מה זה אומר?
“מה זה אומר?” (ма зэ омер?) — what does it mean? in Hebrew. Phrase, level A2. Literally what does this say: the word says carries its meaning. Mashmaut — the meaning — you know from the lesson about thought; here Hebrew is simpler. In a live sentence: “מה זה אומר?” — What does it mean? Written with the characters מ, ה, ז, ה, א, ו, מ, ר. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | מה זה אומר? |
| Read in Latin letters | ма зэ омер? |
| Translation | what does it mean? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally what does this say: the word says carries its meaning. Mashmaut — the meaning — you know from the lesson about thought; here Hebrew is simpler
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.
- מה זה אומר?ма зэ омер?What does it mean?
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 “what does it mean?” in Hebrew?
«מה זה אומר?», read “ма зэ омер?”. In a live sentence: “מה זה אומר?” — What does it mean? Phrase, level A2; written with the characters מ, ה, ז, ה, א, ו, מ, ר.
How is “מה זה אומר?” written in Latin letters?
ма зэ омер? 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 what does this say: the word says carries its meaning. Mashmaut — the meaning — you know from the lesson about thought; here Hebrew is simpler. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.