מדף ספרים
“מדף ספרים” (мадэф сфарим) — bookshelf in Hebrew. Noun, level A1. The madaf is taken by the shelf — in general; the book one is the shelf of books — two familiar words in a chain. One letter separates it from the sifria — the library. In a live sentence: “כל הספרים שלי על מדף אחד.” — All my books are on one shelf. Written with the characters מ, ד, ס, פ, ר, י. A word from the everyday Hebrew course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | מדף ספרים |
| Read in Latin letters | мадэф сфарим |
| Translation | bookshelf |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The madaf is taken by the shelf — in general; the book one is the shelf of books — two familiar words in a chain. One letter separates it from the sifria — the library
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.
- כל הספרים שלי על מדף אחד.коль ха-сфарим шели аль мадэф эхад.All my books are on one shelf.
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 “bookshelf” in Hebrew?
«מדף ספרים», read “мадэф сфарим”. In a live sentence: “כל הספרים שלי על מדף אחד.” — All my books are on one shelf. Noun, level A1; written with the characters מ, ד, ס, פ, ר, י.
How is “מדף ספרים” written in Latin letters?
мадэф сфарим. 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 madaf is taken by the shelf — in general; the book one is the shelf of books — two familiar words in a chain. One letter separates it from the sifria — the library. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.