Welcome to ייִדיש (Yiddish)!
Yiddish Gallery
Yiddish is the traditional language of Ashkenazi Jews from Central/Eastern Europe.
Famous Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem (a pseudonym that means 'hello') wrote the stories on which Fiddler on the Roof was based.
85% of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust spoke Yiddish.
Yiddish is known for its colourful idioms, curses, and other sayings!
Yiddish was traditionally spoken in Eastern Europe, with major dialects referred to as Lithuanian, Polish, and Ukrainian. It is currently primarily spoken in the diaspora.
Also called "Jewish penicillin", matzo ball soup is a classic food from Yiddish culture.
Yiddish is a Germanic language with many influences from Slavic and Semitic. It has many interesting linguistic properties!
Gefilte fish, a classic Ashkenazi Jewish food, is also associated with Yiddish dialect divisions!
Photo Credits
Yiddish word tile created by Kaye Ocampo
Sholem Aleichem image in public domain
Selection on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1944 image in public domain
Yiddish sayings tile created by Lucy Meanwell
Eastern Europe: Lakhva 1926 image in public domain
“Gefilte fish topped with slices of carrot” by Mushki Brichta licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Yiddish linguistics word cloud created by Annika Nilsson
“Matzah balls” by SoulSkorpion licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Download a shareable version of the gallery
Yiddish Overview
Expand your understanding of the Yiddish language and culture by exploring the following modules.
Language names, family, geography, speakers, ethnicities, dialects, and status
ייִדיש – pronounced [ˈjɪdɪʃ]
- Literally means Jewish
- Comes from Yiddish yid+ish = Jew+ish.
- ‘Yid’ can be considered derogatory in English, but is the normal word for Jew in Yiddish
- Literally means Jewish
Yiddish speakers sometimes affectionately call the language mame-loshn, מאַמע־לשון, pronounced [ˈmaməˌɫɔʃn̩]
- Literally mother tongue/language
- Also used as a term of endearment for the Yiddish language
Indo-European, Germanic, West Germanic, High German
Belongs to the same family as German, but is a separate language
Historically, Eastern Europe
- Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus were major areas of the Yiddish homeland
- Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus were major areas of the Yiddish homeland
Secondary areas from immigration include: New York, Montreal, Buenos Aires
In modern times, Yiddish is spoken almost exclusively in the diaspora, in some urban Haredi neighbourhoods
- “Jewish quarter”, Antwerp
- Mea She’arim neighborhood, Jerusalem
- Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn
- Smaller communities in Melbourne and São Paolo
See more information in “Diaspora” and “Context”.
Some notes on the map:
- Since the Yiddish homeland was destroyed in the Holocaust, the map represents the pre-Holocaust distribution of Yiddish
- In modern times, Yiddish is almost exclusively a diaspora language, but in consultation with the community, we felt that it is important to represent the original homeland
- We consulted a wide variety of dialect maps for Yiddish, but they do not always agree on exact dialect boundaries
- Beyond these existing maps, some of the additional considerations that went into the map were:
- for the Eastern border, we considered the Pale of Settlement where Jews were allowed to live at the time that Yiddish was developing
- for the lack of Yiddish in Germany, Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia, we used a combination of demographic information about native language percentages from the time and Holocaust survivor accounts that describe speaking German, Hungarian, Czech, or Slovak rather than Yiddish
- we assumed that locations with well-known Yiddish presses are within the Yiddish dialect boundaries
- we read between the lines in some articles that suggested that Yiddish was used as a language of instruction in certain locations
- in some cases, we knew people whose relatives came from a particular town and spoke a particular dialect of Yiddish, which we used for some of the finer-grained boundaries
- We would like to emphasize that this map is not exact, due to the complications of creating a map of nearly a century ago where existing maps do not agree
- If anyone has comments on the map to help us improve it, we would greatly appreciate them!
Only vague estimates are available for modern Yiddish
- 0.5 million active everyday users (Schäfer, 2023)
- 1.5 million active + passive users
Historical context is very important to consider for Yiddish speakers – see the Context section
Ashkenazi Jewish
- Jews from Central and Eastern Europe
- Ashkenazi comes from medieval Hebrew word for Germany
Hear ‘Ashkenazi’ pronounced:
The most spoken variety of Yiddish today is Eastern Yiddish, which was used in Eastern Europe
Western Yiddish mostly died out during the period of reforms following the Enlightenment
Within Eastern Yiddish, the three main dialects are:
- Northeastern/Lithuanian Yiddish
- Called Litvish in Yiddish
- Central/Polish Yiddish
- Called Poylish in Yiddish
- Southeastern/Ukrainian Yiddish
- Called Ukraynish in Yiddish
- Northeastern/Lithuanian Yiddish
Hear the Yiddish names for the Yiddish dialects:
Standard Yiddish was developed at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research during the first half of the twentieth century
- Closest to Lithuanian Yiddish in terms of sounds, but Polish Yiddish in terms of grammar
- Standard Yiddish is called ‘klal’ in Yiddish
Differences in dialects are mostly in the vowels
Sometimes there are gender differences between the dialects
Essentially, the entire Yiddish-speaking community in modern times is diaspora
- Israel and the United States have sizable populations
- Much of the secular community in the diaspora has stopped speaking Yiddish
- It is still commonly spoken in some religious communities
- See also “Geography” and “Context” for more information
It is classified as a “Stable” language according to the EGIDS scale.
- This is true only in limited religious communities
- For these religious communities, Belk et al. (2022) say it meets criteria for Level 3:
- used widely in communication in certain communities, but does not have any official status
In secular communities, Yiddish is undergoing a revival, but it is mostly the grandparent generation that has spoken it from childhood.
- Language
Writing system, linguistic typology, notable linguists
The Yiddish alphabet is based on the Hebrew alphabet, and uses a printed writing system as well as cursive writing.
Yiddish spelling is usually phonetically-based, but not in words from Hebrew
- Words from Hebrew usually keep their original spelling, which sometimes results in Yiddish words spelled with no vowels!
- e.g., הקדמה (hkdmh, pronounced [haɡˈdɔmə], means ‘foreword, preface’)
- Words from Hebrew usually keep their original spelling, which sometimes results in Yiddish words spelled with no vowels!
