# What's your name?



## Faraón80

How do you say in Hebrew:

Whats your name?

My name is so and so...

I would appreciate it if you put the phonetics in english and the actual letters in hebrew.

Thanks in advance.


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## elroy

_What is your name? _- ?איך קוראים לך (to a man: _ech korim lecha_; to a woman: _ech korim lach_) or ?מה שמך (to a man: _ma shimcha_; to a woman: _ma shmech_)

_My name is..._ - ...קוראים לי (_korim li..._) or ...שמי (_shmi..._)


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## dcx97

What is the difference between ?מה שמך and ?איך קוראים לך ?

I'm guessing the difference is the same as that between "Quel est votre nom ?" and "Comment vous appelez-vous ?" in French. The former is grammatically correct but native speakers never speak that way; they ALWAYS use the latter.


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## ADoA

There is no difference in intention, but there is a difference in formality and literal meaning.

מה שמך is very formal and literally translates to "what is your name." It is very close to another, less formal way of asking someone's name, מה השם שלך
איך קוראים לך is the least formal and literally translates to "how are you being called"
Elroy's phonetics are dead on, but the word *korim *is pronounced *kor'im*, with a slight accent on the letter 'i.'


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## dcx97

I see. Thank you!
I've always heard קוראים pronounced "ko rim", never "kor im". I guess I didn't listen closely enough.


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## ADoA

It's hard to notice sometimes and some actually mispronounce it when speaking fast (younger generation I'm sure), but the 'i' has to be pronounced as a result of the Alef (א) being there


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## dcx97

So the formal pronunciation is "kor-im", not "ko-rim"?


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## ADoA

That's correct. 

I came across a very useful website earlier which will explain this beautifully. I can't provide a direct link because the post is flagged for moderation and the moderators take forever. The website's name is Forvo. Type in קוראים and you'll come up with a number of sentences with the actual spoken word that you can play.


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## dcx97

Thanks!


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