"שברי את הטלוויזיה ובואי נלך לישון!"
Translation:Break the TV and let's go to sleep!
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That could get expensive if it is a nightly ritual. Sounds like it is dialogue for Rockstars in a hotel
Good find!
But one thing puzzles me. Every time the singer returns to the opening line:
שברי את הטלוויזיה ובואי נלך לישון
I hear him pronounce the first word as "shevri" instead of "shabri".
The imperative (feminine singular form) of לִשְׁבּוֹר to break is שִׁבְרִי , i.e. shivri as in the song. If it was from לְשַׁבֵּר (to smash or shatter, in binyan pi'el) it would be שַׁבְּרִי shabbri.
Thanks, Dov, that makes sense of the pronunciation, but potentially creates a different problem, namely that you can tell someone to "smash the television", but telling them to "break the television" is not a proper use of the verb "break" (or לשבור). So I had assumed that the pi'el verb was correct.
You can say that someone "has broken the television" by pressing buttons or turning knobs, or by trying to fix a minor problem by tampering with the wiring only to put the set completely out of order. But the actual breaking here is the inadvertent result of other actions.
You can also deliberately break a simple object, such as a plate or a glass (like waiters at some Greek restaurants to attract customers). But a television is a large and complex device, and you can't "break" it in this sense, any more than you can deliberately "break" a car.
My dictionary of first recourse (the Prolog dictionary app) agrees with you that לשבור is simply "to break". But before writing off the Duolingo sentence as just another of their misjudgements, I decided to check pealim.com, and found that although "smash" is the first listed meaning for the pi'el verb, it is also on the list of meanings for the pa'al verb ("break" is first on that list).
Interesting point! I hadn't considered it in such depth, but what you say makes sense.
Of course the deliberate breaking of a glass is not just a Greek thing, it's a well-known custom at Jewish weddings; but I can't remember that I've ever heard it described in Hebrew and so I can't comment on which binyan of the verb is used. No doubt someone in this forum can tell us.
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No kidding! Seriously, is this the Hebrew equivalent of "Turn off the TV" or is there some other expression like "כבה את הטלויזיה"? Thanks.
Sure, though I think this entire section is misleading. This form of "כבי" is called ציווי (Command) and is rarely used. Its mane use would be if someone considerably more important than you (say a military officer) was talking to you. Among equals people usually use the future tense "תכבה".
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Thanks for the additional clarification. When I go over the various pronouns again I will make sure to come back to this!
I see people have downvoted MrsT's comment, but actually bo/bo'i + first person plural future form can indeed be used for "let's" do something. Example: ...בוא נראה, בוא נראה כמה טוב יהיה (from a different song)
Shvri et ha-televizia u-voi nelekh lishon!
This is the first line of a song, so look for as much logic in it as you would find in Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.
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Well, it says "let's go to sleep" not "come to sleep." "Come to sleep" is what you'd say if you were already in bed and calling somebody in, for example. It's not necessarily the exact same thing.