Yiddish letter | Transliteration | IPA (Standard Yiddish) | Notes |
א | N/A | N/A | Silent; used with certain initial vowel sounds |
אַ | a | a |
|
אָ | o | ɔ |
|
ב | b | b |
|
בֿ | v | v | Only used in words of Hebrew origin |
ג | g | g |
|
ד | d | d |
|
דזש | dzh | d͡ʒ |
|
ה | h | h |
|
ו | u | ʊ |
|
וּ | u | ʊ | Used around וו to indicate which is u versus v |
וו | v | v |
|
וי | oy | ɔj |
|
ז | z | z |
|
זש | zh | ʒ |
|
ח | kh | x | Only used in words of Hebrew origin |
ט | t | t |
|
טש | tsh | t͡ʃ |
|
י | y,i | j,i | Depends on whether surrounding letters are consonants or vowels |
יִ | i | i | Used around another י to show a sequence yi, to differentiate from יי |
יי | ey | ɛj |
|
ײַ | ay | aj |
|
כּ | k | k | Only used in words of Hebrew origin |
כ | kh | x |
|
ך | kh | x | Only used at the ends of words |
ל | l | l |
|
מ | m | m |
|
ם | m | m | Only used at the ends of words |
נ | n | n |
|
ן | n | n | Only used at the ends of words |
ס | s | s |
|
ע | e | ɛ, ə |
|
פּ | p | p |
|
פֿ | f | f |
|
ף | f | f | Only used at the end of words |
צ | ts | t͡s |
|
ץ | ts | t͡s | Only used at the ends of words |
ק | k | k |
|
ר | r | r |
|
ש | sh | ʃ |
|
שׂ | s | s | Only used in words of Hebrew origin |
תּ | t | t | Only used in words of Hebrew origin |
ת | s | s | Only used in words of Hebrew origin |
Read more about the Yiddish Alphabet (external site)
Yiddish consonants
- Yiddish has only a single rhotic, but whether it is an alveolar trill, alveolar tap, uvular trill, or uvular fricative is said to vary by dialect region
- Some varieties of Yiddish also have a series of palatalized consonants (not in chart) that may have some degree of contrastive status
- There is variation in transcription of x vs χ
- An allophonic [ŋ] appears in some environments
Yiddish vowels
Some interesting phonetic/phonological characteristics
- Nasal place assimilation
- Voicing assimilation
- Contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruents persists word-finally
- i.e., *no* final devoicing
- Umlaut
- Vowels affected by umlaut become front unr
- ounded
- e.g., o to e
- Many cases of umlaut are morphologically determined and lack a triggering vowel
- e.g., kats ‘cat’ in singular, kets ‘cats’ in plural
- Stress is lexical, but often penultimate
- College Yiddish, a standard language learning textbook, only indicates stress when it isn’t penultimate
- Stress patterns vary depending on word origin (Semitic, Germanic, Slavic)
- Voiceless stops are generally unaspirated
- Lateral (‘L’-sound) is typically velarized
- Dialectal differences are primarily in the vowels
- E.g., ‘one day’ is best transliterated as:
- eyn tog in Lithuanian/Northeastern Yiddish (and Standard)
- eyn tug in Ukrainian/Southeastern Yiddish
- ayn tug in Polish/Central Yiddish
- E.g., ‘one day’ is best transliterated as:
- V2 word order
- Including in embedded clauses
- Separable verbal prefixes
- Gender
- Masculine, feminine, and neuter
- Sometimes varies by dialect
- Case
- Nominative, accusative, dative
- Determiners and adjectives show case, but most nouns don’t
- Negative concord / double negatives
- Diminutives
- Max Weinreich
- Uriel Weinreich
- Dovid Katz
- Edward Sapir
- Native Yiddish speaker but didn’t do much work on Yiddish
- Marvin Herzog
- Mordkhe Veygner
- Neil Jacobs
- Mordkhe Shaechter
- Joshua Fishman
Yiddish has been influenced by multiple contact languages.
Yiddish is a Germanic language, but has a lot of influence from Hebrew and Slavic languages (Polish, Ukrainian, Russian).
- Many loanwords
- Yiddish spelling is usually phonetically-based, but not in words from Hebrew
- Words from Hebrew usually keep their original spelling, which sometimes results in Yiddish words spelled with no vowels!
- e.g. הקדמה (hkdmh, pronounced [haɡˈdɔmə], means ‘foreword, preface’)
- Words from Hebrew usually keep their original spelling, which sometimes results in Yiddish words spelled with no vowels!
Slavic-like aspects include:
- Yiddish voiceless stops aren’t aspirated
- Yiddish /l/ is often velarized
- Yiddish frequently uses double negation
- Yiddish has “underlying” SVO word order
- i.e., it is V2 even in embedded clauses
Yiddish has had a complex historical relationship with German. Some linguistic factors that distinguish Yiddish:
- Yiddish doesn’t have final devoicing
- Different vowel inventories
- Yiddish has V2 word order in embedded clauses
Read more: No, Yiddish is not a Corruption of German (external site)
- Context
Historical and current context of the language
- Jewish varieties of local languages developed in many areas with Jews around the world
- Aside from Yiddish, examples include:
- Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
- Bukhori (Judeo-Tajik)
- Karaim (a Judeo-Turkic language)
- etc.
- Aside from Yiddish, examples include:
- Yiddish considered the “most richly developed and furthest removed from its origin” of Jewish languages (Weinreich, College Yiddish, 144)
- Around the beginning of the last millennium, Jews in France and Italy who spoke Romance Jewish languages moved to modern Germany near the Rhine river
- Started to speak what later became Yiddish
- Yiddish involved a mixture of German dialects
- But Yiddish is NOT derived from German!
- They share a common ancestor, Middle High German
- But Yiddish is NOT derived from German!
- Eastward migrations of Jews began with the Crusades, bringing Yiddish to central Europe
- Austria, Czechia, Slovakia
- Slavic elements were introduced, from Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, etc.
