Hebrew word of the day · Core vocabulary
עַלal
on
One word, three sentences: on the table, about you, and a lousy day.
Hear it read by a native speaker
In a sentence
הַסֵּפֶר עַל הַשּׁוּלְחָן
hasefer al hashulchan
The book is on the table
How Israelis use al
עַל
(al, on) Two letters, and Israelis use it all day long.
The easy one
הַסֵּפֶר עַל הַשּׁוּלְחָן (hasefer al hashulkhan) The book is on the table.
✗The sentence that breaks
חוֹשֵׁב עַל אַתָּה (khoshev al ata) Israelis hear a sentence that stopped halfway.
✓Say it like this
חוֹשֵׁב עָלֶיךָ (khoshev aleykha, thinking about you, to a man)
✓To a woman
חוֹשֵׁב עָלַיִךְ (khoshev alayikh, thinking about you, to a woman)
Why
With a person the word doesn't stay alone. It takes the ending onto itself and becomes one word.
You'll hear this today
עַל הַפָּנִים (al hapanim, on the face) It means the day, the film, the coffee was awful.
Published 27 September 2026 by the Israeli Hebrew Institute. Every word, sentence and vowel point on this page was checked by a native Israeli teacher.