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Reading a Clock In Hebrew

Updated: Jun 15, 2020




Imagine you walk in the streets of Tel-Aviv, got to know what time it is in order to make it to the Falafel stand you heard so much about, you stop random people asking "What time is it? (Ma hasha'a? ?מָה השָׁעַה) and they all answer to you in Hebrew!!

No worries, after reading this blog post, you will be able to understand the answers and make it to eat Falafel just on time! :)

 

Before We Start

First, you need to know how to count to 12 in Hebrew:

1 - (achat) אַחַת

2 - (shtayim) שְׁתַּיִם

3 - (shalosh) שָׁלֹשׁ

4 - (arba) אַרְבַּע

5 - (chamesh) חָמֵשׁ

6 - (shesh) שֵׁשׁ

7 - (sheva') שֶׁבַע

8 - (shmone) שְׁמוֹנֶה

9 - (tesha') תֵּשַׁע

10 - ('eser) עֶשֶׂר

11 - (achat-'esre) אֲחַת-עֶשְׂרֵה

12 - (shteyim-'esre) שְׁתֵּים-עֶשְׂרֵה

Terminology:

Hour - Sha'a שָׁעַה

Hours - Sha'ot שָׁעוֹת

Minute - Daka דָקַה

Minutes - Dakot דָקוֹת

Now, let's watch some watches.

 

The Techniques

The Time - X:05

X va chamisha

וחֲמִשָּׁה X

 

The Time - X:10

X va asara

ועֲשָׂרָה X

 

The Time - X:15

X va reva

ורֵבַע X

(Reva רֵבַע, means quarter)

 

The Time - X:20