# המחכים



## airelibre

בהשיר את חכי לי ע"י אריק לביא, למה הוא שר המחכים? למה לא המחכה או מחכה
 למי זה מתייחס
 בכל השיר הוא שר ל”את“,  למה הוא שר על  גברים ברבוי כאן

את חכי, חכי, ולו 
לא יבוא מיכתב. 
את חכי אם גם ילאו 
המחכים לשוא

תודה רבה


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## arielipi

ילאו המחכים לשוא
yil'u is lose hope.stop trying/hoping
refers to those waiting..


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## hebrewman

מחכים does not refer to the girl here, rather to other persons that will lose  hope. The plural male form does not necessarily refer males, it's plural for  persons, the other "waiters" that lose hope.

  By the way in other stanzas there is male plural form, in the first one :אַתְּ חַכִּי עֵת *אֲחֵרִים*
יִשְׁתַּכְּחוּ עַד תֹּם.


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## airelibre

hebrewman said:


> By the way in other stanzas there is male plural form, in the first one :אַתְּ חַכִּי עֵת *אֲחֵרִים*
> יִשְׁתַּכְּחוּ עַד תֹּם.



What does this sentence mean? I'm struggling to translate it.

So as I understand the song is about a soldier who is away from home and is hoping that his sweetheart does not give up hope on him. Is this right? 
When the "others" lose hope, does this mean they lose hope for him, or for their respective loved ones? I'd expect the latter, but זכר נשמתי suggests otherwise. 

One final question, חי אחזורה חי
I think this means "live, I will return alive", but I will return should just be אחזור so what does אחזורה with the final ה mean?

Thank you very much for your time.


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## arielipi

as i havent read the full song now, ill reply to your last question - ekhzorah means ill return [to X, whether home or place or someone].


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## airelibre

arielipi said:


> as i havent read the full song now, ill reply to your last question - ekhzorah means ill return [to X, whether home or place or someone].



So why is there a difference here, between את חכי לי ואחזור and חי אחזורה חי 
???


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## arbelyoni

> So why is there a difference here, between את חכי לי ואחזור and חי אחזורה חי
> ???


Emphasis: I _shall _return.


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## rosemarino

> חי אחזורה חי



Doesn't this mean, I will return _alive?_


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## arbelyoni

> Doesn't this mean, I will return _alive?_


Yes, it does.

I was referring to the difference between אחזור and אחזורה.
The former is simply an action in the future. The latter is used to denote the cohortative mood (in Hebrew it's called עתיד מוארך).


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## rosemarino

מעניין מאד. אף פעם לא שמעתי על הצורה הזאת


אולי אפשר לתרגם "חי אחזורה חי" לאנגלית כ​

Alive, let me return alive.

Or

Alive, may I return alive.


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## arbelyoni

> מעניין מאד. אף פעם לא שמעתי על הצורה הזאת


Sure you have! One of the most famous Hebrew songs is הָבָה נָגִילָה, which consists of two verbs in ציווי מוארך and עתיד מוארך (the short, "regular" forms are הב and נגיל).
This form is very common and prevalent in the bible. In Modern Hebrew it is considered archaic and highly poetic.



> אולי אפשר לתרגם "חי אחזורה חי" לאנגלית כ
> 
> Alive, let me return alive.
> 
> Or
> 
> Alive, may I return alive.


I'm not so sure... 
Your translations suggest pleading, desire (the speaker wishes to return), whereas the Hebrew phrasing denotes self urging or self encouragement (the speaker assures himself that he _will _return).


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## arielipi

alive, i [shall] return alive.


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## rosemarino

> I'm not so sure...
> Your translations suggest pleading, desire (the speaker wishes to return), whereas the Hebrew phrasing denotes self urging or self encouragement (the speaker assures himself that he _will _return).



I think it only sounds pleading because of the context, arbelyoni.  הבה נגילה is usually translated "Let us rejoice."  Never knew that was cohortative though.  Good to know.


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## airelibre

Thank you for enlightening me on the cohortative mood.



hebrewman said:


> By the way in other stanzas there is male plural form, in the first one :אַתְּ חַכִּי עֵת *אֲחֵרִים*
> יִשְׁתַּכְּחוּ עַד תֹּם.



I am yet to understand this sentence, particularly which verb ישתכחו comes under, since it isn't recognised by my dictionary.


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## rosemarino

ישתכחו is the third person plural future form of the verb להשתכח which means "to be forgotten."

I think the verse

את חכי עת אחרים 
ישתכחו עד תום. 

means  

wait for me while others
have been finally forgotten

or: have been forgotten in the end

Note that the tense of ישתכחו has to be changed to make it correct in English.


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

> את חכי עת אחרים ישתכחו עד תום



Жди, когда других не ждут, позабыв вчера... (K. Simonov) Literally: Keep waiting (for me), (even) while others were already forgotten yesterday.

*rosemarino *suggested an excellent translation.


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