#21 Saying it Twice
Streetwise Hebrew
TLV1 Studios
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2013
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why do we sometimes repeat the same word twice in Hebrew? Mashu-mashu, gever-gever, for example. Today we'll talk about reduplication in Hebrew and… about Belize.
Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon
New Words and Expressions:
Le'at le'at – Slowly – לאט-לאט
Mashu-mashu – Great – משהו-משהו
Ha-lasagna ha-zot, mashu! – This lasagna is amazing! – הלזניה הזאת, משו
Ha-lasagna ha-zot, mashu-mashu! – This lasagna is amazing! – הלזניה הזאת, משו משו
Gever-gever – Macho – גבר-גבר
Hi isha-isha – She's a real lady – היא אישה-אישה
Chaver-chaver – Serious boyfriend – חבר-חבר
"Oh, politika politika" – Oh politics – הו, פוליטיקה, פוליטיקה
Kacha ze, politika, politika- This is how it is, politics- ככה זה, פוליטיקה, פוליטיקה
Mishpat mishpat – Sentence by sentence – משפט-משפט
Para para – Baby steps – פרה-פרה
Ben-Ben – Diminutive of Ben – בן-בן
Tal-Tal, ma nishma mami? – Tal, how are you sweetie pie – טל-טל, מה נשמע ממי
"Benny, Benny, yeled ra" – Oh Benny, you're such a bad boy – בני, בני, ילד רע
Playlist and Clips:
Sarit Avitan – Gever Gever (lyrics)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is TELB1. |
| 0:10.0 | Street-wise. St. Wise. |
| 0:11.0 | Hebrew. Shalon. It's me Guy from Street-wise Hebrew. Shalom, it's me Guy from Street-wise Hebrew. |
| 0:15.0 | Today we're going to talk about reduplication in Hebrew. |
| 0:19.0 | Sometimes we say stuff twice, for example, Leat Leat Leat, |
| 0:23.5 | slowly, so Leat is slowly, and Leat Leat |
| 0:27.2 | could be something you say to a child |
| 0:29.0 | when he's pouring water to a glass, |
| 0:30.8 | so it's like, watch out, Leat Leat. What about Masu-Mashu? Literally it's something, |
| 0:36.5 | something. Masheu means something, but in colloquial Hebrew we just say |
| 0:41.5 | Masu. In say, Mashu. |
| 0:42.7 | In slang, Mashu could mean great. |
| 0:45.1 | Al-azaniazot, Mashu. |
| 0:47.2 | This lasagna is something, meaning something good, just like in English. |
| 0:51.3 | You can also say Halazaniasot, Mashu, to make it even more special. |
| 0:56.2 | How about Gever means men. |
| 1:05.0 | means the real man and he's always |
| 1:06.0 | that's what you're gonna'er |
| 1:10.0 | gever means men. Gever, gever means a real man, a macho, not a wimp. |
| 1:15.7 | Whose gever, gever, he's a gever, gever. |
| 1:18.6 | And I think I heard a few times he is a sha, sha, meaning she's a real lady or a big lady. Again the reduplication |
| 1:26.4 | makes things bigger. When we take the word chavere interesting things happen |
... |
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