- Yiddish also spread to Poland and to the basins of the rivers Dvina, Dnieper, Dniester
- Austria-Hungary included Galicia with a large Jewish population
- Jews experienced poverty and few economic opportunities
- Jews in Russia were also subject to a bad economic position and political oppression
- Jews in Russia were only allowed to live in the Pale of Settlement (see below)
- Jews were also subject to government-encouraged pogroms
- A pogrom is a violent riot with the intent of massacring Jews
- Pogroms were very common in Eastern Europe
- Strasbourg pogrom of 1349 illustrated below (by Émile Schweitzer)
- Jews were subject to extreme inequality and discrimination
- Restrictions on where they could live, exclusion from schools, etc.
Antisemitism in Europe resulted in large waves of immigration.
- Large numbers of Yiddish speakers went to the USA between 1880s and before WW1
- ~3 million Jews went to America from Eastern Europe in 40 years
- Dialect mixing happened in the USA and other diaspora areas
- English words became incorporated
- Borrowings for American concepts like baseball
- There was controversy in the Yiddish-speaking community over the concern that these English words were replacing long-standing Yiddish ones
- Borrowings for American concepts like baseball
There was also immigration of Yiddish speakers to Toronto
- A milk store in Toronto in 1903, with Yiddish orthography in the window
- According to the 1931 Canadian census, Yiddish was one of the most widely spoken non-official languages as a mother tongue, after German and Ukrainian
- It was the native language of 1.4% of the Canadian population
- In mother tongues of Ontario immigrant populations specifically, Yiddish was second only to English
Centuries of antisemitism culminating in genocide led to the under-representation of Yiddish in modern times.
The Holocaust is known as khurbn חורבן [xʊrbm̩] in Yiddish, from a word meaning destruction.
- The Yiddish word refers to the historical destruction of the temple in Jerusalem as well
6 million European Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, around 85% of whom spoke Yiddish.
Image shows the selection ramp at Auschwitz, where around 1 million Jews were murdered, most in the gas chambers immediately after arriving.
The pre-war Yiddish homeland in Central/Eastern Europe was destroyed because most of its population was murdered.
- As an example, Poland was a huge centre of Yiddish before the war, but 90% of its Jewish population was murdered in the Holocaust
Many of the survivors emigrated due to trauma and continued antisemitism.
Read more about the Holocaust from Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre.
When College Yiddish was written in 1949, Yiddish was the native language of the majority of Jews around the world.
- This is not true anymore
Estimates of Yiddish speakers in 1935 (before the Holocaust) were much higher than they are today
- In 1935:
- Over 10.6 million Yiddish speakers worldwide, including:
- Over 6.7 million Yiddish speakers in Eastern and Central Europe (the Yiddish homeland)
- Over 10.6 million Yiddish speakers worldwide, including:
- Today:
- Around 0.5 million active Yiddish users worldwide
- In 1935:
The majority of the 6 million Jews murdered in Europe were Yiddish speakers
Yiddish also declined in the diaspora after the Holocaust
- From 1931 to 1971, the number of Canadians reporting Yiddish as their mother tongue in the census declined from 149,520 to 49,890
- The population of Canada more than doubled in the same time
- From 1931 to 1971, the number of Canadians reporting Yiddish as their mother tongue in the census declined from 149,520 to 49,890
Today, Yiddish is primarily used in religious (Haredi) communities, but it is also undergoing a revival in the secular community
Secular organizations such as the Yiddish Book Centre in Amherst work to promote the vitality of the language
- See the Culture section for more
Coming soon!
- Samples
Samples of phrases and texts in the language
Here are some basic phrases in Yiddish
Audio is given in the Lithuanian and Polish dialects for each
| Phrase | Transliteration | Notes | English translation |
שלום־עליכם | Sholem aleykhem | Comes from Hebrew | ‘hello’ |
עליכם שלום | Aleykhem sholem | Used as a response to sholem aleykhem | |
אַ גוטן | A gutn | Literally a good (one) | |
אַ גוטן טאָג
| A gutn tog | Literally a good day | |
גוט־מאָרגן | Gut morgn | Literally good morning | |
אַ גוט יאָר | A gut yor | Can be used as a response to good morning, good day, etc. | |
זייַ געזונט | Zay gezunt | Used with one person | ‘goodbye’ |
זייַט געזונט | Zayt gezunt | Used with more than one person | |
אַ דאַנק | A dank | Thank you | ‘thank you’ |
אַ שיינעם דאַנק
| A sheynem dank | Thank you very much | |
שקויעך | Shkoyekh | Only used as ‘thank you’ in Hasidic Yiddish; means more like ‘well done’ in other varieties | |
נישטאָ פֿאַר וואָס | Nishto far vos | Literally ‘there is not why’, used as a response to ‘thank you’ (i.e., used to mean ‘you’re welcome’) | |
יאָ | Yo | ‘yes’ | |
ניין | Neyn | ‘no’ | |
ווי הייסטו | Vi heystu | Literally ‘what are you called’ | ‘What’s your name?’ |
וואָס איז דיין נאָמען | Vos iz dayn nomen | Literally ‘what is your name’ | |
איך הייס | Ikh heys… | Literally ‘I’m called’ | ‘My name is …’ |
מיין נאמען איז
| Mayn nomen iz… | Literally ‘my name is’ | |
וואס מאכסטו
| Vos makhstu | Literally ‘what are you making/doing’ | ‘How are you?’ |
ווי גייט עס | Vi geyt es | Literally ‘how goes it’ | |
וואָס הערט זיך | Vos hert zikh | Literally ‘what’s being heard’ | |
גוט | Gut | Literally ‘good’ | common response to ‘How are you?’ |
נישקשה
| Nishkoshe | ‘so-so’ | |
ברוך השם
| Borukh hashem | ‘thank god’ |
Yiddish is known for colourful idioms, curses, and expressions. Here is a sample!
