#71 Fine-Tune Your Hebrew With “Be’Etsem”

Be’etsem, which means ‘actually,’ is comprised of preposition ‘be’ -בְּ plus the word etsem, which is an ‘object,’ ‘essence,’ or ‘gist’… but also a ‘bone.’ What? Guy Sharett explains all.

And what is, be’etsem, the difference between small talk and networking?

Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon

New Words and Expressions:

Be’etsem – Actually – בעצם

Etsem (Pl. atsamim) – Object, gist, bone – עצם

Zehu etsem ha’inyan – This is the gist – זהו עצם העניין

“Ve-himshichu lichyot be-osher va-osher ad etsem hayom ha-ze – And they lived happily ever after till this very day – והמשיכו לחיות באושר ועושר עד עצם היום הזה

Abam, etsem bilti mezuheh – UFO – עצם בלי מזוהה, עב”מ

Abamim – UFOs – עב”מים

Shem etsem, shmot etsem – Noun, nouns – שם עצם, שמות עצם

Atsmi – Myself – עצמי

Chaim mi-shel atsmi – A life of my own – חיים משל עצמי

Sherut atsmi – self service – שירות עצמי

“Ein be’etsem zman” – Actually, there’s no time – אין בעצם זמן

“Shikarti kshe-amarti shehakol kol kach nifla, ki shum davar be’etsem lo haya nachon” – I lied when I said everything was so wonderful, because actually nothing was true – שיקרתי כשאמרתי שהכל כל כך נפלא כי שום דבר בעצם לא היה נכון

Playlist and Clips:

Kaveret – Po Kavor Ha-kelev (lyrics)

Ha-nasich ve-ha-nesicha

TV2 – UFOs in Israel

Ben Artsi – Hayim Mi-shel Atsmi (lyrics)

Jirafot – Ein Be’etsem Zman (lyrics)

Mashina – Az Lama Li Politika Achshav (lyrics)

Ma ze be’etsem networking?

Ep. no. 61 about acronyms

Ep. no. 419 about unidentified