Today’s expression ‘dash’ is written with two letters, ‘Dalet’ and ‘Sheen.’ It is actually not a word but the abbreviation of the two words: ‘dri•shat shalom.’ Literally, it means ‘seeking for the wellbeing of..’ The way you usually use it is by adding ‘le’ (to, for) after the expression. For example, to say: ‘send my greeting to David’ you’d say ‘dri•shat shalom le•David.’ You may have noticed that the words ‘send’ and ‘my’ are missing here. The word ‘my’ is redundant and not needed in Hebrew, and logically so because if you send regards to someone it is obviously your regards and not someone else’s. The word ‘send’ (and any other command) is called ‘imperative.’
The use of the imperative form in Hebrew.
Unlike many languages that have three tenses, Hebrew has an additional tense that is called ‘imperative.’ This tense includes all the commands (and direct requests) we communicate to others.
The word ‘send’ in this case is implied, although you can say it if you wish. You would say: ‘send,’ ‘me•sor,’ if you speak to a man, ‘mis•ri’ if you speak to a woman, and ‘mis•ru’ if you speak to more than one person. This is, of course, the imperative form. In recent years, we see a more relaxed usage of the imperative form, and a growing number of people are using the future tense as the imperative. In this case, they would say: ‘tim•sor’ dash le•David (‘tim•se•ri’ when talking to a woman, and ‘tim•se•ru’ when speaking to more than one person.
You can use the shorter version by saying ‘dash le…’
Most people are using the shorter form of ‘‘drishat shalom,’ and substituting it with ‘dash.’ With this shorter version it’s better to say ‘send,’ but it’s not necessary. For example, if you speak to a man and want to say: ‘send my regards to Leah’ you would say: ‘tim•sor dash le•Leah’ or even just ‘dash le•Leah.’
Recent Comments