להתפלא
“להתפלא” (леитпалэ) — to be surprised in Hebrew. Verb, level A2. From pele — a wonder: to be surprised means to marvel. One is surprised mi — at: mitpale michavera — surprised at a friend. In a live sentence: “אני מתפלא למה הוא עצוב.” — I am surprised why he is sad. Written with the characters ל, ה, ת, פ, ל, א. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | להתפלא |
| Read in Latin letters | леитпалэ |
| Translation | to be surprised |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
From pele — a wonder: to be surprised means to marvel. One is surprised mi — at: mitpale michavera — surprised at a friend
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 מתפלא למה הוא עצוב.ани митпалэ лама ху ацув.I am surprised why he is sad.
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 be surprised” in Hebrew?
«להתפלא», read “леитпалэ”. In a live sentence: “אני מתפלא למה הוא עצוב.” — I am surprised why he is sad. Verb, level A2; written with the characters ל, ה, ת, פ, ל, א.
How is “להתפלא” written in Latin letters?
леитпалэ. 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?
From pele — a wonder: to be surprised means to marvel. One is surprised mi — at: mitpale michavera — surprised at a friend. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.