לא שמעתי טוב
“לא שמעתי טוב” (ло шамати тов) — I did not hear you in Hebrew. Phrase, level B1. The prefix Hebrew renders with an adverb: did not catch = did not hear well. On the phone they say lo shomim — it is not audible. In a live sentence: “סליחה, לא שמעתי טוב.” — Excuse me, I did not hear you. Written with the characters ל, א, ש, מ, ע, ת, י, ט, ו, ב. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | לא שמעתי טוב |
| Read in Latin letters | ло шамати тов |
| Translation | I did not hear you |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
The prefix Hebrew renders with an adverb: did not catch = did not hear well. On the phone they say lo shomim — it is not audible
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, לא שמעתי טוב.слиха, ло шамати тов.Excuse me, I did not hear you.
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 “I did not hear you” in Hebrew?
«לא שמעתי טוב», read “ло шамати тов”. In a live sentence: “סליחה, לא שמעתי טוב.” — Excuse me, I did not hear you. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ל, א, ש, מ, ע, ת, י, ט, ו, ב.
How is “לא שמעתי טוב” written in Latin letters?
ло шамати тов. 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 prefix Hebrew renders with an adverb: did not catch = did not hear well. On the phone they say lo shomim — it is not audible. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.