Essential Gemara Keywords: A Guide to Talmudic Aramaic for Daf Yomi

If you're doing Daf Yomi or studying Gemara, you know the feeling: the Aramaic words repeat everywhere, but you never quite learned them systematically. Mai, de-amar, teiku, peshita—you recognize them in context but can't define them on the spot.

This glossary covers the essential Gemara keywords that appear on almost every page.

Question and Argument

• מַאי (mai) — "What?" The classic Gemara opener. Mai ika? = "What is the difficulty?"
• פְּשִׁיטָא (peshita) — "Obvious." Something is simple, self-evident.
• לָא סְבִירָא (la savira) — "It is not plausible." A rejection of a proposed answer.
• תֵּיקוּ (teiku) — "Let it stand." The Talmud's way of saying "unresolved."

Citation and Proof

• דְּאָמַר (de-amar) — "As it was said." Introducing a proof text.
• מְנָלַן (menalan) — "From where do we derive?" Asking for the source.
• מַתְנִי׳ (matni) — Abbreviation for Mishnah; the quoted rabbinic teaching.

Going Deeper

These are just the surface. Babylonian Talmud Aramaic has hundreds of recurring terms—from legal formulae to logical connectors. At The Jerusalem Bridge, we teach Aramaic systematically: verb patterns, sound shifts from Hebrew, and the vocabulary of actual sugiot. Your flashcards and reading practice pull from the Talmud itself, not a generic textbook.

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