- Forum >
- Topic: Hebrew >
- "הם רוצים מכם כריכים."
29 Comments
No such thing as "normally use" ... "They want from you sandwiches" would be perfectly natural to say if you wanted to emphasize "sandwiches", as in, say, an answer to the question, "Do the aliens want to meet our leader?" I think it should be accepted!
Um...there's not really any context where I, as a native AmEng speaker would ever find that syntax perfectly natural. Obviously, I can't speak for other dialects but my own. Regardless, unless the Hebrew is specifically phrased to add some kind of emphasis, I think the most neutral, idiomatic phrasing in English should be used.
It's not grammatically incorrect to say that, but you're going to sound like Yoda if you talk like that in English. Still, it's helpful to translate it literally to understand how the Hebrew grammar rules function.
Is the word ordering critical for the syntax here? Could it instead be:
הם רוצים כריכים מכם?
It can. Word order does not usually change the meaning, but it can change emphasis, formality etc.
how is מכם pronounced here? I kind of hear "imchem" but the im must be from רוצים
Why isn't it "mikhem" ? The כ being pronounced in the 2nd syllable should be pronounced as the dagesh form "kh". Am I wrong ?
I remember seeing this rule in the early tips & notes.
Generally the /mi/ preposition (like that /ha/ ("the") causes a כ after it to be pronounced /k/. I imagine this is what happens here.
I would also expect michem instead of mikem. Can anybody elaborate on this?
I think the main point in this lesson is to learn the preposition "from", so no.
Would it be incorrect to say הם רוצים כריכים מכם? Or does word order matter more here?
It sounds correct to me, but less natural, regardless of what you want to stress.
Is this the typical word order -- subject, verb, prepositional phrase, object. Are there times when the word order varies? Does the word order depend on one of the term is a pronoun (like in this one), a short word, a long word, or a long phrase?
Your guesses are right. The word order in Hebrew is relatively free, or depending on what you want to stress - but the most neutral order is subject - verb - direct object - prepositional phrase, or subject - verb - very short prepositional phrase - direct object.
How the speaker says כריכים is why Ben Yehuda did not select the Ashkenazi accent for modern hebrew... He must be rolling over in his grave now.