Audio is given in the Lithuanian and Polish dialects for each
Yiddish | Transliteration | Literal translation | Idiomatic meaning |
האַק מיר נישט קיין טשײַניק | Hak mir nisht keyn tshaynik | Don’t bang me a teakettle | Stop making me crazy, stop annoying me |
זאָלסט וואַקסן ווי אַ ציבעלע מיטן קאָפ אין דרערד | Zolst vaksn vi a tsibele mitn kop in drerd | You should grow like an onion with your head in the ground | This phrase is a well-known example of the complexity of Yiddish curses, though not actually used commonly (unlike the other phrases here, which are all quite common) |
גיי שלאָג זיך קאָפ אין וואַנט | Gey shlog zikh kop in vant | Go bang your head against the wall | Stop driving me crazy, stop annoying me |
קינעהאָרע | Keyn eynehora | No evil eye | Similar to English “knock on wood” |
ביז הונדערט און צוואַנציק | Biz hundert un tsvantsik | Until 120 | May you live until 120 years old, used when you wish someone happy birthday or something nice |
אוי ווי אוי וויי איז מיר אוי געוואַלט | Oy vey / oy vey iz mir / oy gevalt | Oh no / oh woe is me / oh my god | Expressions of dismay or frustration |
אַבי געזונט | Abi gezunt | If healthy | As long as you’re healthy |
דער מענטש טראַכט און גאָט לאַכט | Der mentsh trakht un got lakht | The person thinks and God laughs | Used in English as “man plans and God laughs”, means things don’t always work out as planned |
אַ שוואַרץ יאָר | A shvarts yor | A black year | Used as a curse, also to mean “devil” or “hell” E.g., “tsum shvarts yor” = “go to hell” |
אויף מײַנע שׂונאים | Af mayne soynim | On my enemies | It should happen to my enemies, used as a way to deflect |
אויף צו להכעיס | Af tselokhes | To spite/enrage | In spite of, to annoy someone, in defiance |
For more information about Yiddish greetings and expressions, check out this blog post
היינט איז יארצייט
Notes:
This poem is a Holocaust remembrance poem
Yortsayt is a Yiddish term for the anniversary of a death
Ponar is the site of the murder of 75,000 Lithuanian Jews in the Holocaust
English word | Meaning | Yiddish word | Meaning |
Bagel | Bread shaped like a doughnut | בייגל | Same as English |
Chutzpah | Audacity, gall | חוצפּה | Same as English |
Farklempt | Overwhelmed | פֿאַרקלעמט | Depressed, distraught |
Glitch | A problem, a bug | גליטשיק | Slippery |
Klutz | Clumsy person | קלאָץ | Wooden beam, secondary meaning same as English |
Kvetch | To complain | קוועטשן | To press; to complain |
Lox | Smoked salmon | לאַקס | Salmon |
Maven | Expert | מבֿין | Same as English |
Mensch | Honourable person | מענטש | Human being, person |
Meshugge | Crazy | משוגע | Same as English |
Mishegas | Craziness | משוגעת | Same as English |
Putz | Jerk, idiot | פּאָץ | Male body part |
Schlep | To drag | שלעפּן | Same as English |
Schmaltz | Excessive sentiment, corny | שמאַלץ | Rendered chicken fat |
Schmooze | Chat up, chat to gain an advantage | שמועס | Chat |
Shlemiel | Fool, clumsy | שלימיל | Same as English |
Shlimazl | Fool, unlucky | שלימזל | Same as English |
Shmegege | Fool | שמעגעגע | Same as English |
Shmendrik | Fool | שמענדריק | Same as English |
Schmuck | Jerk | שמאָק | Male body part |
Shpiel | Long monologue | שפּיל | Play |
Tchotchke | Knicknack, trinket | טשאַטשקע | Same as English |
Tush | Bottom | תחת | Same as English |
- Culture
Culture, food, literature, and more
Matzo balls
- A traditional Jewish food, especially for the holiday Passover
- Usually eaten with chicken soup
- Sometimes known as “Jewish penicillin”
- Known as kneydl (pl. kneydlekh) in Yiddish
Gefilte fish
- Ground fish mixture that is typically poached
- Served as an appetizer
- Ashkenazi Jews traditionally differ in whether gefilte fish is prepared sweet or savoury (also called the ‘pepper’ version)
- Gefilte fish preferences follow the same geographical division as dialects of Yiddish!
- The Gefilte Fish Line: A Sweet And Salty History Of Jewish Identity (NPR)
Rugelach
- Small croissant-shaped pastries
- Typically filled with jam or chocolate
Honey cake
- Known as lekakh in Yiddish
- Traditional on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year
- Honey is said to bring a sweet new year
Hamantaschen
- Traditional on the Jewish holiday Purim
- Triangular shape to represent the triangular hat of Haman (the Purim story’s villain)
- Typically filled with jam, chocolate, or poppyseeds
Challah
- Jewish egg bread, often braided
- Traditionally eaten on Shabbos (Yiddish word for the Sabbath) and on many holidays
Latkes
- Potato pancakes
- Made of shredded potato and other ingredients, then fried
- Traditionally eaten on the holiday Chanukah
- Mentioned in the song Oy Chanukah (see Yiddish music!)
- Potato pancakes
Kugel
- Sort of like a Jewish casserole
- Usually made from either potato or noodles
- Potato kugel is similar to latkes, but baked in a casserole dish instead of fried
- Lokshn kugel (noodle kugel) is made of egg noodles and other ingredients
- Most commonly eaten sweet, often with raisins and cinnamon
Bagels
- Bagels are originally from Ashkenazi Jewish culture!
Blintzes
- Crepes rolled around a filling
- Often stuffed with sweetened cheese
Yiddish has a very rich literary tradition
Sholem Aleichem (pseudonym meaning “hello” in Yiddish/Hebrew) was a famous Yiddish writer
- Wrote the stories about Tevye der milkhiker (Tevye the milkman) that the musical Fiddler on the Roof was based on
- The stories were originally in Yiddish, but the musical is originally in English
- There’s an adaptation into Yiddish called Fidler oyfn dakh – here are some of the songs in Yiddish (Youtube):
- Tog ayn tog oys (sunrise sunset)
- L’chaim (to life)
- Tog ayn tog oys (sunrise sunset)
- There’s an adaptation into Yiddish called Fidler oyfn dakh – here are some of the songs in Yiddish (Youtube):
Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Yiddish writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978
Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh is often considered the father of modern Yiddish literature
The Yiddish Book Centre (pictured) is an organization dedicated to Jewish literature (and culture)
- They have an extensive library of Yiddish literature, along with Yiddish audiobooks
Klezmer is a traditional Yiddish music style
Klezmer musicians around 1925:
Traditional (pre-WW2) songs (links to YouTube):
- Abi gezunt
- Title is from a saying “as long as you’re healthy”
- View more Yiddish expressions under “Yiddish sayings” above!
