Tip #44

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How to say it in Hebrew
Tip #44

I am often asked ...

...how to say "when" in Hebrew? (PART 2)

The day when you arrive…

I promised you a "dark secret" about the "when" word, right? When something else is hiding behind it - like in the title, "the day when you arrive" has no מתי and no כש-!

What is it, then? How do we say it?
The secret is this - if you can (remotely, in theory) substitute "when" by "in which" – it's not a real "when," it's fake!
For example, the title "the day when you arrive" you can rephrase as "the day in/at which you arrive"! And for this we use completely different construct!
We say – הַיּוֹם שֶׁבּוֹ אַתָּה מַגִּיעַ!
Something like "the day that in it you arrive" if I translate it literally.:)
More examples:
The day (when) we met – הַיּוֹם שֶׁבּוֹ נִפְגַּשְׁנוּ
The period when Picasso was drawing blue pictures. הַתְּקוּפָה שֶׁבָּהּ פיקאסו צִיֵּר תְּמוּנוֹת כְּחוֹלוֹת

The apartment where you live…

"What does it have to do with our topic?!" – you may be wondering, - "there is no 'when' word here!":)
But look, can we say "in which" instead? We certainly can! So, same rule applies…
The apartment where (in which) you live – הַדִּירָה שֶׁבָּהּ אַתָּה גָּר. ;)
The office where (in which) you work – הַמִּשְׂרָד שֶׁבּוֹ אַתָּה עוֹבֵד
The city where (in which) I lived – הָעִיר שֶׁבָּהּ גַּרְתִּי

Let me try to conclude this newsletter using all we've learnt so far:
• I was happy when I decided to write about it. שָׂמַחְתִּי כְּשֶׁהֶחְלַטְתִּי לִכְתֹּב עַל זֶה.
• When did I decide to write about it? מָתַי הֶחְלַטְתִּי לִכְתֹּב עַל זֶה?
• I don't remember the moment when I decided אֲנִי לֹא זוֹכֶרֶת אֶת הָרֶגַע שֶׁבּוֹ הֶחְלַטְתִּי,
• But I am happy that I wrote it! אֲבָל אֲנִי שְׂמֵחָה שֶׁכָּתַבְתִּי אֶת זֶה!

Hope that saying "when" is not a mystery for you any longer! :D
Here to answer any question and happy Hebrew- learning!
Alisa

Tip #44

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