# איך זה אוכל



## neuser

היי!

I was listening to Hannah Zelda song for Hanukkah. I realized that אוכל in איך זה אוכל is pronounced as אוּכָל. Is this a simple shift of pronouncitation for the song, doesn't it mean anything else?

Thank you,


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## Drink

אוכל is the spelling of several different words:

אֹכֶל means "food" (noun).
אוֹכֵל is the m. sg. present tense of the pa'al verb "to eat".
אֹכַל is the 1st person sg. future tense of the pa'al verb "to eat".
אֻכַּל is the 3rd person m. sg. past tense of the pu'al verb "to be consumed/destroyed".
אוּכַל is the 1st person sg. future tense of the irregular verb "to be able to".

I'm guessing you were thinking of one of the first two, but the one in the song is the last one.


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## amikama

הוי רבי קלמן, אישי היקר,
אצלי במטבח קמח לא נשאר,
בעלי היקר, ואיך זה אוּכַל 
להכין לביבה בלי קמח בכלל?

Oh Rabbi Kalman my dear husband, there is no flour left in the kitchen, so how can I make a _leviva _without flour?

Drink is right - it's the future form of ‏(‏אני‏) יכול/יכולה. No shift in pronunciation.


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## neuser

Thank you so much, drink and amikama! Now, I can listen to the song in peace.


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## hadronic

The question is, what is this זה doing here?


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## Drink

hadronic said:


> The question is, what is this זה doing here?


"How can I do this, make latkes without flour?" At least that's how I understood it.


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## origumi

Drink said:


> "How can I do this, make latkes without flour?"


I don't think it's a direct object, even after reconstructing the sentence. This is a way of speaking that existed until early modern Hebrew but now is almost never used. זה here is a modifier (intensifier?) difficult to translate, technically speaking (maybe?) an adverb. Reminding of Yiddish עפעס or possibly Greek "gar", "de", "ara", with similar little words in many European languages.


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## hadronic

I see. It seems pretty similar to French "_ça_" as in "_pourquoi ça, où ça, qui ça, quoi ça, comment ça,.... _"   ("why that, where that, who that, what that, how that... "), a sort of "intensifier" of interrogative pronouns. Sad to hear it went away from the modern language :/


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## hadronic

Is it possible to say "איך זה *ש*אוכל...",  "how is it that I'll be able to..", that would also be pretty parallel to French "comment *est-ce que* je pourrai..."?


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## amikama

hadronic said:


> Is it possible to say "איך זה *ש*אוכל...",  "how is it that I'll be able to..", that would also be pretty parallel to French "comment *est-ce que* je pourrai..."?


Maybe, but I don't think so. I (almost?) always saw it without ש-‏.
לאן זה תלך בלילה?‏
מדוע זה תבכה, בני?‏
etc.

(...Except maybe to this line:
איך זה *ש*כוכב אחד לבד מעז?‏
But the זה here is probably different, similar to the זה in איך זה יכול להיות?‏, i.e. it's a pronoun, not intensifier.)


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## hadronic

Is "interrogative + זה" always followed by future tense?

With ש: yes, in this case I mean זה as a pronoun, not as an intensifier. Like "why is it that you did that", "who is it that you prefer "...


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## amikama

hadronic said:


> Is "interrogative + זה" always followed by future tense?


No, not only future tense...
לאן זה הלכת בלילה?‏
לאן זה אתה הולך בלילה?‏
מדוע זה בכית, בני?‏
מדוע זה אתה בוכה, בני?‏


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## Drink

Ok now I remember what this reminds me of: אם כן למה זה אנכי (Genesis 25:22)


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## origumi

מאחר וקשה לאפיין את ה*איך זה* שלנו, יעזור אולי לפעול בדרך השלילה, האלימינציה.
דוגמאות ל*איך זה* ש*אינו* ההוא שנדון לעיל (נאספו ברשת או בשירים):

איך זה שכוכב אחד לבד מעז
איך זה מרגיש להיות תמיד בצד
בולי, איך זה שהגעת לישראל ולא נמסת
נו, איך זה להתנשק עם יהודה לוי

אין הרבה (או בכלל) *איך זה* במקרא, יש הרבה למה זה.


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