- Tum balalaika
- Title refers to a traditional Russian folk instrument
called a balalaika (see right) - This song has also been translated into an English version
- Title refers to a traditional Russian folk instrument
- Oyfn pripetchik
- This is a song about children learning the alphabet
- Title means “on the hearth”
- Mayn shtetele Belz
- Title means “my little town Belz”
- Oyfn veg shteyt a boym
- Title means “on the way stands a tree”
- A yidishe mame
- Title means “a Yiddish/Jewish mom” (but is usually translated as “my Yiddish mom”)
- Bay mir bistu sheyn
- Title means “to me you’re beautiful”
- The song was written for a Yiddish comedy musical in the 1930s
- This song was translated into an English version that became a worldwide hit
Holiday songs:
- Dreidel song
- This song has a well-known English version, but the lyrics are different
- Dreidels are spinning tops used on the Jewish
holiday Hanukkah
(see right)
- Oy Chanukah
- This version is sung in both Yiddish and English, though the two sets of lyrics don’t mean the same thing
Songs from the Holocaust:
- Vi ahin zol ikh geyn
- Title means “where should I go”
- Zog nit keyn mol
- Also called the Partisan Song
- Title means “never say”
- Shtiler shtiler
- Lullaby written in the Vilna Ghetto
- Title means “quiet quiet”
- Yom Kippur Without Fascists
- Satirical song to mark the end of the war
- Written by an anonymous Jewish refugee
- Dates from 1945 in Kazakhstan
Yiddish versions of modern English songs:
- Yiddish version of Love Yourself by Justin Bieber
- Yiddish parody of the song “Under the Sea”, from The Little Mermaid, about gefilte fish
- The Sound of Silence in Yiddish (originally by Simon & Garfunkel)
- This Land is Your Land in Yiddish
- Hallelujah in Yiddish (originally by Leonard Cohen)
- Let It Go from Frozen in Yiddish
- O Canada in Yiddish
- Sholem Aleichem (pseudonym meaning “hello” in Yiddish/Hebrew) was a famous Yiddish writer
- Wrote the stories about Tevye der milkhiker (Tevye the milkman) that the musical Fiddler on the Roof was based on (for more, see Yiddish literature section above!)
- L.L. Zamenhof, who created Esperanto, was a native Yiddish speaker
- Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978, was a native Yiddish speaker
- Max Weinreich, a linguist famous for popularizing a phrase about languages versus dialects, was a native Yiddish speaker
- אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט
- a shprakh iz a dyalekt mit an armey un flot
- A language is a dialect with an army and navy
- The Three Stooges, a famous comedy trio, were Yiddish speakers
- Some of their “gibberish” was actually Yiddish
- The Warner brothers, founders of the famous Warner Bros. entertainment company, were from a Yiddish-speaking family
- Marc Chagall, a famous artist, spoke Yiddish
- Leonard Nimoy, actor famous for playing Spock on Star Trek, was a Yiddish speaker
- Watch an interview in which he discusses his heritage and speaks some Yiddish
- Yiddish news site, Forverts
- Yiddish radio site, Yiddish Voice
- A Yiddish film from 1936 (YouTube)
- Filmed in Poland just a few years before WW2
- Vaybertaysh: A feminist podcast in Yiddish
- Yiddish book centre
- Free pdf books and audiobooks in Yiddish
- Toronto has a Jewish film festival that often includes a few Yiddish films
- There are a few TV series that are partly in Yiddish:
- Unorthodox, on Netflix
- Rough Diamonds (in Flemish, Yiddish, French, and English) on Netflix
- Shtisl, an Israeli show mostly in Yiddish
- Wikipedia articles in Yiddish
- Yiddish wordle
- Fun fact: Yiddish wordle is called “vertl”, which is the diminutive of “vort”, which means word!
- Like saying “little word” or “wordlet”
- Fun fact: Yiddish wordle is called “vertl”, which is the diminutive of “vort”, which means word!
- There’s a Duolingo Yiddish course
- Oral histories about Yiddish language and culture, from the Yiddish Book Centre
- Yiddish language, culture, and music festivals exist around the world
- Some Yiddish festivals in Canada:
- Ashkenaz festival in Toronto
- Klezkanada Yiddish summer festivals
- Farbindungen Yiddish grad conference
- Chutzpah festival in Vancouver
- There are also Yiddish retreats, where Yiddish speakers come together for an opportunity to be in a Yiddish-speaking immersion environment, including:
- Yiddish Vokh (Yiddish Week) in the USA
- Yiddish Sof-Vokh (Yiddish Weekend) in Australia
There’s a Yiddish cooking show on YouTube called est gezunterheyt
- Means eat in good health, similar to bon appetit
- Here’s a link to their show on bagels (which are indeed a Jewish food!)
Another Yiddish cooking show: No Shmaltz
Yiddish comedy YouTube channel Yidlife Crisis
Yiddish-speaking YouTuber who posts travel vlogs and Yiddish Disney dubs
YouTube podcast for beginner Yiddish learners called Proste Yiddish
- Credits and References
References, image credits, and how to cite this profile
Belk, Zoë, Kahn, Lily, Szendrői, Kriszta Eszter, & Yampolskaya, Sonya. (2022). Introduction: thematic issue on contemporary Haredi Yiddish worldwide. Journal of Jewish Languages, 10(2) 156-168.
https://doi.org/10.1163/22134638-bja10025
Dominion Bureau of Statistics Canada. (1936). Seventh Census of Canada, 1931, volume 1.
