Ok, you probably already know that modern Hebrew borrows tons of words from other languages and blends them so seamlessly into everyday conversation—with an Israeli twist—that it’s easy to forget they’re not originally Hebrew.

We do this with words like “boss,” “ex” (as in ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend), “teenager,” and more. But since Hebrew is still a gendered language—where every noun or title has to match a gender—you might find it amusing that when referring to a female, we simply add the Hebrew suffix ית (-it) to the borrowed word!

So boss becomes בוסית (boh-seet), ex turns into אקסית (eh-xeet), and teenager becomes טינאייג’רית (teen-eh-geh-reet). Just a perfect little mash-up of English words and Hebrew grammar!

You probably know the Hebrew word בית (bah-yeet), which means “house.” A house refers to the physical place you live in, but what word would you use in Hebrew when you want to talk about your home? The place you’re emotionally connected to, where you know how to find the light switches even in the dark, or where the WiFi connects automatically? 😉

Unfortunately, we don’t have an exact word for “home” in Hebrew (definitely something to nag the Hebrew Academy about!). However, we do have the term הביתה (hah-bahy-tah), which literally means “to the house,” but we use it when we want to say “I’m going home.”: אני הולך הביתה (ah-nee hoh-lehch hah-bahy-tah) for the masculine form, and אני הולכת הביתה (ah-nee hoh-leh-cheht hah-bahy-tah) for the feminine form.