I grew up speaking Hebrew with my mother, and spending 5 weeks in Israel this summer has definitely given me the opportunity to practice and improve my fluency, as well as pick up on modern slang (I was pretty out-of-the-loop until now). I thought I’d put together a list of slang and other words / expressions I’ve noticed people here use frequently. This was compiled with my brother in mind, who has recently begun teaching himself the language (woo!).
Notes: The “i”s are pronounced “ee”
The “ch” sounds like this.
The italicized syllable is the one you stress when you say the word.
Phonetic spelling: Translation (more or less)
Achla……………………………………………….Awesome (borrowed from Arabic)
Al hakefak…………………………………………No problem/you’re welcome (borrowed from Arabic)
Al hapanim………………………………………..Terrible/a disaster (literally “on the face”)
Baktana……………………………………………Not a big deal
Ben/bat zona……………………………………..Son/daughter of a bitch
Chatich/chaticha………………………………..Good-looking guy/girl
Chaval al hazman……………………………….It’s worth it/it’s a great time (can be said about a place, experience or even person; literally “a waste of time”)
Esh………………………………………………….Awesome (literally “fire”)
Magniv……………………………………………..Awesome/cool
Noo??………………………………………………….And?? (used when you’re listening to someone tell a story and you want to hear what happened next, or if you are waiting on someone to do something; it’s a word whose sole purpose is to expresses impatience — how Israeli..)
Sababa……………………………………………..Cool/sweet/okay (can be used to say something is cool or as an affirmation; really common)
Sagoor………………………………………………Solid/okay/done deal
Yeshhhh……………………………………………Yesssss
Yala…………………………………………………Come on/let’s go/hurry up (usually precedes or follows “noo??”)
Terms of Endearment:
Achi………………………………………………..Bro (usually among boys/men age ~14 and up)
Chooki……………………………………………..Honey/Sweetie (usually directed at a girlfriend, boyfriend or dog; the “ch” is pronounced like it is in the name “Charlie” in English)
Mami……………………………………………...Honey/Sweetie (directed at a significant other, a close friend – among girls, or a child)
Motek………………………………………………Sweetie (literally means “sweetie”)
Informal Greetings:
Maamatzav?………………………………………What’s up? (literally “what’s the situation?”)
Ma kore?…………………………………………..What’s happening?
Do you know any slang I didn’t include? If so, post phrases in the comments below. Special thanks to Tal and Niv for adding to the list!
Much love from Israel,
Nirel
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La’panim (literally “to the face”) – Describes something awesome
Baduk (literally “validated”) – Used to express your consense with another person
Pzatza (literally “bomb”) – Describes something awesome, or a hot girl
Hainoo Po (literally “we were here” in past tense) – used to express your will to be gone from a place, by describing it as if you’re already gone.
Chavlaz – abreviation for Chaval al hazman as described above
Good Luck!
I SO enjoyed this blog post! Thank you for updating my Hebrew slang vocab; I guess mine was quite outdated 😉
I love love love your blog pic, btw!
Behatzlacha!! 🙂
I was looking for something else and stumbled on this post.
A couple of small corrections, one in the post and one in a comment.
“What’s the situation?” Is “Ma ha‘matzav.”
And ‘validated’/’exactly’ is ‘bi’dyuk.’
Additions, I haz some for you:
Nu kvar! — Hurry up already!
Hayita met (said *to* a guy) / Hayit meta (said *to* a girl) — you wish (lit. ‘you would die’)
Al gufi met (said *by* a guy) / Al gufati meta (said *by* a girl) — over my dead body
Ein matzav! — No way! (lit. ‘no situation’)
Ma pitom?! — WTF?!/Are you kidding?/Are you off your rocker? (lit. ‘what suddenly’)
Fashla — disaster
Fadicha — a screw-up (usually something you can laugh at)
Eizeh seret rah — a horrible situation (lit. ‘a bad movie’)
Kol ha’mi ve’mi — celebs (like “Who’s gonna be at this party?” “Kol ha’mi ve’mi!“)
Kvar hayiti/hayinu ba’seret ha’zeh — I was/we were already at that movie = been there, done that
Eizeh kotz ba’tachat — what a pain in the ass (lit. ‘thorn in the ass’)
Kmo tochen mayim — like grinding water/it’s pointless/going nowhere.
Hevi li et ha’djanana — drives me crazy (lit. ‘brings me the crazy’)
Ad matai? — When will this be over? (lit. ‘until when?’ IDF slang. Don’t use it if you’re actually in service. You’ll end up scrubbing toilets for a month or more)
Kama od? — How much more? (IDF slang, same as above)
Profil Esrim ve’achat — crazy (IDF slang. A Profile 21 is a service exemption due to psych/med reasons)
Elek! — As if! (Arabic)
Dachilak! — Oh, puh-leeze! (Arabic)
Ahalan — hi there (Arabic)
Smoch alai — trust me (to which you say “YEAH, RIGHT!”)
Al tidag, yiyeh be’seder! — Don’t worry, it’ll be okay (Israelis say this even when bombs are going off)
…ve’nigmar ha’sus (and I ran outa gas [lit. ‘the horse is finished’]).
Le’hitra’ot!
TODA RABA for the additions!
(thanks a lot!)
As for “Ma ha’matzav” — I was going to write it that way (and you’re right, of course, that it’s the correct pronunciation), but in day-to-day use many people slur the expression and it comes out more like “Maamatzav”.
What happened to the oldie but goodie, Ma Ha-inyamim? – what’s happening? I always liked this one though my Hebrew is a bit out of touch so…
That one’s definitely still around! Thanks for bringing it up.
Btw the answer to “ma-ha-inyanim?” Is “bonim beenyanim”
Additions:
A’leynoo?- you can’t trick me, I’m up to your lies (lit. ‘on us!!?’)
Stom!- shut up (lit. ‘shut the hole!’)
Stooma- idiot, female (lit. ‘blocked head’)
Satoom- idiot, male (‘blocked head’)
Deer balak- be careful (Arabic “watch out!)
Beten gav- doing nothing, laze away (lit. ‘belly back’)
He koosit- she’s hot (lit. ‘she is a pussy’)
Thanks Amir!
Good post!
Thanks! Gracias (:
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