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/statcan/CS98-1931-1-eng.pdf
Friesen, Joe. (2012, December 7). Yiddish finding a way to survive in Canada. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/yiddish-finding-a-way-to-survive-in-canada /article6116483/
Gabler, Neal. (1988, July 31). BEHIND THE SCENES AT WARNER BROTHERS: Sound and Fury: The Making of the First Talkie, ‘The Jazz Singer,’ Is a Story of Hollywood’s Jewish Heritage. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-31-tm-10751-story.html
Glasser, Paul. (2010, November 4). Weinreich, Max. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Weinreich_Max
Grosfeld, Irena. (2013). Persistent antimarket culture: a legacy of the Pale of Settlement after the Holocaust. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 5(3), 189-226. https://doi.org/10.1257 /pol.5.3.189
Harshav, Benjamin. (2010, December 15). Chagall, Marc. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Chagall_Marc
Ivry, Benjamin. (2022, July 19). Were the Three Stooges a lot more Jewish than we realized? Forward. https://forward.com/culture/510651/three-stooges-jewish-yiddish-nazi-charlie-chaplin-great- dictator-mad-magazine/
Jacobs, Neil G. (2005). Yiddish: a linguistic introduction. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1470542706210067
Kahn, Lily. (2017). Yiddish. In Lily Kahn & Aaron D. Rubin (Eds.), Handbook of Jewish languages (pp. 642-748). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004359543_025
Katz, Dovid. (2011, October 31). Language: Yiddish. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Language/Yiddish
Kleine, Ane. (2003). Standard Yiddish. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33(2), 261-265.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100303001385
Louden, Mark. (2020). Minority Germanic languages. In Michael T. Putnam & Richard B. Page (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics (pp. 807-832). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108378291.035
Margolis, Rebecca. (2016, December 18). New Yiddish Film and the Transvernacular. In geveb.
https://ingeveb.org/articles/new-yiddish-film-and-the-transvernacular
Miron, Dan. (2013, May 16). Sholem Aleichem. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.
https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Sholem_Aleichem
Pasikowska-Schnass, Magdalena. (2022). Yiddish culture and language and its post-Holocaust fate in Europe (PE 698.881). European Parliament Briefing. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank /en/document/EPRS_BRI(2022)698881
Rosenberg, Louis. (1946). The Jewish population of Canada: a statistical summary from 1850 to 1943. The American Jewish Year Book, 48, 19-50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23602782
Schaechter, Ruhkl. (2022, April 27). 85% of the Jews killed in the Holocaust spoke Yiddish. Here’s how to honor them. Forward. https://forward.com/forverts-in-english/500981/85-of-the-jews-killed-in- the-holocaust-spoke-yiddish-heres-how-to-honor-them/
Schäfer, Lea. (2022). Auxiliary selection in Yiddish dialects. Journal of Germanic Linguistics, 34(4), 341-384. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1470542722000010
Schor, Esther. (2009). Esperanto: A Jewish Story. Pakn Treger, 60. https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org /language-literature-culture/pakn-treger/esperanto-jewish-story
Sherman, Joseph. (2017, November 2). Singer, Isaac Bashevis. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Singer_Isaac_Bashevis
Statistics Canada. (2015). Historical statistics, mother tongues of the population, 1931-1971. (Table number 15-10-0002-01). https://doi.org/10.25318/1510000201-eng
Vinokour, Anna. (2017, November 13). 90% of Polish Jews Died in the Holocaust. So Why Are Poland’s Nationalists Chanting ‘Get the Jews Out of Power’?. Haaretz. https://www.haaretz.com/jewish /holocaust-remembrance-day/2017-11-13/ty-article/why-polish-nationalists-chant-get-the-jews- out-of-power/0000017f-e7fe-d97e-a37f-f7ffb30e0000
Weinreich, Uriel. (1992). College Yiddish (5th revised ed.). New York City, NY, USA:
Yivo Institute for Jewish Research. [Original work published 1946.]
Yad Vashem. (2023). Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp. https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust /about/final-solution/auschwitz.html#narrative_info
Zalewska, Gabriela. (2014, December 22). Zamenhof, Ludwik. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Zamenhof_Ludwik
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“Eastern Europe: Lakhva 1926” is in the public domain.
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“Leonard Nimoy mid 1960s” is in the public domain.
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“Matzah balls” by SoulSkorpion licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
“Milk Store in Toronto, 1903” is in the public domain.
“Montréal bagel with lox“by Khane Rokhl Barazani is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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“Pale of settlement” by Claude Zygiel licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic license.
“Pogrom de Strasbourg” by Émile Schweitzer is in the public domain.
Selection on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1944 is in the public domain.
Sholem Aleichem is in the public domain.
Strawberry hamantaschen by Eden Aviv is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
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Yiddish sayings image created by Lucy Meanwell.
Yiddish language name icon created by Kaye Ocampo.
Yiddish dialect map created by Liam McFadden.
Yiddish linguistics word cloud created by Annika Nilsson.
The content of this profile was created primarily by Avery Ozburn. To cite:
Ozburn, Avery. 2023. Yiddish. In Ozburn, Avery (ed.) The Language Profiles Project. Available online at https://languageprofiles.ca/home/yiddish/.
We would also like to acknowledge Miriam Borden, Sandy Fainer, Anna Shternshis, Lucy Meanwell, Liam McFadden, Gianna Giovio Canavesi, and Tony Juntao Hu.
The map was created by Liam McFadden.
Recordings and checking of Yiddish content were done by Sandy Fainer.
Yiddish datasets
Find datasets for use in Linguistics courses
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- Fricative minimal pairs (phonetics, historical)
- Velarized laterals (phonetics)
- Dialectal complex coda epenthesis (phonology, sociolinguistics)
- Hebrew loanwords into Yiddish (phonology)
- Voicing assimilation (phonology)
- Nasal place assimilation (phonology)
- Diminutives and umlaut (phonology, morphology, historical)
- Gender and case (morphology, syntax)
- Verb-second word order (syntax)
- Embedded clauses word order (syntax)
- Wh-questions (syntax)
- Prepositions versus separable prefix constituency (syntax)
- Words borrowed into English (historical)
Coming soon!
Yiddish velarized laterals
Yiddish orthography | Yiddish transliteration | Yiddish IPA (standard) | English |
לאַנד | land | ɫand | land |
ליכט | likht | ɫɪxt | light |
בלאַט | blat | bɫat | leaf |
לאָז | loz | ɫɔz | let (1sg) |
לעב | leb | ɫɛb | live (1sg) |
שטעטל | shtetl | ʃtɛjtɫ | village, little town |
ווערטל | vertl | vɛrtɫ | little word |
שלאָף | shlof | ʃɫɔf | sleep (1sg) |
שלום | sholem | ʃɔɫəm | part of the greeting sholem aleykhem (‘hello’) |
געפֿילטע | gefilte | gəfɪɫtə | chopped |
- The Yiddish lateral (l) is velarized (“dark l”)
- Contrasts with English, where l in onsets (at the beginning of words) is not velarized
Phonetics: laterals, velarized l, dark l
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Coming soon!
