# מסתכל or  הסתכל?



## Eddie

Good evening to all.

Are the two verbs interchangeable in meaning?

​
אני מסתכל בטלויזיה כל יום
אני הסתכל בטלויזיה כל יום
​​Thank you for your help and your patience.

Ed

​


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## Nunty

Hi Ed. 

The מסתכל is in the present tense (masculine singular) and הסתכל is past tense (third person masculine singular), the dictionary form.

They are the same verb.


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## elroy

And what that means is that אני הסתכל is incorrect.  You could, however, say אני *הסתכלתי* or *הוא *הסתכל.  (אני is not usually used when the verb is in the past tense, but that's another topic.)


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## Eddie

Thank you both very much for your explanations. Is the sentence below a possibilty in Hebrew (present tense)?


 .אני מביט בטלויזיה כל יום

Thanks.​


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## Tararam

Hmmmm... I'm quite sure it's incorrect.
The verb which suits this sentence is "לצפות" and the sentence should be:
אני צופה בטלוויזיה כל יום/אני צופה בטלוויזיה מדי יום 
When you use the verb "להביט" it implies you are just "looking at" thv TV.
Using the verb "לצפות" Implies you are "watching" TV.


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## Eddie

I understand, Tararam. Thank you very much. Your explanation is much appreciated.


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## Ali Smith

Tararam said:


> אני צופה בטלוויזיה כל יום/אני צופה בטלוויזיה מדי יום


Is בטלוויזיה pronounced be-televizya or ba-televizya here? I think I've heard people say the latter, but it makes no sense. "Watching the television"?


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## Drink

It makes about as much sense as "listening to the radio", which is what we say in English. As you can see in English by the difference between "the radio" and just "television", these sorts of things end up just being a matter of convention.


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## Abaye

Ali Smith said:


> Is בטלוויזיה pronounced be-televizya or ba-televizya here? I think I've heard people say the latter, but it makes no sense. "Watching the television"?


For me as a Hebrew speaker, the claim "it makes no sense" makes no sense (no offense) although apparently it represents well the English (and other languages?) point of view. So, as @Drink wrote above, it's a matter of convention.

"Do you watch the TV" versus "Do you watch TV?"


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## Techref

Ali Smith said:


> Is בטלוויזיה pronounced be-televizya or ba-televizya here? I think I've heard people say the latter, but it makes no sense. "Watching the television"?



Watch TV: Be- televizya 
Watch the TV: Ba- televizya 

Actually, from the way its being pronounced, personally I wouldn't be so concern if its be or ba because they both just sound too similar to my ears.


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## elroy

Techref said:


> personally I wouldn't be so concern if its be or ba because they both just sound too similar to my ears.


 Sorry, but this is bad advice.

The difference is significant and should be learned and appreciated.

Your advice is like saying that one shouldn’t care whether one says “in” or “on” because they “sound similar.”


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## Techref

elroy said:


> Sorry, but this is bad advice.
> 
> The difference is significant and should be learned and appreciated.
> 
> Your advice is like saying that one shouldn’t care whether one says “in” or “on” because they “sound similar.”



Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be an advice.
It was just a personal thought, that's all.
No offense or anything.


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