# The day vs. today



## girloncrack

Is there a way to say the equivalent of "the day", as in 
"The day you learn to speak Hebrew will be the day I buy you a new car"
"That will be the day"
"We will be in Italy the day that you leave"
etc...


----------



## bat777

"hayom" is simply ambiguous between 'today' and 'the day'. it's equally good in both meanings (though the the first one is more common).
however, in some cases, like in the example that you gave "we will be in italy the day that you leave", you should say "bayom", meaning 'on the day' (or 'in' or 'at', i'm not sure about the correct preposition in english).

gooday

by the way, i would appreciate corrections of my english...


----------



## Flaminius

What if _ha-yom_ is emphasized by _ha-ze_?  I mean, if one says _ha-yom ha-ze_, does the phrase come to exclusively mean "today (= this, not any other, day)"?


----------



## explotion

Flaminius said:


> What if _ha-yom_ is emphasized by _ha-ze_? I mean, if one says _ha-yom ha-ze_, does the phrase come to exclusively mean "today (= this, not any other, day)"?


 
You are correct.


----------



## girloncrack

Aha, excellent alternative.  Would saying this (ha'yom ha'zeh) sound stilted or formal in casual conversation?


----------



## amikama

girloncrack said:


> Aha, excellent alternative. Would saying this (ha'yom ha'zeh) sound stilted or formal in casual conversation?


Yes, I would say that in this case הזה is redundant in everyday Hebrew. היום is enough and sounds more natural


----------



## JAN SHAR

Also, you could use כיום, which also means "today". Although some people might take it to mean "like/according to/around today", because כ can mean "like/according to/around ("around" in the sense of "about")".


----------



## Ali Smith

היום and כיום are both possible in classical Hebrew but only the former is used in modern Hebrew.


----------



## Drink

No, both are used in Modern Hebrew.


----------



## Abaye

_Today _has two meanings: "on or for this day", "at the present time". The usual in modern Hebrew is כיום for the latter, היום for the former, but in certain situations היום is also for the latter, e.g. "הנוער של היום".


----------



## JAN SHAR

But ha-yom can also mean "a day/one day" too, right? At least in the Bible.


----------



## Ali Smith

JAN SHAR said:


> But ha-yom can also mean "a day/one day" too, right? At least in the Bible.


Yes. Observe:

וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן לַמּוֹעֵ֤ד הַזֶּה֙ כָּעֵ֣ת חַיָּ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר אֵלֶ֖יהָ אֱלִישָֽׁע׃
וַיִּגְדַּ֖ל הַיָּ֑לֶד וַיְהִ֣י הַיּ֔וֹם וַיֵּצֵ֥א אֶל־אָבִ֖יו אֶל־הַקֹּצְרִֽים׃
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֶל־אָבִ֖יו רֹאשִׁ֣י ׀ רֹאשִׁ֑י וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־הַנַּ֔עַר שָׂאֵ֖הוּ אֶל־אִמּֽוֹ׃
(מלכים ב ד יז-יט)

And (then) the woman became pregnant and (then) she gave birth to a son at this appointed time that Elisha had promised her, according to the time of life. And (then) the child became big and (then) one day he went out to his father to the reapers. And (then) he said to his father, "My head, my head!" and (then) he said to the assistant, "Carry him to his mother."


----------



## Drink

I don't believe this is any special meaning of היום, but rather a peculiarity of the word ויהי, or else of the construction definite noun + vav-consecutive, depending on how you parse this.


----------

