Lesson 73: Telling a Story
A good story needs more than verbs — it needs the little words that move it along: “suddenly”, “after that”, “in the end”. This lesson gives you the connectors that turn events into a narrative.
Something funny happened
אֶתְמוֹל קָרָה לִי מַשֶּׁהוּ מַצְחִיק.
etmol kara li mashehu matschik.
Yesterday something funny happened to me.
הָלַכְתִּי לַסּוּפֶּר לִקְנוֹת לֶחֶם.
halachti lasuper liknot lechem.
I went to the supermarket to buy bread.
פִּתְאוֹם פָּגַשְׁתִּי חָבֵר יָשָׁן.
pit’om pagashti chaver yashan.
Suddenly I met an old friend.
דִּבַּרְנוּ הַרְבֵּה, וְשָׁכַחְתִּי לִקְנוֹת אֶת הַלֶּחֶם.
dibarnu harbe, veshachachti liknot et halechem.
We talked a lot, and I forgot to buy the bread.
בַּסּוֹף חָזַרְתִּי הַבַּיְתָה בְּלִי כְּלוּם!
basof chazarti habaita bli klum!
In the end I came home with nothing!
Grammar: connectors that move a story
The events are all in the past tense (Lesson 13’s pattern). What makes them a story are the connectors:
| Hebrew | Romanization | English |
|---|---|---|
| בָּהַתְחָלָה | bahatchala | at first |
| אַחַר כָּךְ | achar kach | after that |
| פִּתְאוֹם | pit’om | suddenly |
| בַּסּוֹף | basof | in the end |
Note the purpose construction לִקְנוֹת (liknot, “to buy”): a verb in the infinitive after another verb expresses why — “I went… to buy bread.”
Tip: קָרָה (kara, “happened”) + the “to-me/to-you” words makes the perfect story opener: קָרָה לִי מַשֶּׁהוּ… (“something happened to me…”).
Vocabulary
Story connectors
| פִּתְאוֹם | pit’om | suddenly |
| בַּסּוֹף | basof | in the end |
| בָּהַתְחָלָה | bahatchala | at first |
Story verbs (past)
| קָרָה | kara | happened |
| פָּגַשְׁתִּי | pagashti | I met |
| שָׁכַחְתִּי | shachachti | I forgot |
Useful words
| סִפּוּר | sipur | story |
| מַשֶּׁהוּ | mashehu | something |
| כְּלוּם | klum | nothing |