"Peppers are red, orange, yellow or green."
Translation:פלפלים הם אדומים, כתומים, צהובים או ירוקים.
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From Duolingo tips and notes: Tips and notes Copula (אוגד) When we want to define a general feature of an object (i.e. lemons are sour), we use the copula (אוגד). The main purpose of the copula is to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate.
In simple terms, the copula is like the English verb "to be".
The copula in Hebrew uses the third person pronouns to describe objects (i.e. he/it הוא she/it היא they (m) הם they (f) הן).
For example:
Fish are tasty = דגים הם טעימים (literally - fish they (are) tasty).
This allows you to differentiate between: דגים טעימים - tasty fish and דגים הם טעימים - fish are tasty.
Definite articles with adjectives When adding definite articles to nouns with adjectives, both the noun and the adjective receive a definite article.
For example:
The big dog = הכלב הגדול (hakélev hagadól).
This rule is also applicable when we use more than one adjective for the same noun.
The big beautiful dog = הכלב הגדול והיפה (hakélev hagadól ve'hayafé). Note that we say "big and beautiful". הגדול היפה is not as natural as "big beautiful" as in English.
So now you can differentiate between:
הכלב גדול = The dog is big (ha'kelev gadol)
הכלב הגדול = The big dog (ha'kelev ha'gadol)
Possessives with adjectives When you have a noun, an (attributive) adjective and a possessive, the possessive comes after both the noun and the adjective:
הכלב החדש שלי My new dog
not הכלב שלי החדש
Thank you, TeribleTeri! But why then in their example of "The dog is big" is there no copula?
1802
Because it is the dog, not a dog. הכלב גדול = the dog is big, הכלב הגדול = the big dog, כלב גדול = a big dog, כלב הוא גדול = a dog is big
All the tips and notes can be downloaded in one PDF: https://www.docdroid.net/JnfmyEV/tipsnotesbackup.pdf
Or take out my username and insert your own to see your skills /progress/notes https://duome.eu/teribleteri/progress
Omg!! Thank you for posting that link!! I was not aware Duolingo had that feature.
Why is הם required? Wouldn't פלפלים אדומים, כתומים, צהובים או ירוקים. mean the same thing?
- 249
The הם is required because without it, it's not a sentence. It's just a noun with an adjective.
It needs a copula apparently. It's discussed if you search the boards... It's also in the tips and notes (let me know if you can't find it). To be brief, you need it for this and other types of this thing = that.
I.E. A lioness and a lion are cats. Water and liquor are beverages. Apples and oranges are fruits.
לביאה ואריה הם חתולים. מים וליקרים הם משקאות. תפוחים ו תפוזים הם פירות
I think this is a rare occasion in which the verb "to be" is required even though the sentence is in the present tense.
יותר הגיוני בעברית לכתוב שפלפלים הם או כתומים או ירוקים או אדומים וכו' מאשר שפלפלים הם כתומים, ירוקים או אדומים
Vav at the beginning of a word is pronounced "ve" and means "and". או on the other hand is alef-vav with a dot ("nikkud??") on top of vav making it the vowel sound "oh".
Hang in there Kelmit - I am from the U.S. and I love Hebrew but there are times I am totally frustrated with my current lesson - two months later it's all a piece of cake! Keep on keeping on!!
I wrote the correct answer but twice you told me I was wrong and I don't understand it...
In the sentence "Peppers are red, orange, yellow or green". Why are all the colours in plural except for red?
What does פלפל mean? Pepper like black/white/green pepper (Piper nigrum) or pepper like paprika/chili (Capsicum) or both?
- 1429
It can be both. One way how it can be distinguished is that peppers, as in plant, would often be used in plural - פלפלים and pepper, as in spice, is often called פלפל שחור "black pepper". This sentences, since it uses plural talks about the plant.
Agh, I'm just putting this here to vent! I spent a while making sure that each word was perfect and couldn't believe i got it wrong. I said 'and' instead of 'or'. After all that!