# סוף שבוע בכף!‏



## dcx97

Hello,

Does "סוף שבוע בכף!" mean "Have a nice weekend!"? What about when it's used without the exclamation mark, i.e. as a simple statement?

Thanks!


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## slus

It should be סוף שבוע בכיף, meaning "have a fun weekend". The exclamation mark serves the same purpose as in English. It doesn't change the meaning.


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## dcx97

I see. Thank you!
However, my textbook spells it סוף שבוע בכף! as you can see in the attached picture.


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## Egmont

Your textbook is printed with vowels. When vowels are not used, the general and officially approved practice is to insert additional, generally silent, letters as reading aids to indicate the correct vowel sound. The indication may not be precise, but does narrow down the possibilities. You will often find these letters referred to as _mater lectonis_, using a latin phrase for this linguistic concept.

The yod that *slus* inserted here is a _mater lectonis_. It is only used when writing without vowels, which is how the phrase was written in the original question. Therefore, it was correct for him or her to add it, but it is also correct for your textbook not to use it.


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## Drink

Egmont said:


> Your textbook is printed with vowels. When vowels are not used, the general and officially approved practice is to insert additional, generally silent, letters as reading aids to indicate the correct vowel sound. The indication may not be precise, but does narrow down the possibilities. You will often find these letters referred to as _mater lectonis_, using a latin phrase for this linguistic concept.
> 
> The yod that *slus* inserted here is a _mater lectonis_. It is only used when writing without vowels, which is how the phrase was written in the original question. Therefore, it was correct for him or her to add it, but it is also correct for your textbook not to use it.



Actually, in this case, כֵּיף is the accepted spelling with nikkud. The textbook is simply mistaken.


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## Egmont

Drink said:


> Actually, in this case, כֵּיף is the accepted spelling with nikkud. The textbook is simply mistaken.



Thanks for the correction. I say this word a lot, but hardly ever write it - and never with vowels!


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## dcx97

Drink said:


> Actually, in this case, כֵּיף is the accepted spelling with nikkud. The textbook is simply mistaken.




But thank you for pointing out this out.


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## Ali Smith

Since the correct way to write it is כיף, shouldn’t the pronunciation be keif rather than kef? I know some people pronounce בית ספר as bet sefer instead of beit sefer, but I think that’s considered sloppy.


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## Drink

Ali Smith said:


> Since the correct way to write it is כיף, shouldn’t the pronunciation be keif rather than kef? I know some people pronounce בית ספר as bet sefer instead of beit sefer, but I think that’s considered sloppy.



Saying bet instead of beit is not sloppy. In fact I personally think it's preferable. It's just a remnant of Ashkenazi vowels, and in real Ashkenazi pronunciation it didn't matter if the tzere was spelled with a yud or not.


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