להתראות
le-hit-ra-OT
See you, goodbye (lit. "to be seen [again]").
What does it literally mean — and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: "until we are seen [again]."
להתראות מחר בשמונה!Lehitra'ot machar be-shemone!See you tomorrow at eight!
What Israelis actually mean
"see you / bye."
יאללה, להתראות, תודה על הכל.Yalla, lehitra'ot, toda al ha-kol.OK, see you, thanks for everything.
Where did this word come from?
A revival-era calque: biblical/rabbinic Hebrew had no set "see-you" formula (farewells were blessings: "lech le-shalom," go in peace). Modern להתראות was coined/regularized in the Ben-Yehuda era on the European model (au revoir / auf Wiedersehen / do svidaniya) — the standard account in revival histories (Glinert, Rosenthal document the calque mechanism for such formulas). The calque mechanism is confirmed; the first attestation pinpoint is needs-review.
Register & social context
Universal, completely unremarkable daily word. A reflexive *infinitive* — you can't conjugate "I lehitraot-ed"; fast speech clips it to "lehit."
Root & morphology
Root ר.א.ה ("see"). Hitpa'el (reflexive) infinitive: "to be seen [by each other again]" — same logic as au revoir / auf Wiedersehen.
Influences & contact languages
- French· contactModeled on au revoir — the European see-you formula (revival-era calque).
- German· contactAlso parallels auf Wiedersehen — and Russian do svidaniya; the same reflexive logic.
Which places are associated with this word?
This word travels through people, not places — so we don't pin it.
See where it lives in the language constellationHear it in the wild
להתראות מחר בשמונה!
Lehitra'ot machar be-shemone!
See you tomorrow at eight!
יאללה, להתראות, תודה על הכל.
Yalla, lehitra'ot, toda al ha-kol.
OK, see you, thanks for everything.
What English speakers get wrong
It's a reflexive *infinitive*, not a normal verb — you can't conjugate "I lehitraot-ed"; and Israelis clip it to "lehit" (להית) in fast speech.
What lives next to this word?
See the language constellation
Follow this word into a guided story
Sources & review
Want to use this word? Understand it inside a full sentence — Open Baba →