Essential Hebrew words and phrases, with transliteration and meaning
A few hundred words carry most everyday Hebrew. Start with greetings and questions, add the verbs of wanting and going, and you can already survive a conversation in Tel Aviv. Every word below appears in songs you can practise with.
Greetings and politeness
These carry you through the first five minutes of any encounter.
- שָׁלוֹם shalom — hello, goodbye, peace
- בּוֹקֶר טוֹב boker tov — good morning
- לַיְלָה טוֹב laila tov — good night
- מַה נִּשְׁמָע? ma nishma? — how's it going?
- תּוֹדָה רַבָּה toda raba — thank you very much
- בְּבַקָּשָׁה bevakasha — please, here you go
- סְלִיחָה slicha — sorry, excuse me
- לְהִתְרָאוֹת lehitraot — see you
Questions that unlock conversations
Ask these and let the other person do the talking.
- מָה ma — what
- מִי mi — who
- אֵיפֹה eifo — where
- מָתַי matai — when
- לָמָּה lama — why
- אֵיךְ eich — how
- כַּמָּה kama — how much
- אֵיפֹה זֶה? eifo ze? — where is it?
People, feelings and the words songs are made of
Hebrew music lives on a small set of emotional nouns. Learn them once and half of every lyric becomes transparent.
- לֵב lev — heart
- נֶפֶשׁ nefesh — soul
- אַהֲבָה ahava — love
- תִּקְוָה tikva — hope
- אֶרֶץ eretz — land, country
- עִיר ir — city
- שֶׁמֶשׁ shemesh — sun
- יָם yam — sea
- חֲבֵרוּת chaverut — friendship
- חַיִּים chayim — life
Ten verbs that do most of the work
Hebrew present tense changes for gender, so learn both forms of each verb: the masculine and feminine singular.
- רוֹצֶה / רוֹצָה rotze / rotza — want
- הוֹלֵךְ / הוֹלֶכֶת holech / holechet — go
- אוֹהֵב / אוֹהֶבֶת ohev / ohevet — love
- יוֹדֵעַ / יוֹדַעַת yode'a / yoda'at — know
- מְדַבֵּר / מְדַבֶּרֶת medaber / medaberet — speak
- רוֹאֶה / רוֹאָה ro'e / ro'a — see
- שׁוֹמֵעַ / שׁוֹמַעַת shome'a / shoma'at — hear
- אוֹכֵל / אוֹכֶלֶת ochel / ochelet — eat
- מַאֲמִין / מַאֲמִינָה ma'amin / ma'amina — believe
- לוֹמֵד / לוֹמֶדֶת lomed / lomedet — learn
Learn them in context, not in a column
Isolated lists fade in days. Shir-ly takes the words from each song and rebuilds them into everyday sentences and picture cards, so lev is not "heart" on a flashcard but a word you heard sung and then read in a sentence about your own week.
Frequently asked questions
How many Hebrew words do I need to hold a conversation?
Roughly 600 to 800 high-frequency words cover most everyday conversation. The 100 here are the ones worth learning in your first month.
Is Hebrew hard for English speakers?
The script and the right-to-left direction are the main hurdles, and both are solved in a few weeks. Hebrew grammar is regular and its vocabulary is small compared with English.
What does shalom actually mean?
Literally peace, used as both hello and goodbye.