Categories: Ktzat Ivrit

In Hebrew: '200-Shekel Discount'

By Ami Steinberger

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December 23, 2012, 7 PM ET

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מָאתַיִם

200-shekel discount for early registration (Sunday deadline) for Ulpan classes in Jerusalem.

In Western languages such as English, Spanish, German, etc, we add a number from 1-10 before a multiple of 100. For example: one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, etc. In Hebrew and other languages, the second item in such a count gets a special name that ends with the sound AH-yeem

. An example from the Torah portion to be read this Shabbat by Jews around the world:

כִּי-זֶה שְׁנָתַיִם הָרָעָב, בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ; וְעוֹד חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים, אֲשֶׁר אֵין חָרִישׁ וְקָצִיר (בְּרֵאשִׁית מ"ה:ו') For two years now there has been a famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping (Genesis 45:6)

Here the word שְׁנָתַיִם

means two years. Compare it with the others in the list below to see the difference:

שָׁנָה אַחַת - one year שְׁנָתִים - two years שָׁלֹש שָׁנִים - three years אַרְבַּע שָׁנִים - four years חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים - five years שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים - six years שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים - seven years שְׁמוֹנֶה שָׁנִים - eight years תֵּשַׁע שָׁנִים - nine years עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים - ten years listen to this list read aloud