ברק
“ברק” (барак) — lightning in Hebrew. Noun, level A1. The lightning is seen before the thunder is heard: barak — the flash — and then it thunders and the rain begins. In a live sentence: “ברק בשמיים, ואז גשם חזק.” — Lightning in the sky, and then heavy rain. Written with the characters ב, ר, ק. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | ברק |
| Read in Latin letters | барак |
| Translation | lightning |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The lightning is seen before the thunder is heard: barak — the flash — and then it thunders and the rain begins
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.
- ברק בשמיים, ואז גשם חזק.барак ба-шмаим, ве-аз гешем хазак.Lightning in the sky, and then heavy rain.
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 “lightning” in Hebrew?
«ברק», read “барак”. In a live sentence: “ברק בשמיים, ואז גשם חזק.” — Lightning in the sky, and then heavy rain. Noun, level A1; written with the characters ב, ר, ק.
How is “ברק” written in Latin letters?
барак. 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?
The lightning is seen before the thunder is heard: barak — the flash — and then it thunders and the rain begins. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.