בצהריים ישבנו ליד סלע גדול, כי היה שם הרבה צל.

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Breakdown of בצהריים ישבנו ליד סלע גדול, כי היה שם הרבה צל.

• שם: there
• כי: because
• ב: at

Questions & Answers about בצהריים ישבנו ליד סלע גדול, כי היה שם הרבה צל.

What does בצהריים mean exactly here?

Here בצהריים means at noon, at midday, or sometimes more loosely in the afternoon, depending on context.

A few useful points:

• The base word is צהריים, which refers to the midday/afternoon period.
• The prefix ב־ means in or at, so בצהריים literally means at midday / in the afternoon.
• In this sentence, בצהריים ישבנו... is a time expression: At midday, we sat...

In many everyday contexts, English translations may vary between at noon, at lunchtime, or in the afternoon.

Why does צהריים look plural?

Because it is one of those Hebrew time words that have a dual/plural-looking form but function as a fixed expression.

Words like these often refer to times of day or paired things. For example:

• צהריים = noon / midday / afternoon
• ערביים is not standard in the same way, but compare with:
• יומיים = two days
• שעתיים = two hours

In modern Hebrew, צהריים is basically treated as a set word. You do not usually analyze it in everyday speech as a normal plural noun. Learners should mostly just memorize בצהריים as a common time phrase.

What form is ישבנו?