#40 What’s the ‘Biggest’ Word in Hebrew? (Rerun)
Streetwise Hebrew
TLV1 Studios
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Hebrew word גדול, ‘big,’ and its root, g.d.l, have made a huge career in written and spoken Hebrew. Let’s meet the family today; from mustaches and fast food chains, to towers and plastic surgery.
Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon
New Words and Expressions:
Kshe-eheye gadol – When I’ll grow up – כשאהיה גדול
Gadol! – Amazing, awesome – גדול
Haya gadol – It was great – היה גדול
“Ani yoda’at elohim, ata Gadol me-ha-chayim” – I know God, you are larger than life – אני יודעת אלוהים, אתה גדול מהחיים
Gdolim – Big, pl., m – גדולים
“Ha-tsara itcha she-yesh lecha einayim gdolot” – The problem with you is that you’ve got ‘big eyes’, you bite more than you can chew – הצרה איתך שיש לך עיניים גדולות
“Yesh anashim she-bonim migdalim” – There are people who build towers – יש אנשים שבונים מגדלים
Migdal Pisa – The Pisa Tower – מגדל פיזה
Gadalti be-shana – I am a year older – גדלתי בשנה
Legadel – To grow – לגדל
Legadel yeladim, klavim, hashish, zakan, safam – To grow kids, dogs, pot, beard, moustache – לגדל ילדים, כלבים, חשיש, זקן, שפם
Lehagdil – To enlarge, to expand – להגדיל
Ata rotse lehagdil? At rotsa lehagdil? – Do you want to supersize for extra? – אתה, את, רוצה להגדיל
Hagdala – Enlargement – הגדלה
Nitu’ach hagdalat shadayim – Breast augmentation operation – ניתוח הגדלת שדיים
Playlist and Clips:
Ha-keves ha-shisha asar – Kshe-eheye Gadol (lyrics)
Sarit Hadad – Rak she-teda et ha-emet (lyrics)
Arik Einstein – Einayim Gdolot (lyrics)
Arik Einstein – Ohev Lihyot Ba-bayit (lyrics)
Nitu’ach le-hagdalat shadayim – Breast Augmentation Operation
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Shalom. It's me, Guy, with Streetwise Hebrew. This week we are replaying an episode from our archive. |
| 0:07.5 | Patrons will find the brand new All-Hebrewsister episode written and recorded this week on patreon.com |
| 0:15.1 | slash streetwise Hebrew or in your podcast app through the private podcast feed. As you may already know, we started creating the all-Hebrew episodes, |
| 0:25.1 | starting with episode number 181. |
| 0:28.7 | So once in a while, we go back into the archives |
| 0:31.2 | and create the Hebrew versions for previous episode like this week. |
| 0:36.0 | Enjoy. |
| 0:40.3 | This is TLB1. for previous episode like this week enjoy this this is t lb one street wise hebrew shalom it's me guy from streetwise hebrew many people say they need to see the words written in front of them when they listen to my pod. |
| 0:57.1 | So if you go to today's episode on TLV1.fm slash Streetwise Hebrew, you'll see everything there. |
| 1:03.9 | Today we talk about this. |
| 1:05.4 | When... |
| 1:06.0 | ...shay... |
| 1:06.9 | ...that it's... Gaudole, when I'll be a great and the whole |
| 1:11.6 | who'sh |
| 1:12.8 | Gaudel. |
| 1:15.6 | When I'll be big, when I'll be a grown-up. |
| 1:19.6 | So today's word is Gadol, big, and the whole root, |
| 1:23.6 | Shorash, Gimel, Dalet, Lamed. |
| 1:25.6 | Gadol is big, but in slang, it can be great. |
| 1:29.0 | So if someone tells you a story about an amazing thing they did, you can go like |
| 1:33.5 | Gadol. |
| 1:34.7 | So it's only one word, but it actually means it is gadol, |
... |
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