# קפצי לי / קפוצי לי



## scriptum

*** Split from this thread ***



amikama said:


> It's קפצי לי (_kiftsi li_), not קפוצי לי


Hmm. Unless I am _very_ mistaken, nobody in his right mind would say kiftzi li. Of course it is the correct form - according to a school manual of Hebrew grammar. But I never heard such a word in my life. People in the streets say either tikpetzi or kfotzi.
The funny thing is that kfotzi is a biblical form. And it is really fascinating to see the ancient phonetic processes resuscitated in the modern slang.


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## origumi

scriptum said:


> People in the streets say either tikpetzi or kfotzi.


I don't think that "kfotzi" exists in modern Hebrew, formal or informal.
"Kiftzi li" is in common use, no less than "tikpetzi li".



> The funny thing is that kfotzi is a biblical form.


Do you have an example from the Bible?


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## scriptum

origumi said:


> Do you have an example from the Bible?


Of course. גְזוֹרוּ in the story of Solomon's judgment. And I heard "kfotzi li" with my own ears.


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## origumi

Thanks.

Are you sure that it's imperative plural and not contraction of גזור אותו?


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## scriptum

Yes. This is a so-called pausal form of the imperative. See other examples in Gesenius, 46.


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## פפאיה

Hi, 
It should be _*kfetzi li*_ if anything, souldn't it? I've never heard anything like *kfotzi*. It is even wrong for a wrong way of saying it.


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## hadronic

No, because you cannot have two shva na` side by side, the first one always transmutes to "i", cf. li-msiba, divrei-, and so on.


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## פפאיה

Hi,

Well, technically you're right, but in Modern Spoken Hebrew you can find more examples showing that this rule is not always followed by. For instance, the female imperative form of more verbs such as *tishmeri* is actually pronounced *shmeri* (and not *shimri*), *tiftechi => ftechi *(תפתחי => פתחי) and so on.

As a rule, in MSH we tend not to use the imperative form much anymore, but use the future tense instead. It is much more common to say "תפתחי את הדלת" instead of "פתחי את הדלת", or "תאכלי את התפוח" instead of "אכלי את התפוח". It is something that can also be seen in Modern Spoken Arabic, and is used out of convenience, I think.

I think that you would hear more *kfetzi li *than *tikfetzi li*, since it is a sort of rudeness anyway and the longer form would not have the desirable effect.

I hope it makes sense, please ask more if you like.


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## hadronic

פפאיה said:


> It should be _*kfetzi li*_ if anything, shouldn't it?


 
I just interprated your "should" as how it should be in "proper, grammar book Hebrew", and not in actual spoken Hebrew, that may differ a lot.


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