בּוֹא הֵנָּה

You might hear a mother say to her son the literal בוא לפה – come (to) here – but you’re more likely to hear her say to him, בוא הנה .

For example:

בוא הנה, אני רוצה להחליף איתך מילה.

Come here, I want to have a word with you.

הֵנָּה comes from הן , a flowery word for here, already in poetical use in Biblical Hebrew where it means something more like behold. The ה-ָ at the end of the word indicates direction, like the ה-ָ in צפונה – to the north (לצפון ) and the Biblical מצרימה – to Egypt (למצרים ). Thus הנה means to here.

Now, בוא הנה is come here when speaking to a male. To a female, it’s בואי הנה , and to more than one person it’s בואו הנה .