# לראות vs להסתכל vs לצפות



## dukaine

What is the difference between these two words?  The following are the contexts in which I saw them:

צפינו המשחק

אנחנו מסתכלים זקוקימ דינור

I can't really tell the difference at all.  Are these interchangeable?


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## arielipi

Litzpot is watch,the other one is look.


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## dukaine

Are לירות and להסתכל interchangeable?


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## Egmont

Assuming you mean לראות (since לירות means "to shoot," as with a gun), then the difference is the same as "to see" and "to look" in English.


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## dukaine

לראות is used for watching television.  Is that the only context in which לראות is used for "watch"?


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## origumi

You need to examine the wider spectrum. There are several words that mean see, look, watch, view, etc. Among them לראות, להסתכל, להביט, להתבונן, לצפות, לחזות, להשקיף. The translation to English is not always 1-1. For example, you can ask someone מה אתה רואה בטלוויזיה, but TV viewers are צופי טלוויזיה.

As a language student I guess that you need to take these words one by one, not trying to build a comprehensive model in your mind. That may be too difficult to achieve.


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## Tamar

לראות can be used in any context. You can say:
אני רואה טלוויזיה
But also:
אני צופה בטלוויזיה
(Television viewers are called צופי טלויזיה [tzofey televizya] )



> צפינו *ב*משחק
> 
> אנחנו מסתכלים *על* זקוקימ דינור



You can say:
אני רואה את המשחק
אני צופה במשחק

Also, I would *personally *prefer to say: אנחנו רואים זיקוקי דינור
But להסתכל is also good. 

To me, if you מסתכל then you're not so concentrated as when you רואה or צופה.


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## arielipi

אם כבר, מתבונן זה בריכוז
להסתכל פחות


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## Tamar

I think maybe one phrasing turned out confusing...
I meant that


להסתכל זה הכי פחות בריכוז.
לצפות, לראות, וגם להתבונן כמו שאמרת, כולם נעשים יותר בריכוז מאשר להסתכל.


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## OsehAlyah

Tamar said:


> You can say:
> אני רואה את המשחק
> אני צופה במשחק


I would love to hear the explanation of the difference in meaning of those two.


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## origumi

OsehAlyah said:


> I would love to hear the explanation of the difference in meaning of those two.


The first is for usual people.
The latter is for the media.


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## arielipi

סקווז מואה?
The difference is simply the choice of words,i watch the game(ro'e), or i am watching a[=the] game(tzofe)


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## origumi

arielipi said:


> סקווז מואה?
> The difference is simply the choice of words,i watch the game(ro'e), or i am watching a[=the] game(tzofe)


While these two ways of talking are nearly identical in meaning, רואה is less formal than צופה (also less accurate as it has a wider meaning). Therefore רואה is more common in colloquial language. Sure, merely a choice of words, but not a random one.


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## OsehAlyah

Just to clarify further what I was after. I wanted to see what affect the ב prefix had on the phrase in the second sentence.

Thanks


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

OsehAlyah said:


> Just to clarify further what I was after. I wanted to see what affect the ב prefix had on the phrase in the second sentence.
> 
> Thanks



לצפות *ב*משהו = to watch

לצפות משהו  = to expect

I think you just have to memorize it.


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## arielipi

When there should be a he hayedia, but a le is added to the word before - it becomes a be/ba.
המשחק
לצפות במשחק


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## OsehAlyah

Carrot Ironfoundersson said:


> לצפות *ב*משהו = to watch
> 
> לצפות משהו  = to expect
> 
> I think you just have to memorize it.


Thank you Gezer.  I'll keep at it.  (Wow you remembered)



arielipi said:


> When there should be a he hayedia, but a le is added to the word before - it becomes a be/ba.
> המשחק
> לצפות במשחק


So is there another way to write that sentence? For example:
 לצפות במשחק = לצפות את המשחק

Are the above two sentences absolutely identical?


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## arielipi

Nope, lirot would fir instead of litzpot.


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## arbelyoni

> So is there another way to write that sentence? For example:
> לצפות במשחק = לצפות את המשחק
> 
> Are the above two sentences absolutely identical?


No. As Carrot have written, לצפות ב (when לצפות governs the preposition ב) means "to watch". לצפות את (when לצפות governs direct objects) means "to expect".

A better comparison is:
לצפות במשחק = לראות את המשחק


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## OsehAlyah

Thanks everyone. Great discussion.


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## sawyeric1

What's the difference between -להסתכל ב and -להסתכל על?


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## Tamar

להסתכל ב - to look inside 
להסתכל על - to look at


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## shalom00

I think that is at best oversimplified.
For example, להסתכל בעיניים, להסתכל במראות, להסתכל בילדים.


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## Tamar

I did try to keep it simple  
להסתכל בילדים is a bit strange for me, but only because I would use לצפות בילדים. 

How would you explain the difference between להסתכל ב /על? 

Thanks


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## shalom00

להסתכל ב tends to be deeper, more contemplative, to look at with more concentration.


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## ovanin

shalom00 said:


> להסתכל ב tends to be deeper, more contemplative, to look at with more concentration.


Would I be correct in understanding להסתכל *ב*טלוויזיה as "to watch(a movie/show/series/etc.) *on* TV (as if it were short for "להסתכל *על* סרת *ב*טלוויזיה), and, in contrast, if I were at an electronics store shopping for TVs, I could then say תסתכל *על *הטלוויזיה הזו! היא ממש דקה.


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