היית פעם בישראל?‏

[I see you]

Hello,

Someone asked me "היתה פעם בישראל?" What does this mean?
The context is that we were introducing ourselves to each other and I mentioned that I was learning Hebrew.

Thanks.

 

[shalom00]

He probably said "היית פעם ישראל?"
"Were you ever in Israel?"

 

[I see you]

Oh, I see. Actually, I was sending him voice messages and he was typing. At one point I asked him "emor li bevakasha, yerushalayim ir gdola?" (Tell me please, is Jerusalem a big city?)
He replied:

היא העיר הכי גדולה בישראל
היתה פעם בישראל?

I am copying and pasting, so there is no chance of error. I should add that he's only eleven years old.

 

[Drink]

Then he misspelled it. It should be היית (hayita).

 

[amikama]

I should add that he's only eleven years old.

Children in his age misspell all the time, even if they're native speakers. Don't learn from them how to spell correctly in Hebrew.

 

[I see you]

Oh, I see. Thanks!
One last question: why did he add פעם? Wouldn't "היית ישראל?" have meant the same thing?

 

[shalom00]

Almost.
Adding פעם slightly emphasizes: Have you ever been in Israel? vs. Have you been in Israel?

 

[I see you]

Thanks. However, my textbook, FSI Hebrew, translates "האם ראית שלג?" as "Have you ever seen snow?"
Is this a correct translation?

 

[shalom00]

Not necessarily. It would depend on context.
It could mean, for example, "Did you see snow there?" or "Did you see snow today?"

 

[whenu]

Almost.
Adding פעם slightly emphasizes: Have you ever been in Israel? vs. Have you been in Israel?

What about "כבר היית פעם בישראל?"?
Does "כבר" add even more emphasis?

 

[Ali Smith]

היית פעם ב־? is the usual (i.e. unmarked) way to ask someone if he's ever been to [name of city/country].

כבר היית פעם ב־? has more emphasis, I think. It's kind of like "Have you never been to [name of city/country]?"