Yiddish voicing assimilation
1sg (orthography) | 1sg (IPA) | 3sg (orthography) | 3sg (IPA) | Translation |
כאַפּ | xap | כאַפּט | xapt | catch |
שרייַב | ʃrajb | שרייַבט | ʃrajpt | write |
זאָג | zɔg | זאָגט | zɔkt | say |
טרינק | trɪŋk | טרינקט | trɪŋkt | drink |
לעב | lɛb | לעבט | lɛpt | live |
ברענג | brɛŋg | ברענגט | brɛŋkt | bring |
פּרוּוו | prʊv | פּרוּווט | prʊft | try |
שלאָף | ʃlɔf | שלאָפֿט | ʃlɔft | sleep |
רעד | rɛd | רעדט | rɛt | talk |
וואַרט | vart | וואַרט | vart | wait |
זוך | zʊx | זוכט | zʊxt | search |
לויף | lɔjf | לויפט | lɔyft | run |
לייג | lɛjg | לייגט | lɛykt | put, lay |
מאַך | max | מאַכט | maxt | make |
עס | ɛs | עסט | ɛst | eat |
קום | kʊm | קומט | kʊmt | come |
טאַנץ | tants | טאַנצט | tantst | dance |
זינג | zɪŋg | זינגט | zɪŋkt | sing |
אַרבעט | arbɛt | אַרבעט | arbɛt | work |
לאָז | lɔz | לאָזט | lɔst | let |
הייס | hɛjs | הייסט | hɛjst | be called |
שטיי | ʃtɛj | שטייט | ʃtɛjt | stand |
זע | zɛ | זעט | zɛt | see |
ווייַז | vajz | ווייַזט | vayst | show |
הער | hɛr | הערט | hɛrt | hear |
טייַטש | tajtʃ | טייַטשט | tajtʃt | interpret |
וויש | vɪʃ | ווישט | vɪʃt | wipe |
- voiced and voiceless obstruents are contrastive word-finally
- before the 3sg affix -t, voiced obstruents become voiceless (b→p, d→t, g→k, v→f, z→s)
- sonorants (m, n, r, vowels) are unaffected
Phonology: voicing assimilation, neutralization
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Yiddish nasal assimilation
1sg (orthography) | 1sg (IPA, Standard) | Infinitive (orthography) | Infinitive (IPA, Standard) | Translation |
כאַפּ | xap | כאַפּן | xapm̩ | catch |
שרייַב | ʃrajb | שרייַבן | ʃrajbm̩ | write |
זאָג | zɔg | זאָגן | zɔgŋ̩ | say |
טרינק | trɪŋk | טרינקען | trɪŋkən | drink |
לעב | lɛb | לעבן | lɛbm̩ | live |
ברענג | brɛŋg | ברענגען | brɛŋgən | bring |
רעד | rɛd | רעדן | rɛdn̩ | talk |
וואַרט | vart | וואַרטן | vartn̩ | wait |
לייג | lɛjg | לייגן | lɛygŋ̩ | put, lay |
עס | ɛs | עסן | ɛsn̩ | eat |
קען | kɛn | קענען | kɛnən | can |
קום | kʊm | קומען | kʊmən | come |
טאַנץ | tants | טאַנצן | tantsn̩ | dance |
זינג | zɪŋg | זינגען | zɪŋgən | sing |
שווים | ʃvɪm | שווימען | ʃvɪmən | swim |
אַרבעט | arbɛt | אַרבעטן | arbɛtn̩ | work |
לאָז | lɔz | לאָזן | lɔzn̩ | let |
הייס | hɛjs | הייסן | hɛjsn̩ | be called |
זע | zɛ | זען | zɛn | see |
ווייַז | vajz | ווייַזן | vajzn̩ | show |
הער | hɛr | הערן | hɛrn̩ | hear |
- syllabic nasals assimilate in place to preceding consonants
- m̩ after p,b
- ŋ̩ after g
- n̩ after t,d,s,z
- nasals preceded by a vowel are unaffected (‘say’ vs. ‘bring’)
- schwa is inserted before the infinitive suffix when the root ends in a nasal (m,n) or an ng/nk cluster
Phonology: nasal assimilation, syllabic consonants, epenthesis
Phonetics: syllabic nasals (vs. schwa+nasal)
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Yiddish diminutives and umlaut
Noun (orthography) | Noun (IPA, Standard) | Noun (IPA, Poylish) | Diminutive (orthography) | Diminutive (IPA, Standard) | Diminutive (IPA, Poylish) | Translation |
קאַץ | kats | kats | קעצל | kɛtsl | kɛstl | Cat |
הונט | hʊnt | hɪnt | הינטל | hɪntl | hɪntl | Dog |
הויז | hɔjz | hɔz | הײַזל | hajzl | hazl | House |
שטאָט | ʃtɔt | ʃtʊt | שטעטל | ʃtɛtl | ʃtɛjtl | Town |
ליכט | lɪxt | lɪxt | ליכטל | lɪxtl | lɪxtl | Light |
פֿערד | fɛrd | fɛrd | פֿערדל | fɛrdl | fɛrdl | Horse |
ביין | bɛjn | bajn | ביינדל | bɛjndl | bajndl | Bone |
שוך | ʃʊx | ʃɪx | שיכל | ʃɪxl | ʃɪxl | Shoe |
לאַנד | land | land | לענגל | lɛndl | lɛndl | Country |
פייַער | fajər | fajər | פייַערל | fajərl | fajərl | Fire |
שטוב | ʃtʊb | ʃtɪb | שטיבל | ʃtɪbl | ʃtɪbl | Home |
שטיין | ʃtɛjn | ʃtajn | שטיינדל | ʃtɛjndl | ʃtajndl | Stone |
אויג | ɔjg | ɔjg | אייגל | ɛjgl | ajgl | Eye |
מויז | mɔjz | mɔz | מײַזל | majzl | mazl | Mouse |
בויך | bɔjx | bɔx | בײַכל | bajxl | baxl | Box |
בוים | bɔjm | bɔjm | ביימל | bɛjml | bajml | Tree |
בלאַט | blat | blat | בלעטל | blɛtl | blɛtl | Leaf |
בוך | bʊx | bɪx | ביכל | bɪxl | bɪxl | Book |
וואָרט | vɔrt | vʊrt | ווערטל | vɛrtl | vɛrtl | Word |
- Yiddish forms diminutives by adding -l and sometimes changing the vowel
- Back vowels in the base form generally become front in the diminutive
- ʊ→ɪ, ɔ→ɛ, a→ɛ, ɔj→aj/ɛj in Standard Yiddish
- Whether Standard Yiddish oy becomes ay or ey in the diminutive corresponds to whether the Poylish dialect has o or oy in the base form
Morphology: diminutives
Phonology: umlaut
Historical: mergers, vowel shifts
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Yiddish word order
1. | (a) | מינדל לערנט ייִדיש אין שול | ||||
|
| Mindl | lernt | Yiddish | in | shul |
|
| Mindl | teaches | Yiddish | in | school |
|
