"הטבח מבשל גזר בצהריים."
Translation:The cook cooks a carrot at noon.
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How would you distinguish in Hebrew between "noon" and "Afternoon"? Because noon to my understanding means 12pm on the dot, whereas afternoon would be a time period of a few hours starting at 12pm.
It is equivalent to the English expression: צָהֳרַיִם is noon, for the afternoon you add after before it: אַחֲרֵי הַצָּהֳרַיִם
I was surprised to see now in Even Shoshan that the formal meaning is as you say. I believe the current usage (I'm reluctant to even say it's colloquial) of צהריים is actually not noon, but several hours from something like 11:00 to something like 14:00 or 15:00.
Well, it is probably a corruption, as in other semitic languages the form is singular. From the original צֹ֫הַר was made an adverb צׇהֳרָם at noon, (like יוֹמָם in the daytime), from which was then reinterpreted a noun in the dual צׇהֳרַ֫יִם noon.
Yes, the root טבח means to slaughter, so it was originally never a vegetarian chef.
Well, there is a verb corresponding in root to טבח, though it has a different meaning as Ingeborg wrote, and there's the noun בשלן which has very similar usages to טבח (and even מבשל is used as a noun, in the exact meaning of "cook", in some very specific contexts).
Does Hebrew refer to products that come uncountable in their singular or plural forms? If I cook a carrot meal, אני מבשל גזר or גזרים? Do I say אני הולך לשוק לקנות תות or תותים?
From a previous discussion in Duo I realized how inconsistent Hebrew is in this respect. In some contexts one of the two is much more natural than the other; and which one depends on the vegetable or fruit, with no rhyme or reason I can discern. In your example, אני הולך לקנות תות/תותים and אני מבשל גזר/גזרים both work. But סלט גזר and definitely not סלט גזרים, whereas סלט עגבניות and definitely not סלט עגבניה. Also, לקנות גזר would be understood as buying any number of carrots, while לקנות תפוח would be understood as buying just one apple. Go figure.
I'm pretty sure it varies. Some bulk nouns, like water (מים) are plural. But others, like fun (כיף) are singular. The same thing happens in English, where fruit is singular but vegetables are plural, and where you might cook chicken (singular) or carrots (plural). Go figure.
Fruit in English means many, like many bananas. Fruits means several varieties of fruit.
Do you think that is the distinction in Hebrew also?
