# To be alone is to be free



## Intercalaris

Hello!
I would like to say "To be alone is to be free" in Hebrew. Could someone please help me out?

<<unrelated question removed>>

Thank you very much for any help!


----------



## amikama

My suggestion:
להיות לבד פירושו להיות חופשי


----------



## Intercalaris

Thank you very much!


----------



## hadronic

How about: להיות לבד זה להיות חופשי ?


----------



## amikama

hadronic said:


> How about: להיות לבד זה להיות חופשי ?


Yes, that works too.

I felt the OP's phrase was sort of a motto (for tattoo?), so I tried to be a bit less literal


----------



## hadronic

Or "solitude is freedom" : בדידות היא חופש ?


----------



## origumi

Or like the (tweaked) song by Gilead / Leonidas:

אז הלכנו ללמוד באופן אישי
שלבד זה בעצם לגמרי חופשי
לבד זה לגמרי חופשי


----------



## amikama

hadronic said:


> Or "solitude is freedom" : בדידות היא חופש ?


The problem is that בדידות has negative connotations, so it doesn't quite fit here... I can't think of better synonyms/alternatives for בדידות.


----------



## Intercalaris

Thank you everyone for your help! I think להיות לבד זה להיות חופשי is closest to what I was getting at.
If I am allowed to ask, would a comma be placed right before "זה"? Would I usually write "להיות לבד, זה להיות חופשי", or would it be incorrect?
Again, thanks a lot


----------



## arielipi

It'd be incorrect.
would you write "to be alone is, to be free"?


----------



## hadronic

It would be : To be alone, is to be free.
I don't find it that weird ( because it's precisely what French does : Etre seul, c'est etre libre., and there the comma is mandatory).


----------



## Intercalaris

hadronic said:


> It would be : To be alone, is to be free.
> I don't find it that weird ( because it's precisely what French does : Etre seul, c'est etre libre., and there the comma is mandatory).


How I see ".להיות לבד זה להיות חופשי" is: "To be alone, this is to be free." I understand now that "זה" is necessary in Hebrew the same way "ce" is in French- that is just how the languages are, I guess.
I'll ask my mother her opinion on putting a comma in this sentence, since she is fluent in Hebrew, French, and English (my goals, haha).


----------



## hadronic

While not completely unrelated,  זה in Hebrew and "ce" in French are not there for the same reason. In Hebrew, זה really plays the role of "is" in English, in the absence of a present tense form for the verb "to be" in Hebrew.
It becomes obvious in the past tense:
[EN] To be alone was to be free.
[FR] Etre seul, c'etait etre libre. 
[HE] להיות לבד היה להיות חופשי.   This :  *להיות לבד זה היה להיות חופשי , wouldn't be grammatical, at least not standard.


----------

