# "קר לי"- "I am + adjective" type sentences



## ilbisaac

Hello,
What is the significance in using a sentence like "קר לי" to express that "I am cold" rather than, say, "אני קר" ? Does this work for all adjectives? 2nd, 3rd person? What about in different tenses? I am currently studying Hebrew and my teachers only correct me when I make little mistakes like this.

I appreciate responses. This is my first post.


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## bat777

Welcome ilbisaac,
I'll try to make a generalization.
I think that constructions of the type "I am + adjective" in Hebrew are used with adjectives which denote traits of the person or the person's body. So you say: 
 (I'm tall) אני גבוה
הוא שמן (He's fat)
 (She's smart) היא חכמה

I'm cold, however, is not a trait of the speaker, it's in fact something that happens to him. I believe this is why you say קר לי and not אני קר. You could say אני קר but then it would get the meaning that your body is actually cold (I hope I mannaged to clarify the distinction).
when I try to think of other examples like cold, which should be used 
adj+לי I can't really find any which are not colloquial.
I guess that the construction of קר sort of spread to other adjectives, so you can hear now שמח לי, עצוב לי, רטוב לי , which should have been אני שמח/ה, אני עצוב/ה, אני רטוב/ה. I'm actually not quite sure about עצוב לי this may be correct according to the "grammar book" and not just in colloquial language.

For some reason I get the feeling that I coused more confusion than I helped...

It would be interesting if anyone could define the semantic difference between אני רטוב and רטוב לי. I think that רטוב לי sort of describes a general feeling or state, while אני רטוב simply describes a present state of being wet. Any other suggestions?
Gooday to all


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## ilbisaac

Yeah, I'm still a little bit confused.
This seems like one of those things that comes naturally to a native speaker and has to be learned case by case for the rest of us... but I'm not sure.

About the traits/body thing, I recall my friend recommending that I download or listen to this catchy Israeli song called "חם לי בגוף". Is this then just slang or something that makes grammatical sense? It would make sense if it were slang, based on its implications... 

Thanks for your help,
ilbisaac


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## Flaminius

I am not a native but there is a similar construction used for, "My <body part> hurts";
כואב לי הרואש.

In this light, "חם לי הגוף" sounds perfectly grammatical.  I hope natives would chime in to determine if _ba-guf_ is more grammatical than _ha-guf_ here.


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## amikama

Flaminius said:


> I am not a native but there is a similar construction used for, "My <body part> hurts";
> כואב לי  *הרואש*  *הראש*.


This is similar to the Spanish construction: _me duele la cabeza_  



> In this light, "חם לי הגוף" sounds perfectly grammatical. I hope natives would chime in to determine if _ba-guf_ is more grammatical than _ha-guf_ here.


Perfectly grammatical maybe, but to me it sounds wrong. I would definitely say *ב*גוף, maybe because I feel the heath *inside* my body.


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## .Lola.

Hello,

I would say, that senteces like קר לי are very similar to those with אסור, מותר,  etc.
In both cases, there is some general situation (it is cold/hot or it is forbidden/allowed) and if you want to relate it to yourself (or to anybody else), you add the preposition ל with the appropriate suffix (לי, לך etc.)

If I would have to translate it would be something like this:
 קר = It is cold.
קר לי = It is cold to me.

Does it make sense?


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## ilbisaac

Yes, that makes sense.
So, to give another example, how would you say "I am cute" and "You (plural) are wise" ?
Thanks.


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## explotion

"I am cute" is different then קר לי
I am cute will be
אני חמוד

what lola sad makes perfect sense

"You are wise?" in plural will be
אתם חכמים?


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## etymologist

explotion said:


> "I am cute" is different then קר לי
> I am cute will be
> אני חמוד
> 
> what lola sad makes perfect sense
> 
> "You are wise?" in plural will be
> אתם חכמים?


 
Hi. Yes, that's correct.


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