# סתם



## David S

Hello,

Can someone give some examples as to how this word is used?

Dictionaries say it means "merely" or "just joking". If it means "merely", then is it the same as "רק"? Like "I just came to say hi" would be "רציתי סתם להגיד שלום"?


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## mediterraneo24

סתם could mean something like "for no special reason".
When said alone it could mean "just kidding" but depending on the context.


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## David S

Can you give an example sentence with a translation? Also is my example sentence in the original post correct?

Here's another attempt, can someone judge it?

למה אתה דווקא יושב על הכיסא שלי? -- אני סתם קורא ספר ואת לא הייתה בחדר. 

I want to say: "Why do you have to sit on my chair?" --" I'm just reading a book, you weren't in the room"


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## mediterraneo24

Your try is almost perfect:



David S said:


> למה אתה יושב *דווקא *על הכיסא שלי? -- אני סתם קורא ספר ואת לא הייתה*היית *בחדר.
> 
> I want to say: "Why do you have to sit on my chair?" --" I'm just reading a book, you weren't in the room"



I changed the order a bit.


Notice you could have said it a bit different: סתם, אני קורא ספר ואת לא היית בחדר
This is how it is usually said, and it means no reason, I'm just reading a book and you weren't in the room.

Another exanple:
לאן אתה הולך? סתם, יש לי סידורים
Where are you going? Running some errands.
We say סתם when we don't want to give too much details, or when we try to make something sound like not imprtant, 
or simply when there is no special reason.

Hope it makes sense


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## Tamar

I used to work in an English speaking company, so I was around English speakers who used to mix the two languages and say:

"I don't understand why I had to do this task, it was just for סתם".
Meaning, it was pointless and the work they did was not used, so it was for סתם. 

I can think of another one, which more similar to what others posted:
למה לא התקשרת אלי שוב אחרי שהשיחה התנתקה?  Why didn't you call me again after we were disconnected?
סתם, כי לא היה לי משהו חשוב להגיד.                 "Stam". I didn't have anything important to say.


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## OsehAlyah

Tamar said:


> I used to work in an English speaking company, so I  was around English speakers who used to mix the two languages and say:
> 
> "I don't understand why I had to do this task, it was just for סתם".
> Meaning, it was pointless and the work they did was not used, so it was for סתם.
> 
> I can think of another one, which more similar to what others posted:
> למה לא התקשרת אלי שוב אחרי שהשיחה התנתקה?  Why didn't you call me again after we were disconnected?
> סתם, כי לא היה לי משהו חשוב להגיד.                 "Stam". I didn't have anything important to say.


Hey there stranger. Good to see you back.


David S said:


> Hello,
> 
> Can someone give some examples as to how this word is used?
> 
> Dictionaries say it means "merely" or "just joking". If it means "merely", then is it the same as "רק"? Like "I just came to say hi" would be "רציתי סתם להגיד שלום"?


David this is an article arbelyoni linked in your thread about דווקא. Just in case you haven't read it, I thought I'd link it again as it discusses both דווקא and סתם and how they relate to each other. 
Great article and it's in English. http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=108799


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## David S

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but is there a difference between סתם and פשוט? I feel like when I want to say "just/simply....", I can't figure out which word to use.


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## anipo

There is a slight difference. פשוט simply means "simply", while סתם can mean "just so" or "for no reason".


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## dukaine

Can it mean "Nothing really?"  I've seen it used in response to "What are you doing?" or "What do you want?"


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## anipo

In some situations it could mean exactly that.


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## rebecka

If סתם means "mere", what does this mean: אתה קורא את זה כאילו זה סתם מילים, ובגלל זה אתה לא מבין אותן.

Does it mean "You read this (text) as if it were mere words, and because of that you don't understand them (the words)"?


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## Albert Schlef

> Does it mean "You read this (text) as if it were mere words



Yes.

("mere words" = not understanding their implication, or the implication of the sentence they comprise.)



> "... and because of that you don't understand them (the words)"?



As you probably noticed, this sentence is a bit hard to figure out, because it's uncommon that a person won't understand words (in his/her own language).

We don't have the context, so it's not so simple to figure out what was the situation.

Sometimes you won't find mathematical accuracy in how people express themselves. It seems that this sentence wasn't phrased well.

More likely than not, the speaker complains that his fellow doesn't understand the deep implication of *the whole message*. (He probably does understand each and every word by itself.)


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## JAN SHAR

What about in הפעם זה יהיה מחקר עיוני על שוטים סתם, בלא שום רמזים על אנשים ידועים How would you translate it here? The rest is not hard because it means

This time it will be a theoretical study on fools, with no clues about known people


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## GeriReshef

JAN SHAR said:


> What about in הפעם זה יהיה מחקר עיוני על שוטים סתם, בלא שום רמזים על אנשים ידועים How would you translate it here? The rest is not hard because it means
> 
> This time it will be a theoretical study on fools, with no clues about known people


שוטים סתם simple/ordinary fools


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## Ali Smith

Is the following use of סתם idiomatic?

X: האם אתה לומד תנ"ך?
Y: מה אכפת לך?
X: סתם שואל. ("Just asking!")


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## Drink

Yes, perfectly normal.


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## Ali Smith

Thanks! Would אני סתם שואל work too? I mean, can you use the subject pronoun with סתם?


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## Drink

Yes.


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