# so



## אדם

That helps a lot, and it also makes more sense.

A bit off topic -- but is there a way to say "so" in Hebrew?


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## eshcar

Hauser said:


> That helps a lot, and it also makes more sense.
> 
> A bit off topic -- but is there a way to say "so" in Hebrew?


 
Well, if you mean 'so' as in, for example 'so, what have you been up to lately?" then you would use אז, and the translation of that sentnce would be "אז, מה עשית לאחרונה?" 
If you mean 'so' as in, for example, 'you're soooo good looking!', then you would use כזה/כל כך, and the translation would be 'אתה כזה/כל כך חתיך!'.
(כזה is more slangy)


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## אדם

Thanks! I meant it as in אז, but it is useful to know the other one as well. I think I've heard כל כך before, with something about food. האכל כל כך טוב. Something like that (which can be related to your example as well).

Once again, thanks.


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## בעל-חלומות

eshcar said:


> Well, if you mean 'so' as in, for example 'so, what have you been up to lately?" then you would use אז, and the translation of that sentnce would be "אז, מה עשית לאחרונה?"


 
Also, נו or a combination of the two, נו אז.


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## אדם

Where would you use נו instead of אז? And how is that pronounced? No, nav, nu?


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## eshcar

> Where would you use נו instead of אז? And how is that pronounced? No, nav, nu?


 
I'd say that נו and אז are interchangeable almost always, so, for example, these 2 sentences are equal.
אז, מה עשית בזמן האחרון?
נו, מה עשית בזמן האחרון?​ 
However, נו _(_pronounced _nu_)has a slight exhortative shade to it. So, in these 2 sentences:​אז, הולכים לסרט?
נו, הולכים לסרט?​ 
the first sentence would be simply "so, are we going to the movies?"
and the second would be more "so, are we going to the movies (already)?" or "come on. are we going to the movies?"​ 
נו is a very common word in hebrew, and it has several shades of meaning. I'll try to give examples of the usages I know, but I hope other users will add their own input.​ 
First, the exhortative use, which I already demonstarted. Often as an interjection - translated into 'come on'. Say, if you're calling someone on the phone and they don't answer, you can say נו, תענה כבר! (_come on, pick up already!_). A variant is נו כבר, which is the same, only more emphatic.​ 
Secondly, as an interrogative particle - translated into 'well'.
For example, when asking someone's opinion about something - נו? מה נראה לך? (well? what do you think?)​ 
Thirdly, as a sign of resignation, like in נו, מה אפשר לעשות? (_oh well, what can you do?_). Also when answering נו, טוב and נו, בסדר, which would translate into 'oh, alright (then)'.​ 
Well, that's all I can think about right now, though I'm sure I've left some usages out...​


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## Gadyc

Hauser said:


> Where would you use נו instead of אז? And how is that pronounced? No, nav, nu?


 
Exactly like in Russian, it came from.


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## אדם

Thanks Eschar. So is אז more like, "So, how are you?" (אז, מה שלומך) and נו when referring to something that is already supposed to happen, or more like an event. "So, are we going to the movies now?" which implies that they already should have been at the movies.

Is that correct?


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## eshcar

Hauser said:


> Thanks Eschar. So is אז more like, "So, how are you?" (אז, מה שלומך) and נו when referring to something that is already supposed to happen, or more like an event. "So, are we going to the movies now?" which implies that they already should have been at the movies.
> 
> Is that correct?


 
Yes and No. Let me try to explain myself  - I didn't mean that the use of אז and נו is limited to any specific tense. 
When asking/stating about something that isn't in the future, like in your suggestion - מה שלומך? then נו and אז are *completely interchangeable*, and נו  loses it's exhortative shade because, well, ther's nothing to exhort...

When asking/talking about something in the future, then *you can also use both אז or נו*, but the meaning of the sentences will be slightly different, with נו having an exhortative shade (as I showed in one of the previous posts).


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## אדם

That makes sense.

I understand that they are interchangable, but tell me if the sense of these two sentences make sense:

נו, אנחנו ללכת עכשו??​ 
אז, אנחנו ללכת עכשו?​ 
Where the first one is more like, "So, are we going to go now??" Like we already should have, but the second is the same, but more an actual geniune question of, "Are we going to go now?"


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## eshcar

Hauser said:


> That makes sense.
> 
> I understand that they are interchangable, but tell me if the sense of these two sentences make sense:
> 
> נו, אנחנו הולכים עכשיו??​
> אז, אנחנו הולכים עכשיו?​
> Where the first one is more like, "So, are we going to go now??" Like we already should have, but the second is the same, but more an actual geniune question of, "Are we going to go now?"


 
Yes, exactly!
I wasn't sure that you'd get it - my explanation was kinda vague, I thought, but you got the gist of it alright. 
Go you!


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## אדם

Haha thanks. About עכשיו I wrote it without the yud cause that's what it showed on one of the dictionaries online, while it showed with a yud on another (I didn't know which one to trust). Just to clarify, that is pronounced _Ach'shav_ right? And is הולכים "going" rather than ללכת "to go"?


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## eshcar

Hauser said:


> Haha thanks. About עכשיו I wrote it without the yud cause that's what it showed on one of the dictionaries online, while it showed with a yud on another (I didn't know which one to trust). Just to clarify, that is pronounced _Ach'shav_ right? And is הולכים "going" rather than ללכת "to go"?


 
First of all - yes, it is pronounced _ach'shav_ (can't see why the dictionary didn't show a yud - it's always written with a yud)

and secondly - yes, הולכים is 'going' and ללכת is 'to go'. What I didn't notice was that what you wanted to say was 'are we going to go now?'. The translation in hebrew should've been 'אנחנו הולכים ללכת עכשיו?' - I just didn't notice and formed accidentlay the sentence אנחנו הולכים עכשיו? (_are we going now?_).


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## אדם

Haha that's alright, it has the same meaning for the most part, and I understood. That make's a lot of sense, so thanks a lot once again.


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## JaiHare

eshcar said:


> First of all - yes, it is pronounced _ach'shav_ (can't see why the dictionary didn't show a yud - it's always written with a yud)


The word עכשיו always appears with a yud in unpointed texts. There is a defective form, however, that comes from the religious texts, and it is עַכְשָׁו - without a yud. In fact, this is how it appears in Morfix's online dictionary.

Just for Hauser's general knowledge, you should definitely write it with a yud, just as you should write אוכל with a vav. 

JaiHare


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## אדם

Haha alright. Thanks. That is actually where it showed it without a yud, so thanks for the explanation


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