# הביתה



## Edan

Okay, so I know that if one wants to say "I'm going home" you say
אני הולך הביתה, and *not* אני הולך לבית שלי or something like that.

Because of this context, I understand the main idea of "הביתה". But when else can I use this word? Could I say אני מגיע הביתה? What does this word really mean? The direct translation for me seems to be "(the) her house"... but i know that's not right...


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## Mjolnir

The direct translation of הביתה isn't "(the) her house" (I can see why you thought so though, ביתה does mean 'her house', but we say הבית שלה if we need to add "the"), but "(to the) direction of the house" (like דרומה - לכיוון דרום).

You could say אני מגיע הביתה (for example, if you're talking to someone that wants you to do something on the phone you can say אני עוד שנייה מגיע הביתה ואז אני אעשה את זה or אני אעשה את זה כשאגיע הביתה).

Other places... "Go home" - לך הביתה. There are lots of others.


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## cfu507

הביתה means the house of someone, the speaker or the listener or someone else the speaker and the listener are talking about.

אני הולך הביתה I'm going to my home
האם אתה הולך הביתה? Are you going to your home?
לאן הוא הולך? הביתה He is going to his home, and the same for a girl.
She is going to her home is: היא הולכת לביתה (leveyta) or היא הולכת הביתה (habayta), like she is going home without saying the word "her".
The word הביתה can be used only when you talk about to go/come/run... home. If you want to say, for example, that she/he/you/I... cleaning their home you cannot say הביתה, but only הבית שלה (for girl) and הבית שלו (for boy)
היא מנקה הביתה is wrong, but היא מנקה את ביתה is right.

ביתה=בית שלה is beyta בית+ה, her house. The ה at the end of the word is for שלה


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## cfu507

By the way, you can also say אני הולך לבית שלי or אני הולך לביתי.
הביתה (habayta) is more childish then לביתי (leveyti). If you want to sound smart, it is better to say לביתי.


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## david314

Edan said:


> Okay, so I know that if one wants to say "I'm going home" you say
> אני הולך הביתה, and *not*
> 
> 
> 
> *אני הולך לבית שלי *
> 
> 
> 
> or something like that.
> 
> Because of this context, I understand the main idea of "הביתה". But when else can I use this word? Could I say אני מגיע הביתה? What does this word really mean? The direct translation for me seems to be "(the) her house"... but i know that's not right...
Click to expand...

 This version is certainly less common, but I believe that it is, nonetheless, correct. I believe that, sometimes, I might use this register _in response to a question_. Let's wait for the native's opinion.


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## Mjolnir

david314 said:


> This version is certainly less common, but I believe that it is, nonetheless, correct. I believe that, sometimes, I might use this register _in response to a question_. Let's wait for the native's opinion.



Yes, אני הולך לבית שלי and אני הולך לביתי are both correct.


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## בעל-חלומות

This ה at the end of the word is called ה' המגמה and it's the same sort of ה as in ימינה, אחורה, מעלה and the less used ירושלימה, גלילה, הנגבה. It acts exactly like adding a ל to the beginning of a word. So הביתה literrally means "to the home" in English.

Technically, you can add it to any noun to which you can add a ל, but in Modern Hebrew it usually apllies only to directions and to בית.


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## cfu507

בעל חלומות Thanks. I didn't know or probably forgot about the ה. So... that's why I say: הסתכלתי השמימה (I looked at the sky).

השמימה is not a direction. Isn't it?

I think הביתה is only for walking/coming/getting into etc. 
I can say פני מועדות הביתה (tending to), but can I say: הסתכלתי הביתה like הסתכלתי השמימה? It sounds odd to me.


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## בעל-חלומות

I think that ה המגמה used to be added to any noun, so הסתכלתי הביתה is grammatically correct. But since ל and אל are much more common today, ה המגמה remained only in its forms that were used the most like in directions, הולך הביתה and מסתכל השמימה. Other uses sound weird because we don't use them anymore, but they are right.

So it's possible to say, אני הולך השירותימה, for example, even though it sounds wrong.

If this doesn't make any sense, tell me and I'll write it again in Hebrew because I can barely make sense of what I wrote up there...


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## Macnas

In Modern Hebrew it's a lot like the English suffix _-ward(s)_, actually. In theory it can be attached to almost any noun, but in practice it sounds very strange if you do so. It's most common with directions (leftwards, rightwards, upwards, downwards), cardinal points (northwards, southwards, eastwards, westwards), and a very small set of other nouns (like homewards = הביתה).



> I didn't know or probably forgot about the ה. So... that's why I say: הסתכלתי השמימה (I looked at the sky).



Or, in English, "I looked skywards". That's another noun where it's acceptable in English.


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## Edan

Macnas said:


> In Modern Hebrew it's a lot like the English suffix _-ward(s)_, actually. In theory it can be attached to almost any noun, but in practice it sounds very strange if you do so. It's most common with directions (leftwards, rightwards, upwards, downwards), cardinal points (northwards, southwards, eastwards, westwards), and a very small set of other nouns (like homewards = הביתה).
> 
> 
> 
> Or, in English, "I looked skywards". That's another noun where it's acceptable in English.


Great connection. This is something I can understand.


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## cfu507

Macnas said:


> In Modern Hebrew it's a lot like the English suffix _-ward(s)_, actually. In theory it can be attached to almost any noun, but in practice it sounds very strange if you do so. It's most common with directions (leftwards, rightwards, upwards, downwards), cardinal points (northwards, southwards, eastwards, westwards), and a very small set of other nouns (like homewards = הביתה).
> 
> 
> 
> Or, in English, "I looked skywards". That's another noun where it's acceptable in English.


 
Thanks Macnas! This is the first time I've heard "homewards" and I've never gotten this word in my Hebrew-English dictionary.
What I did get was: homebound for הביתה. Is "bound" a suffix to the word "home"?


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## Macnas

cfu507 said:


> Thanks Macnas! This is the first time I've heard "homewards" and I've never gotten this word in my Hebrew-English dictionary.
> What I did get was: homebound for הביתה. Is "bound" a suffix to the word "home"?




Well, "homewards" is used nearly as often as just "home" ("I am going home" sounds more natural than "I am going homewards", but both are acceptable). Though it should be said that "homewards" is not exactly the same as הביתה, though. You can say להגיע הביתה but not "arrive homewards".

The suffix -bound in English generally forms adjectives (eg, "a northbound road" = דרך שמובילה צפונה (did I get the grammar right there?)). "Homebound" is kind of an exception. It _can_ mean "leading home", but more often it means "stuck at home [due to illness, etc]"


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## cfu507

Macnas said:


> The suffix -bound in English generally forms adjectives (eg, "a northbound road" = דרך שמובילה צפונה (did I get the grammar right there?)).


 
Yes, you did! 
Thank you very much, Macnas.


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## Ali Smith

Why is there no דגש in the ת in הביתה? Why is the word spelled הַבַּיְתָה?


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## Drink

Because the י is a semivowel, and so the spirantization still happens.


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