| ‘Mindl teaches Yiddish in school’ | ||||
| (b) | ייִדיש לערנט מינדל אין שול | ||||
|
| Yiddish | lernt | Mindl | in | shul |
|
| Yiddish | teaches | Mindl | in | school |
|
| ‘It’s Yiddish that Mindl teaches in school’ | ||||
| (c) | אין שול לערנט מינדל יידיש | ||||
|
| In | shul | lernt | Mindl | Yiddish |
|
| In | school | teaches | Mindl | Yiddish |
|
| ‘It’s in school that Mindl teaches Yiddish’ | ||||
- Yiddish has V2 word order
- exactly one phrase before the verb
- If the object or adjunct is topicalized, then the subject appears after the verb
- Base order (without topicalization) is SVO
- See also the Yiddish wh-questions and embedded clauses datasets
Syntax: word order, verb-second (V2), topicalization
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Yiddish Embedded Clauses
1. | (a) | מאָטל מיינט, אַז מינדל לערנט ייִדיש אין שול | |||||||
|
| Motl | meynt | az | Mindl | lernt | Yiddish | in | shul |
|
| Motl | thinks | that | Mindl | teaches | Yiddish | in | school |
|
| ‘Motl thinks that Mindl teaches Yiddish in school’ | |||||||
| (b) | מאָטל מיינט, אַז ייִדיש לערנט מינדל אין שול | |||||||
|
| Motl | meynt | az | Yiddish | lernt | Mindl | in | shul |
|
| Motl | thinks | that | Yiddish | teaches | Mindl | in | school |
|
| ‘Motl thinks that it’s Yiddish that Mindl teaches in school’ | |||||||
| (c) | מאָטל מיינט, אַז אין שול לערנט מען מינדל ייִדיש | |||||||
|
| Motl | meynt | az | in | shul | lernt | Mindl | Yiddish |
|
| Motl | thinks | that | in | school | teaches | Mindl | Yiddish |
|
| ‘Motl thinks that it’s in school that Mindl teaches Yiddish’ | |||||||
- Embedded clauses have verb-second (V2) word order
- Topicalized elements within an embedded clause go between complementizer and verb
- Base order is SVO
- See also the Yiddish word order and wh-questions datasets
Syntax: embedded clauses, word order, verb-second (V2), topicalization
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Yiddish wh-questions
(1) | a. | ואָס לערנט מינדל אין שולע | ||||
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| Vos | lernt | Mindl | in | shul? |
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| What | teaches | Mindl | in | school |
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| ‘What does Mindl teach in school?‘ | ||||
| b. | וווּ לערנט מינדל ייִדיש | ||||
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| Vu | lernt | Mindl | Yiddish? |
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| Where | teaches | Mindl | Yiddish |
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| ‘Where does Mindl teach Yiddish?‘ | ||||
| c. | ווער לערנט ייִדיש אין שול | ||||
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| Ver | lernt | Yiddish | in | shul? |
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| Who | teaches | Yiddish | in | school |
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| ‘Who teaches Yiddish in school?‘ | ||||
- Wh-words come before the verb
- The verb is required to be in second position (V2)
- See also the Yiddish word order and embedded clauses datasets
Syntax: wh-questions, word order, verb-second (V2)
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
Yiddish constituency: preposition vs separable prefix
| 1. | (a) | ער שרייבט מיט אַ פעדער | |||||
| Er | shraybt | mit | a | feder | |||
| ‘He writes with a pen’ | |||||||
| (b) | ער ברענגט מיט אַ פעדער | ||||||
| Er | brengt | mit | a | feder | |||
| ‘He brings along a pen’ | |||||||
| (c) | ער האט געשריבן מיט אַ פעדער | ||||||
| Er | hot | geshribn | mit | a | feder | ||
| ‘He wrote with a pen’ | |||||||
| (d) | ער האט מיטגעברענגט אַ פעדער | ||||||
| Er | hot | mitgebrengt | a | feder | |||
| ‘He brought along a pen’ | |||||||
| Variation: | Er | hot | mitgebrakht‡ | a | feder | ||
| (e) | מיט וואָס שרײַבט ער | ||||||
| Mit | vos | shraybt | er? | ||||
| ‘What does he write with?’ | |||||||
| (f) | וואָס ברענגט ער מיט זיך | ||||||
| Vos | brengt | er | mit | (zikh)? | |||
| ‘What does he bring along (himself)?’ | |||||||
‡Mitgebrengt is ‘standard’ YIVO Yiddish, which was chosen for the standard variety over mitgebrakht because it was thought that the latter sounds ‘too German’.
- mit takes the same position in declarative present tense sentences
- The past tense and question forms differentiate its constituency
- With ‘write’, mit is a preposition
- With ‘bring’, mit is a separable verbal particle
- Prepositions cannot be stranded in Yiddish
Syntax: constituency, prepositions, particles, separable prefixes, stranding
Source: Avery Ozburn (with contributions and recordings from Sandy Fainer)
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