Streetwise Hebrew

In addition to calling and texting, your smartphone is also a fancy nagan-em-pi-shalosh (נגן אם-פי-3). What's that? Well, without this capability you wouldn't be able to listen to this podcast on the move! Today's episode is all about the root נ.ג.נ, out of which Hebrew words like ניגון, מנגינה, and נגינה are constructed. Listen to the all-Hebrew version of this episode. New Words and Expressions: Niggun, niggunim - Inflection (linguistics), Nigun - ניגון Paytan - A person who writes/sings a piyyut - פייטן Mangina - Melody, tune - מנגינה Manginat he-halil - The melody of the flute - מנגינת החליל Negina - Playing music - נגינה Shi’ur negina be-psantar, Shi’ur psanter - Piano lesson - שיעור נגינה בפסנתר, שיעור פסנתר Lenagen - To play (music) - לנגן Az kol mi she-menagen al gitara - So anyone who plays guitar - אז כל מי שמנגן על גיטרה Afilu im hu menagen lo harbe zman - Even if he plays not for a long time - אפילו אם הוא מנגן לא הרבה זמן Ze shir (she)dei pashut lenagen (oto) - It’s a song that is pretty easy to