modern hebrew on memrise

1. Time Expressions
 In this lesson, we will be learning how to tell the time in
Hebrew.

2. Time Expressions
 Time in Hebrew is very close to how we refer to time in
English. Let’s start off by learning how to ask questions
using time.
 We have already learned in Lesson 18 that the question
word מתי means “when” and the question word מה means
‘what’. These two are used quite a bit when referring to time
expressions.
 The simplest way to ask a time related question is by simply
asking ? מתי . To answer this question, you must use the
appropriate number for the hour prefixed by the preposition
.ב

3. Time Expressions
 ? מתי
 בשלוש (be-shalosh) or maybe בעשר (be-eser)
 Written Hebrew typically uses the full 24 hour time reference.
For example, you would say 14 to express 2 p.m. Hebrew
does not use the A.M./P.M. acronyms.
 Spoken Hebrew usually uses the 12 hour reference with the
appropriate time of day following the number. For example,
 שלוש בבוקר (shalosh ba-boker) 3 in the morning
 שלוש בערב (shalosh ba-erev) 3 in the evening

4. Time Expressions
 The Hebrew words for morning, noon, evening, and night are
a little different than the meanings you are used to in
English.
 Morning בוקר is from sunrise to around 11:00 am
 Noon הצהריים is from about 11am to about 3pm
 Evening ערב is from about 3pm to sunset
 Night לילה is during the dark hours (sunset to sunrise)

5. Time Expressions
 Normally the ב preposition is only used with the time of day
in these expressions (in the morning, in the evening), but be
aware that it can sometimes appear before the hour as well
to function as a preposition. This is not part of the time
expression construction, but a preposition on the phrase
 ? ‘ מתי אתה אוכל הסנדויץ (When do you eat the sandwich?)
 בשלוש בבוקר (be-shalosh ba-boker) At 3 in the morning.
 Also make sure you pronounce the preposition correctly.
Remember that if the article is present on the noun it is
pronounced (ba) otherwise it is (be) unless the first root letter
is a guttural. Review lesson 17 if necessary.

6. Time Expressions
 Another question that is useful is
 ? מה השעה (what time is it? Literally: What hour is it?)
 To answer a question like this simply say:
 ___ השעה (ha-sha’a __) where the blank space is the
appropriate hour.
 השעה שמונה בערב (ha-sha’a smone ba-erev) the time is 8 in the
evening.
 השעה שמונה (ha-sha’a smone) the time is 5 o’clock

7. Time Expressions
 You can also express the time using minutes in Hebrew.
When using minutes, the numbers can be either masculine
or feminine. There are a few rules with these:
 If the number is followed by the word דקות (dakot - minutes),
then the number will be feminine.
 השעה חמש ועשר דקות (ha-sha’a chamesh ve-eser dakot) 5:10
 If the number is describing the hour, it is feminine.
 השעה חמש (ha-sha’a chamesh) 5:00
 Other cases are a bit harder to determine gender. You will need
to learn which cases use masculine numbers and which use
feminine numbers.

8. Time Expressions
 Two other words can be used to mark 15 minutes ( revah
רבע ) and 30 minutes ( חצי chetsi). To use these words for
telling time simply say the hour then the word ‘and’ ו followed
by either חצי or .רבע
 חמש וחצי (chamesh ve-chetsi) five thirty
 שלוש ורבע (shalosh ve-revah) three fifteen
 You can also say expressions like ‘it is a quarter to 3’ by
using the preposition .ל
 השעה רבע לשלוש (ha-sha’a revah le-shalosh) 2:45
 You can also use minutes in the description like ‘10 minutes
to 4’ by using ל
 עעשר דקות לארבע (eser dakot le-arba) 3:50

9. Time Expressions
 Nouns referring to durations (hour, day, week, month, year)
are more prone to being irregular in the plural form. For
example,
 יום day is feminine but its plural is ימים with a masculine ending.
Also notice that the ו is not present in the plural form.
 שבוע week is masculine but its plural is שבועות with a feminine
ending.
 שנה is feminine but its plural is שנים with a masculine ending.

10. Time Expressions – Dual
form
 Like certain body parts that come in twos, some of the nouns
referring to time can use the dual form. Hour, day, week,
month, and year can all use this form when you are talking
about 2 of them. For example
 יום אחד (yom achad) 1 day
 ימיים (yamayim) 2 days
 שלושה ימים (shalosh yamim) 3 days
 Remember that the number one comes after the noun
whereas all other numbers come before the noun. Also the
gender of the noun tells you whether you are to use the
masculine or feminine form of the number.

11. Time Expressions – Dual
form
 With the dual form, if the singular version of the word ends in
ה, it will change to a .ת
 שנה אחת shena – 1 year
 שנתיים shenatim – 2 years
 3 – שלוש שנים years
 Keep this in mind when forming the dual. It asks like a
construct state in these cases.

12. Time Expressions – Age
 Finally, we learned in lesson 22 that the words בן and בת
are son and daughter. These words are also used to tell
someone how old you are. When telling your age, always
use the feminine form of the number.
 The construction to ask ‘how old are you?’ is ? בן כמה אתה
(ben cama atah) for a male and ? בת כמה את (bat cama at)
for a female.
 The correct response is
 For a male: בן שנתיים (ben shenatayim) I am 2 years old.
 For a female: בת שלוש (bat shalosh) I am three years old.
 If you are saying ‘I am 1 year old’ use only year: בת שנה