אני חושש שלא
“אני חושש שלא” (ани хошэш шело) — I am afraid not in Hebrew. Phrase, level B1. Lechosesh — to fear: the polite refusal is built exactly so, while a bare lo sounds sharp. The she- here has merged with lo — shelo. In a live sentence: “אני חושש שלא.” — I am afraid not. Written with the characters א, נ, י, ח, ו, ש, ש, ש, ל, א. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | אני חושש שלא |
| Read in Latin letters | ани хошэш шело |
| Translation | I am afraid not |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Lechosesh — to fear: the polite refusal is built exactly so, while a bare lo sounds sharp. The she- here has merged with lo — shelo
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- אני חושש שלא.ани хошэш шело.I am afraid not.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “I am afraid not” in Hebrew?
«אני חושש שלא», read “ани хошэш шело”. In a live sentence: “אני חושש שלא.” — I am afraid not. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters א, נ, י, ח, ו, ש, ש, ש, ל, א.
How is “אני חושש שלא” written in Latin letters?
ани хошэш шело. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Lechosesh — to fear: the polite refusal is built exactly so, while a bare lo sounds sharp. The she- here has merged with lo — shelo. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.