Photo Credit:

לְפַנּוֹת אֶת הַשֻּׁלְחָן לְפַנּוֹת means to clear off. For example, I might say, אֲנִי מְפַנֶּה לִי אֶת הַבֹּקֶר כְּדֵי לִנְסוֹעַ עִם דָּנִית לַיָּם (ah-NEE meh-fah-NEH lee et hah-BOH-kehr keh-DEH-ee leen-SOH-ah eem dah-NEET lah-YAHM) – I’m clearing (for myself) the morning in order to go (travel) to the beach (sea) with Danit.Likewise, one can clear off a table – לְפַנּוֹת שֻׁלְחָן (leh-fah-NOHT shool-KHAHN). When I was a child and we used to have Friday night dinner as a family, this was the part where I always had to go to the bathroom.

The word לפנות is an active-intensive פיעל verb of the root פ.נ.ה (p.n.h). Some related words are פִּנָּה (pee-NAH) – corner (a place sectioned off from the rest), פָּנוּי (pah-NOO-ee) – available and לְהִתְפַּנּוֹת (leh-heet-pah-NOHT) – to use the restroom(to relieve oneself).

Advertisement




Visit Ktzat Ivrit.

Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleUS House Panel Says Chemical Weapons ‘Probably’ Used in Syria
Next articleNew York Rabbi’s Daughter to Sing Star Spangled Banner for Obama
Ami Steinberger is founder and director of Ulpan La-Inyan.