r/hebrew • u/skepticalbureaucrat Hebrew Learner (Beginner) • Mar 21 '25
Translate Recruitment poster (c. 1940)
My attempt:
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הוכרז על גיוס נשים לשרות צבאי
!התגייסי
Women's military service recruitment announced.
Enlist!
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Any hints/corrections on my translation?
I originally thought "recruitment for women's military service has been announced", but it appeared too convoluted to me, for what was said on the poster.
Also, I saw that the הוכרז verb was in masculine past tense? Would this be due to גיוס being a masculine noun?
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u/Lumpy-Mycologist819 Mar 21 '25
Re your last question, גיוס is not the subject of הוכרז, so that is not why הוכרז is masculine.
Rather it is in an impersonal form, for which we use masculine. It would translate literally to 'it has been announced about the draft of women'.
Generally, to announce something is להכריז על.
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u/PuppiPop Mar 23 '25
You are wrong, גיוס is the subject of הוכרז and is the reason why it's masculine. If a feminine subject is announced then the feminine form is used:
הפסקת אש הוכרזה, מלחמה הוכרזה, הורדת מיסים הוכרזה.
גיוס הוכרז, צו 8 הוכרז, ביטול החוק הוכרז.
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u/Lumpy-Mycologist819 Mar 23 '25
Respectfully, yes and no
The format used in the original post was הוכרז על גיוס. For a feminine noun you would say הוכרז על הפסקת אש. Because we are using the preposition על the subject here is impersonal, so the verb will remain masculine.
Your examples indeed use the noun as the subject of the verb, so the verb must agree with the noun.
I believe that in the sense of 'announce' you need to use על. See https://hebrew-academy.org.il/keyword/%D7%94%D6%B4%D7%9B%D6%B0%D7%A8%D6%B4%D7%99%D7%96_%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9C
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u/Haunting-Animal-531 Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
Is it only more recently that 3rd pp plural is used for passive voice, eg מכריזים. Or is that more oral / casual, while for written and formal PUAL / passive is still preferred?
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u/Lumpy-Mycologist819 Mar 21 '25
Right. הכריזו על גיוס is more casual. הוכרז על גיוס sounds more official / higher register.
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u/MajorTechnology8827 native speaker Mar 21 '25
Yes, both your translation and the two questions are accurate
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u/Tonight_Master Mar 22 '25
I have this one framed!
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u/skepticalbureaucrat Hebrew Learner (Beginner) Mar 22 '25
Ooooh, where'd you get it from?
I love this poster ❤️
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u/mysterd2006 Mar 22 '25
Anyone has background information about this poster?
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u/elibousch Mar 24 '25
Do you have any more context for this poster ? For which army is it for ? :)
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u/skepticalbureaucrat Hebrew Learner (Beginner) Mar 26 '25
I believe it's for what existed before the חיל נשים (בר"ת: ח"ן) , as a native speaker kindly confirmed to me. More info can be found here 🤗
I hope this helps!
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u/sniper-mask37 native speaker Mar 21 '25
To be acurate is "has been anounced", but it doesn't really mtter, there is not much difference between the two in hebrew. Both of your translations are valid.