Learn Hardcore Hebrew: הערב בא לנו לשבת במרפסת ולשתות תה חם. - This evening we feel like sitting on the balcony and drinking hot tea.

Word

הערב בא לנו לשבת במרפסת ולשתות תה חם.

Meaning

This evening we feel like sitting on the balcony and drinking hot tea.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of הערב בא לנו לשבת במרפסת ולשתות תה חם.

What does בא לנו mean here, and why is the verb בא literally came?

בא לנו is a very common colloquial Hebrew expression meaning we feel like, we’re in the mood to, or we feel like doing something.

Literally, it looks like came to us, but you should learn it as an idiom:

So in this sentence:

This is not a literal motion verb here. It is just a fixed everyday expression.

Why does the sentence start with הערב? Does it mean the evening or tonight?

Here הערב means this evening or tonight.

Even though it literally looks like the evening, Hebrew often uses time words with ה־ in this way:

So at the beginning of the sentence, הערב sets the time frame: