Yiddish isn’t
a dead language. In fact there are about 0.5-1.0 speakers. The book “Unorthodox”
by Deborah Feldman encouraged me to write this very basic guide to Yiddish. Yiddish
has been the lingua franca of the Ashkenazim (ashkenazic Jews) in middle and Eastern
Europe. Like modern German Yiddish has its roots in medieval German. But it has
an own grammar and lots of word come from Hebrew and other languages. Yiddish
is considered a language of its own, being part of the continental West Germanic
branch of Germanic languages like Afrikaans, Dutch, German, Letzebuergisch
(Luxemburgish language). Some loan words from Yiddish are still in use in
nowadays German. Yiddish has several dialects, with which we won’t concern
ourselves in the very basic guide.
Thank you –
a dank (pronounced donk) [German: Danke]
Thank you
very much – a sheynem dank [German: Schönen Dank]
You’re
welcome – nishto farvos
Yes – yo [German:
Ja]
No – neyn [German:
Nein]
Do you speak
English? – redt ir English? (formal) redstu English? (informal) [German:
would prefer sprechen to reden, but still correct is: Reden Sie Englisch?
Redest Du Englisch?]
Please – zayt asoy gut [German: Bitte, but „Seien Sie so
gut“ would still be possible]
Excuse me – entshuldik
(for getting attention) [German: Entschuldigung?!]
Sorry – zay moykh
You’re
welcome – nishto farvos
Good morning
– gutn morgn [German: Guten Morgen]
Good evening
– gutn ovend [German: Guten Abend]
Good night – a gute nakht [German: Gute Nacht]
Hello – sholem
aleykhem
Hello
(answer) – aleykhem sholem
See you
later – biz shpeter [German: Bis später]
Goodbye – zay
gezunt
Good luck! – zol zayn mit mazel!
How are you?
– vi geyt es? [German: Wie geht’s?]
I’m fine! Thanks!
– es geyt gut, a dank! [German: Mir geht’s gut. Danke!]
I would like
to buy ... – ikh volt vi tsu koyfn ...
How much is
it? – vi tayer iz dos? [German: Wie teuer ist das? But
preferably: Wieviel kostet das?]
I like – mir gefelt [German: mir gefällt]
Please write
it down – shrayb es on, ikh bet dikh
I don’t know – ikh vis nit [German: ich weiß nicht]
I don’t understand this – ikh farstey dos nit [German: ich
verstehe das nicht]
Where is – vu
iz [German: wo ist]
Where is the
bathroom? – vu iz dos bodtsimer? [German: Wo ist das Badezimmer?]
I'm lost – ikh
bin farloyrn
What is your
name? – vi heystu? [German: Wie heisst Du?]
My name is LMK – ikh heys LMK [German: ich heisse LMK]
Mr, Mrs, Ms –
her, froy, fraylin [German: Herr, Frau, Fräulein, but Fräulein hardly in use
anymore]
Left – links
[German: links]
Right – rekhts
[German: rechts]
I need a
doctor – ikh darf a doktor
Please blame
any mistakes on me.
Links
for Yiddish:
Links for more Basic Guides:
The Very Basic Guide to Portuguese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-portuguese.html
The Very Basic Guide to Italian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-italian.html
The Very Basic Guide
to Afrikaans http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-afrikaans.html
The Very Basic Guide
to Turkmenian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-languages-of.html
The Very Basic Guide
to French http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-french.html
The Very Basic Guide
to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html
The Very Basic Guide
to Japanese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/the-very-basic-guide-to-japanese.html
The Very Basic Guide
to Mandarin Chinese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-mandarin-chinese.html
The Very Basic Guide
to Spanish http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-spanish.html
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