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Hebrew Slang and Idioms Posted by on Apr 11, 2012 in Learning Hebrew

Learning a language does not always mean you have to stick with what the books tell you. You may also want to sound a little more native and street smart by using some sa-ba-ba slang and idioms. This listing I have below are just a few things you may hear and can use yourself. On some of them, be careful who you say them to or how you say it – you may end up losing a friend, or in a fight.

You may also notice that I haven’t put in the nikud in the Hebrew listings. This is because for the most part you’ll be speaking these phrases and if or when you see them written, nikud may not be present.

What’s up?
How’s it going?
ma ko-re? מה קורה
ma nish-ma? מה נשמע
ma ha-ma-tsav? מה המצב
Dear god! e-lo-him a-di-rim אלוהים אדירים!
Good heaven! sho-mu sha-ma-‘im שומו שמיים!
Geek laf-laf, kh-nun לפלף, חנון
Cool (he/she’s cool) sa-ba-ba סבבה
Cool (that’s cool) sa-ba-ba סבבה
Really? be-‘e-met? באמת
Oh no! oy lo! אוי לא
damn! La-‘az-az-el! לעזאזל
Enough! / stop! day (rhymes with ‘die’) דיי
kha-las חלאס
Idiot/moron (it) tem-bel מבל ית
Idiot/moron (m) a-ha-bal אהבל
Idiot/moron (f) a-ha-bla אהבלה
No kidding/really wa-lla וואלה
Finally! sof (kol) sof סוף (כל) סוף
A groan of frustration or annoyance uf אוף
Go to hell (to a man) lekh la-‘az-az-el לך לעזאזל
Go to hell (to a woman) lekh-i la-‘az-az-el לכי לעזאזל
What’s the point? ma ha-ta-‘am? מה הטעם
Well..? nu נו
Come on / get a move on yal-la יאללה
Someone who nags nud-nik נודניק
Ouch! ai (sounds like ‘eye’) איי
Too bad/a shame.. kha-val חבל
Cool mag-niv מגניב
Floosy fre-kha פרחה
Filth/Goo/icky stuff ji-fa ג’יפה
What’s the rush? ma ha-la-khatz מה הלחץ?
You wish! (m) ha-‘i-ta met היית מת!
You wish! (f) ha-‘it me-ta היית מתה
I’m dead tired a-ni met ה מעייפות
a me-‘aye-fut אני מת
a-ni sha-fukh אני שפוך
I’m fed up! ni-m’as li נמאס לי
I don’t feel like it en li khe-shek אין לי חשק
lo mit-kha-shek li לא מתחשק לי
lo ba li לא בא לי
I don’t care lo i-khpat li לא אכפת לי
I don’t mind lo ma-fri-‘ah li לא מפריע לי
lo me-sha-ne li לא משנה לי
Bite me (to man) kfotz li קפוץ לי
kfetzi li קפצי לי
How should I know? me-‘ey-fo li la-da-‘at מאיפה לי לדעת?
You drive me crazy! (to m) a-ta me-sha-ge-‘ah li et ha-se-khel אתה משגע לי את השכל
You drive me crazy! (to f) at me-sha-ga-‘at li et ha-se-khel את משגעת לי את השכל
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About the Author: Sean Young

Learning languages since 1978 and studying over 50 (achieving fluency in 10). Sean L. Young loves giving tips, advice and the secrets you need to learn a language successfully no matter what language you're learning. Currently studying Hindi and blogging his progress right here at Transparent Language - https://blogs.transparent.com/language-news.


Comments:

  1. Aaron Maroja:

    Really nice! I could really use this list.

    Could you please, send me this list with the nikud. Or at least send me a link where I can find them.

    Thanks,

    Aaron