Hebrew Bites with Efrat: ‘Someone Wants Something?’

We often hear from our students how Hebrew doesn’t make sense and it’s annoyingly random… So let me show you how it sometimes does follow very neat patterns.

Most of you know the words “מַֹשֶׁהוּ”, that means “something” and “מִיֹשֶׁהוּ” that means “someone” or “somebody”. What many of you might not know is that those words are two of a series of words, which all use the same pattern: a question word+ the suffix “שֶׁהוּ” (the equivalent of “some” in that context).

Ready?? Here it is:

1. The word “מַֹשֶׁהוּ” (something), is a combination of the question word “מה?” (“What”) and “שֶׁהוּ”
2. The word “מִישֶׁהוּ” (someone, somebody) is a combination of the question word “מי?” (“Who”) and “שֶׁהוּ”
3. The word “אֵיכְשֶׁהוּ” (somehow) is a combination of the question word “איך?” (“How”) and “שֶׁהוּ”
4. The word “אֶיִפֹשֶׁהוּ” (somewhere) is a combination of the question word “איפה?” (“Where”) and “שֶׁהוּ”
5. The word “לְאָנְשֶׁהוּ” (to somewhere) is a combination of the question word “לאן?” (“Where”) and “שֶׁהוּ”
6. The word “מָתַיְשֶׁהוּ” (sometime) is a combination of the question word “מתי?” (“Who”) and “שֶׁהוּ”

Now it’s your turn to go out and try using it – good luck!

Remember – don’t think too much and enjoy it!

See you next time!

Efrat