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Streetwise Hebrew

#174 No More Mr. Nice Guy

Streetwise Hebrew

TLV1 Studios

Israel, Tlv1, Religion & Spirituality, Language Learning, Education, Language, Judaism, Hebrew, Streetwise

4.9 โ€ข 988 Ratings

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ 27 June 2017

โฑ๏ธ 10 minutes

๐Ÿงพ๏ธ Download transcript

Summary

'Nehmad' means 'nice' or 'lovely', but often 'nice' is just not enough for what we want to say. How do we give it a boost to emphasize what we really mean? We can also say 'nehmad,' but in fact mean the opposite! And what do we say about a waiter who is 'too nice'? Guy gives us the nuances of 'nehmad' in this week's episode.

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Words and expressions discussed:

Nehmad โ€“ Nice, lovely โ€“ ื ื—ืžื“

Lahmod โ€“ To covet โ€“ ืœื—ืžื•ื“

Haya mamash nehmad โ€“ It was really nice โ€“ ื”ื™ื” ืžืžืฉ ื ื—ืžื“

Hikarti mishehu mamash nehmad โ€“ I met someone really nice โ€“ ื”ื›ืจืชื™ ืžื™ืฉื”ื• ืžืžืฉ ื ื—ืžื“

Ata nirโ€™e nehmad โ€“ You look nice โ€“ ืืชื” ื ืจืื” ื ื—ืžื“

Ma ha-kavana shela? โ€“ Whatโ€™s her intention? โ€“ ืžื” ื”ื›ื•ื•ื ื” ืฉืœื”?

Ach be-kupat holim nisa lehathil iti o she-hu stam haya nehmad? โ€“ Was a male nurse in the clinic trying to hit on me, or was he just being nice? โ€“ ืื— ื‘ืงื•ืคืช ื—ื•ืœื™ื ื ื™ืกื” ืœื”ืชื—ื™ืœ ืื™ืชื™ ืื• ืฉื”ื•ื ืกืชื ื”ื™ื” ื ื—ืžื“?

Eich ladaat im hu stam nehmad o ba-keta? โ€“ How can I know if heโ€™s just nice, or into me? โ€“ ืื™ืš ืœื“ืขืช ืื ื”ื•ื ืกืชื ื ื—ืžื“ ืื• ื‘ืงื˜ืข?

Sviva nehmada โ€“ Nice surroundings, nice neighborhood โ€“ ืกื‘ื™ื‘ื” ื ื—ืžื“ื”

El mi hayinu nehmadim? Rak le-dodim ule-dodot โ€“ To whom were we nice (kids)? Only to uncles and aunts โ€“ ืืœ ืžื™ ื”ื™ื™ื ื• ื ื—ืžื“ื™ื? ืจืง ืœื“ื•ื“ื™ื ื•ืœื“ื•ื“ื•ืช

Lihyot nehmad el โ€“ To be nice to someone โ€“ ืœื”ื™ื•ืช ื ื—ืžื“ ืืœ

Hu lo nehmad eleha โ€“ Heโ€™s not nice to her โ€“ ื”ื•ื ืœื ื ื—ืžื“ ืืœื™ื”

Lama ata lo nehmad elav? โ€“ Why arenโ€™t you nice to him? โ€“ ืœืžื” ืืชื” ืœื ื ื—ืžื“ ืืœื™ื•?

Haveri ha-yakar โ€“ My dear friend โ€“ ื—ื‘ืจื™ ื”ื™ืงืจ

Hem einam bahurim nehmadim โ€“ They are not nice guys โ€“ ื”ื ืื™ื ื ื‘ื—ื•ืจื™ื ื ื—ืžื“ื™ื

Hem lo nehmadim โ€“ They are not nice โ€“ ื”ื ืœื ื ื—ืžื“ื™ื

Ha-panterim ha-sh-horim โ€“ The black panthers โ€“ ื”ืคื ืชืจื™ื ื”ืฉื—ื•ืจื™ื

Parpar nehmad โ€“ Lovely butterfly โ€“ ืคืจืคืจ ื ื—ืžื“

Nehmadut โ€“ Niceness โ€“ ื ื—ืžื“ื•ึผืช

Hu amar et ze be-nehmadut โ€“ He said it in a nice way โ€“ ื”ื•ื ืืžืจ ืืช ื–ื” ื‘ื ื—ืžื“ื•ืช

Shalahti hodaโ€™a be-nehmadut la-ex sheli โ€“ I sent a nice message to my ex โ€“ ืฉืœื—ืชื™ ื”ื•ื“ืขื” ื‘ื ื—ืžื“ื•ืช ืœืืงืก ืฉืœื™

Lehitnahmed โ€“ To be artificially nice โ€“ ืœื”ืชื ื—ืžื“

Mitnahmedet โ€“ Trying to be nice, too nice โ€“ ืžืชื ื—ืžื“ืช

Music:

Kaveret โ€“ Nehmad (lyrics)
Ha-halonot Ha-gvohim โ€“ Etsli Ha-kol Beseder (lyrics)
Yizhar Cohen โ€“ Abanibi (lyrics)
Golda Meโ€™ir โ€“ Hem Lo Nehmadim
Ilanit โ€“ Parpar Nehmad (lyrics)

Want to see more Hebrew gems? Like Streetwise Hebrew on Facebook and Instagram.

Want Guy to talk about a pressing Hebrew issue? Find him at StreetWiseHebrew.com or follow him on Twitter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is TLD1. Street-wise Hebrew.

0:13.0

Shalom, it's me Guy with Street-wise Hebrew.

0:17.0

I will be in the US throughout November 2017, mainly in California, where I'll be giving streetwise Hebrew talks. I'll also be giving my famous

0:25.5

virtual graffiti tour which transports you into the streets of Tel Aviv for a fun visual Hebrew

0:31.6

lesson. If you want to organize a talk for your community

0:35.0

or a nice group of family and friends,

0:38.0

please let me know.

0:39.0

You can find me on Streetwise Hebrew.com.

0:41.0

Last week we spoke about Chamud, cute, sweet.

0:46.0

Today we'll talk about Nechmaad,

0:48.0

Nun Ghette, Mem Daled.

0:51.0

It comes from the same route, Ghet, Mem, Daled. In biblical Hebrew,

0:55.8

Lachmod is to covet. Nechmaad, passive, nifal, literally means coveted but today Nichmaid is just plain all nice.

1:07.0

Nachmat, nachmat, I'm machmah!

1:11.0

I'm aash, Nachmahmad.

1:15.0

Ha yeah Mamash Nechmad, it was really nice.

1:18.0

Since the meaning of Nechmad is just nice, you need to add Mamash, really, to give it a bit of a boost. So it's mamash nichmaad really nice. But even with it, mamash nichmaad is still not awesome, definitely not amazing.

1:34.4

When I do my research for modern slang usage, I also check teenage forums to see how the

1:39.3

14, 15, 16-olds use these words.

1:42.8

So here is what I found for Nechmaad.

1:45.8

A teenage girl wrote,

1:47.2

He karti Misehu mamash nechmaad.

...

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