לקנא בבת זוג
“לקנא בבת זוג” (ликнеа ба-бат зуг) — to be jealous in Hebrew. Verb, level B1. The same verb liknea as in to envy: Hebrew does not divide them — the turn with bat zug, a partner, makes it jealousy. He is jealous of his girlfriend without a reason. In a live sentence: “הוא מקנא בבת הזוג שלו בלי סיבה.” — He is jealous of his girlfriend without a reason. Written with the characters ל, ק, נ, א, ב, ב, ת, ז, ו, ג.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | לקנא בבת זוג |
| Read in Latin letters | ликнеа ба-бат зуг |
| Translation | to be jealous |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
The same verb liknea as in to envy: Hebrew does not divide them — the turn with bat zug, a partner, makes it jealousy. He is jealous of his girlfriend without a reason
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.
- הוא מקנא בבת הזוג שלו בלי סיבה.у микне ба-бат ха-зуг шельо бли сиба.He is jealous of his girlfriend without a reason.
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 jealous” in Hebrew?
«לקנא בבת זוג», read “ликнеа ба-бат зуг”. In a live sentence: “הוא מקנא בבת הזוג שלו בלי סיבה.” — He is jealous of his girlfriend without a reason. Verb, level B1; written with the characters ל, ק, נ, א, ב, ב, ת, ז, ו, ג.
How is “לקנא בבת זוג” written in Latin letters?
ликнеа ба-бат зуг. 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 same verb liknea as in to envy: Hebrew does not divide them — the turn with bat zug, a partner, makes it jealousy. He is jealous of his girlfriend without a reason. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.