Shalom in Hebrew

Shalom in Hebrew
Dove: “Shalom. Wake up, I brought you some peace”
This is how the common Middle Eastern thinks peace is possible, unfortunately.

Shalom in Hebrew is used for saying “hello” and “goodbye”. It also means peace in Hebrew. It is written this way:
שלום
The word, as you probably have recognized, consists of 4 letters, they are:

  1. ש: Shin: This is equivalent of SH in English. as in “ship”
  2. ל: This is simply an L, except for that it is pronounced more clearly than it is in English.
  3. ו:  Vav: Pretty much like O as in “storm”
  4. ם: Mem: Exactly as in English M.

I have recorded the word for you, so you can know how it exactly sounds like:
[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/shalom-in-hebrew.mp3″ text=”Shalom in Hebrew. Audio Pronunciation”]
Though the word is used for greetings, the word itself has nothing to do with “hi” nor “bye”! It simply means “peace”. I believe this is the case with all Semitic languages. In Arabic too, “Salam” is used for “bye”.
Now that you know what Hello/Goodbye is in Hebrew, why not learn a few more Hebrew phrases? Ready? Let’s rock!
I will not go too far with Hebrew greetings here, since I have dedicated another section that talks about them in details and with audio samples I recorded just for you.
We will just learn here how to say “how are you?” to both men and women.
The reason why I chose this phrase is that it actually includes a word that you already know. Shalom!
Yes, when you ask someone “how are you?” in Hebrew, you ask them literally “what is your peace?”.
When you ask a man “how are you”, you say:

מה שלומך?

Ma shlomcha?

[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/how-are-you-in-hebrew-male.mp3″ text=”How Are You in Hebrew. Said to a man”]
When you ask a woman “how are you”, you say:

מה שלומך?

ma shlomech?

[wpaudio url=”http://www.israelhebrew.com/wp-content/uploads/how-are-you-in-hebrew-female.mp3″ text=”How Are You in Hebrew. Said to a woman”]
Now feel free to say that you speak SOME Hebrew, because you simply do! But tell you what, you would be surprised how easy it is to learn Hebrew when you get the right Hebrew course. There are many ways to learn Hebrew out there. I personally prefer Pimsleur Hebrew, while others prefer LiveMocha and other teach-yourself-hebrew methods. It is all up to you, just find the right program that suits you the most and stick to it. I find Pimsleur very convenient for most Hebrew learners, though it is kind of expensive for students like me.

Learn to Write Shalom in Hebrew with Printable Worksheets

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One thought on “Shalom in Hebrew”

  1. This is a good work that will encourage people like me to learn Hebrew the more. I am indeed interested.

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