יְמָנִי, שְׂמֹאלָנִי

Check Out Our Elections Vocab Builder With the Israel elections coming up in less than a week, you’ll be seeing some handy election-related Daily Doses over the next few days.The Hebrew word for right as in on the right is יָמִין, while the word for left is שְׂמֹאל.

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For example:

הוּא מְחַכֶּה לָךְ בַּכְּבִישׁ בְּצַד יְמִין, לֹא בְּצַד שְׂמֹאל. He is waiting for you on the road on the right side, not on the left side.When describing someone as rightist/leftist or right-wing/left-wingon the political spectrum, use:

יְמָנִי/יְמָנִיתrightist male/rightist female

שְׂמֹאלָנִי/שְׂמֹאלָנִיתleftist male/leftist female (Remember that Hebrew reads מִיָּמִין לִשְׂמֹאל from right to left – so ימני refers to a male, etc.)
For example:

מֶרֶצ הִיא מִפְלָגָה שְׂמֹאלָנִית.
Meretz is a leftist party. (מפלגה – political party – is a feminine noun)

מִי שְׁמַּצְבִּיעַ לְ”עוֹמְצָה לִישְׂרָאֵל” הוּא יְמָנִי.
Whoever votes for Otzmah LeYisrael (he) is a rightist.
Visit Ktzat Ivrit.

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Ami Steinberger is founder and director of Ulpan La-Inyan.