הפסקת צהריים
“הפסקת צהריים” (хафсакат цораим) — lunch break in Hebrew. Noun, level A1. Hafsaka is any break, like the school recess; the lunch one carries the name of the meal. At work it is counted as an hour. In a live sentence: “הפסקת הצהריים בעבודה חצי שעה.” — The lunch break at work is half an hour. Written with the characters ה, פ, ס, ק, ת, צ, ה, ר, י, י. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | הפסקת צהריים |
| Read in Latin letters | хафсакат цораим |
| Translation | lunch break |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Hafsaka is any break, like the school recess; the lunch one carries the name of the meal. At work it is counted as an hour
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.
- הפסקת הצהריים בעבודה חצי שעה.хафсакат ха-цораим ба-авода хеци шаа.The lunch break at work is half an hour.
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 “lunch break” in Hebrew?
«הפסקת צהריים», read “хафсакат цораим”. In a live sentence: “הפסקת הצהריים בעבודה חצי שעה.” — The lunch break at work is half an hour. Noun, level A1; written with the characters ה, פ, ס, ק, ת, צ, ה, ר, י, י.
How is “הפסקת צהריים” written in Latin letters?
хафсакат цораим. 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?
Hafsaka is any break, like the school recess; the lunch one carries the name of the meal. At work it is counted as an hour. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.