לחטט בכיסים
“לחטט בכיסים” (лахтет бе-кисим) — to search the pockets in Hebrew. Verb, level A1. Literally "to dig in the pockets": to search while turning everything inside. One digs the same way in a bag and in a drawer. In a live sentence: “חטטתי בכיסים, אבל המפתח לא שם.” — I searched my pockets, but the key was not there. Written with the characters ל, ח, ט, ט, ב, כ, י, ס, י. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | לחטט בכיסים |
| Read in Latin letters | лахтет бе-кисим |
| Translation | to search the pockets |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "to dig in the pockets": to search while turning everything inside. One digs the same way in a bag and in a drawer
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.
- חטטתי בכיסים, אבל המפתח לא שם.хитетти бе-кисим, аваль ха-мафтеах ло шам.I searched my pockets, but the key was not there.
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 “to search the pockets” in Hebrew?
«לחטט בכיסים», read “лахтет бе-кисим”. In a live sentence: “חטטתי בכיסים, אבל המפתח לא שם.” — I searched my pockets, but the key was not there. Verb, level A1; written with the characters ל, ח, ט, ט, ב, כ, י, ס, י.
How is “לחטט בכיסים” written in Latin letters?
лахтет бе-кисим. 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?
Literally "to dig in the pockets": to search while turning everything inside. One digs the same way in a bag and in a drawer. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.