מֻשָּׂג מָה קוֹרֶה בְּתוֹךְ הָרֹאשׁ שֶׁלּוֹ.(I have no idea what happens inside his head.)

But that's not all!

Did you know that you can take away the ב-, stay with תּוֹךְ only, and it would stay meaningful and useful, but… this "inside" is used exclusively about time!אֶהְיֶה אֶצְלֵךְ תּוֹךְ 30 דַּקּוֹת! means
"I'll be at your place in 30 min!"
See the trick? We do not use BE- here, no! When we say "in … min/hours/days" we always use תּוֹךְ! You can think of it as of "within" in English!

More examples:
אִם תּוֹךְ שָׁעָה אֲנִי לִא חוֹזֵר – תִּתְקַשְּׁרוּ לַמִּשְׁטָרָה!If I'm not back in an hour - call the police!הַמִּסְמָךְ יִהְיֶה מוּכָן תּוֹךְ יוֹמַיִם
This document will be ready in 2 days.
תּוֹךְ דַּקָּה אֲנִי יְכוֹלָה לְתַרְגֵּם לְךָ אֶת זֶה, אֲבָל כְּדָאִי לֵךְ לְנַסּוֹת לְבַד.
I can translate it in a minute, but it's good for you to try yourself!
And that's it for today!
Hope you found something new and useful for you בְּתוֹךְ this newsletter of mine. ;)

Keep learning,
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Here to answer any question,
Alisa
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