Israel is an easy country to travel in without a word of Hebrew. Nearly everyone in the tourist economy speaks English, signs are trilingual, and nobody expects a visitor to manage the language. That is exactly why a handful of phrases lands as well as it does — the bar is low, so clearing it is noticed.
The ten that earn their place
| Hebrew | Sounds like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| שלום | shah-LOM | hello, goodbye, peace |
| תודה | toh-DAH | thank you |
| בבקשה | be-va-ka-SHAH | please, and here you are |
| סליחה | slee-KHAH | excuse me, sorry |
| כן / לא | ken / lo | yes / no |
| כמה זה? | KA-ma zeh | how much is this? |
| איפה? | EY-fo | where? |
| אני לא מבין | a-NEE lo me-VEEN | I don't understand (m.) |
| אני לא מבינה | a-NEE lo me-vee-NAH | I don't understand (f.) |
| בסדר | be-SE-der | okay, fine, no problem |
The last one does more work than any phrase on the list. Beseder covers agreement, acceptance, reassurance and the end of a negotiation, and you will hear it forty times a day.
Hebrew marks the speaker's gender on verbs, not just the listener's. A man says ani lo mevin; a woman says ani lo mevina. This catches out phrasebook users who memorise one form and use it regardless. The same applies to toda raba's companions — "sorry" and "thank you" happen to be gender-neutral, which is why they are the safest things to say.
The sound that is not in English
The letter ח and often כ represent a sound made at the back of the throat, like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach. It appears in slicha (excuse me) and in challah, and English speakers who substitute a plain h are understood but immediately marked as visitors. It is worth two minutes of practice because it occurs in the most-used words.
Numbers, and where they trip people
| Number | Hebrew | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | אחת | a-KHAT |
| 2 | שתיים | SHTA-yim |
| 3 | שלוש | sha-LOSH |
| 4 | ארבע | AR-ba |
| 5 | חמש | kha-MESH |
| 10 | עשר | E-ser |
| 100 | מאה | ME-ah |
These are the feminine forms, which is what Hebrew uses for counting aloud, prices and phone numbers. Hebrew numerals also take the opposite gender to the noun they count, so the masculine set exists and differs — but for a traveller reading a price or saying a quantity, the list above is the one that works.
Practicalities worth knowing
Shabbat runs from Friday afternoon to Saturday nightfall, and in Jerusalem it closes most shops and stops public transport; Tel Aviv is considerably more relaxed about it. Sunday is a working day. Shop hours and bus timetables are built around this, and a traveller who plans a Saturday around normal weekend assumptions loses a day.
The one piece of etiquette worth carrying: directness in Israeli conversation is not rudeness. A shopkeeper who answers a question in four words, or a stranger who corrects your route unprompted, is being helpful by local convention. Reading it as brusqueness is the most common misunderstanding visitors report, and it is a misunderstanding rather than an experience.
Look up Hebrew words offline
The free English-Hebrew Dictionary gives Hebrew script with meanings, working without a connection.
Open the dictionary appFrequently asked questions
Do I need Hebrew to travel in Israel?
No. English is widely spoken in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and tourist areas, and most signage carries English. What Hebrew buys you is a different reception rather than basic function — a few words visibly change how people respond, particularly outside the main cities.
Is the alphabet worth learning for a short trip?
The 22 letters take an evening and pay off on bus destination boards, market prices and street signs where the English transliteration is missing or wrong. You will not read fluently, but recognising place names is most of what a traveller needs.
What about Arabic?
Arabic is an official-status language in Israel and the first language of roughly a fifth of the population. In mixed cities and in the north, a greeting in Arabic is as useful as one in Hebrew, and the two sets of phrases are not interchangeable.