"הרופא שותֶה בירה אך ורק ביום שישי."

Translation: The doctor drinks beer exclusively on Friday.

[Peterhast]

Can you say:

?הרופא שותה בירה רק ביום שישי

[Pumbush]

Yes it's even more common, the meaning will be similar but אך ורק has more emphasis

[DL-Trolls]

This expression is still screwing with me, to be honest. Does anyone have an etymological explanation for how we get אך ורק to mean "exclusively"?

I mean, check it: The doctor drinks beer so totally just on fridays.

Alright, great. But, I've come to know אך to be used as "but" in a variety of cases and רק, of course, is "only." So אך ורק looks like "but and only." Doesn't look like "exclusively" to me. I mean, I kinda do hear it, but I'm not satisfied yet.

Strong's has the ancient אך translating as "surely" quite commonly. So if we went with surely and only it kinda works but sounds bad. If we changed "surely" to "definitely" and threw out the "and" we would get a great-sounding sentence: The doctor drinks beer definitely just on fridays.

Sounds great, right? But the "and" is still in there so אך can't mean "definitely" and רק can't mean "just." Does anyone have another point of view to help parallel this to English? (Yeah, it really CAN be done, guys. Done it hundreds of times.)

[DL-Trolls]

You know what? Maybe that does work.

The doctor drinks beer definitely and only on fridays.

Alright, bleep it, that's what I'm going with. Hope this helps you guys.

[DL-Trolls]

OMG :D

What a cocky troll I was back in the day!

[Agatha229532]

In Polish there is an expression "only and exclusively", to stress that this is the only situation when something happens.

[Its-me.]

I see "but and only" as similar to the logic phrase "if and only if"

[stanehr]

i said "the doctor drinks beer but only on Friday" - why is that wrong?

[rattyjol]

I think that's wrong because of the "but" -- that would be something more like הרופא שותה בירה אבל רק ביום שישי. Your version is a statement (the doctor drinks beer) followed by a qualifier (but only under the condition that it's Friday), whereas the given sentence is just a statement of the doctor's beer-drinking rules. They have approximately the same meaning, but it's a different sentence.

[flootzavut]

I'm ridiculously pleased I got this right and only needed the hint for only

[TeribleT]

Should be plural in English (is it only singular in Hebrew?) Because if it was only on a specific day, then it would be: he will only drink beer this Friday/on this day. If it's every Friday.. That's multiple Fridays.

[Dennis385858]

Is "exclusively" to be applied to beer or Friday? I.e. the doctor drinks only beer and no other drinks on Friday OR the doctor drinks beer only on Friday and no other days (maybe because of work).

[YHalperin1]

If it were the former, it would be הרופא שותה אך ורק בירה ביום ששיק

[Dennis385858]

Thanks

[art780952]

HOW DOES ONE SAY ONLY ON FRIDAYS?

[absjbk29]

how would this sentence be changed to mean "the doctor drinks beer exclusively on Fridays"? The way this sentence is currently translated in English by DL is not what would be used in English as it is unclear and awkward.

[Shamirush]

Why only is not accepted as translation of אך ורק?
Because of the emphasis?

[DL-Trolls]

Yeah. It's stronger than just only. I'm still grappling with it, to be honest.

[joelnaqqar]

Is there a cultural or religious reason behind this? Or it's just a random sentence?

[UziYeger]

It's probably both. There is a religious reason, but it's probably just random

[Hsn626796]

How is "on Fridays" accepted for ביום שישי .

Shouldn't "on Fridays" be only בימי שישי ?

[Fltiennne]

I suggest: “The doctor only ever drinks beer on Friday.” It’s more natural in English.

[nimafarid2007]

if i were to say "The doctor drinks beer exclusively on Fridays", how different would the wording be? OTHER THAT "beyom shishi kol shabua" or something

[mtuJ4U]

What a dumb sentence?
Learning about a doctor drinking beer!
Very useful

[DL-Trolls]

I know! Isn't this sentence כל כך fantastic!?

:D