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Word of the day: לבוא - to come

22 September 2016

לָבוֹא lavo "to come" is one of the most common verbs in Hebrew:

דָּוִד בָּא לַשִּׁעוּר. דַּפְנָה לֺא תָּבוֺא.
David ba la-shi'ur. Dafna lo tavo.
David came to the class. Dafna will not come.

It's a binyan qal (pa'al) verb with the hollow root בו״א. If you want to be fluent, you are recommended to learn its conjugation by heart.

When used in imperative (בּוֹא bo when addressing a man, בּוֹאִי bo'i when addressing a woman, בּוֹאוּ bo'u when speaking to a group), it can be translated as "let us, let's". The main verb should be put in the first-person plural future form:

בּוֺאוּ נֵלֵךְ לַחוֺף!
Bo'u nelech la-chof!
Let's go to the beach!

(literally: "Come we will go to the beach!")

When used impersonally, with a subject preceded by ל־, e. g. בָּא לִי ba li, בָּא לְךָ ba lecha, etc., it means "feel like", "would love to":

לֺא בָּא לִי לְדַבֵּר עַל זֶה.
Lo ba li ledaber al ze.
I don't feel like talking about this.

The participle בָּא ba "coming" is also used in the sense of next: הַשָּׁבוּעַ הַבָּא ha-shavua ha-ba "next week", הַשָּׁבוּעַ הַבָּאָה ha-shana ha-ba'a "next year".

The traditional Shabbat song לְכָה דּוֺדִי lecha dodi "Come my beloved" includes a verse בּוֺאִי בְּשָׁלוֺם ... בּוֺאִי כַּלָּה bo'i be-shalom ... bo'i kala "Come in peace ... come o bride":

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See also

Word of the day: להתחיל - to begin

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