לאיות, בבקשה
“לאיות, בבקשה” (ле-ийот, бевакаша) — spell it, please in Hebrew. Phrase, level B1. Leiot — to dictate letter by letter — from ot — the letter — which you know. A name on the phone is always asked leiot, and it is not offensive. In a live sentence: “סליחה, אפשר לאיות שוב?” — Excuse me, can you spell it again? Written with the characters ל, א, י, ו, ת, ב, ב, ק, ש, ה. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | לאיות, בבקשה |
| Read in Latin letters | ле-ийот, бевакаша |
| Translation | spell it, please |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Leiot — to dictate letter by letter — from ot — the letter — which you know. A name on the phone is always asked leiot, and it is not offensive
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.
- סליחה, אפשר לאיות שוב?слиха, эфшар ле-ийот шув?Excuse me, can you spell it again?
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 “spell it, please” in Hebrew?
«לאיות, בבקשה», read “ле-ийот, бевакаша”. In a live sentence: “סליחה, אפשר לאיות שוב?” — Excuse me, can you spell it again? Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ל, א, י, ו, ת, ב, ב, ק, ש, ה.
How is “לאיות, בבקשה” written in Latin letters?
ле-ийот, бевакаша. 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?
Leiot — to dictate letter by letter — from ot — the letter — which you know. A name on the phone is always asked leiot, and it is not offensive. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.