#102 Crazy Hebrew for Crazy Days

Streetwise Hebrew

TLV1 Studios

Language Learning, Judaism, Religion & Spirituality, Education

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We are going through some ימים משוגעים – "crazy days" – in Israel at the moment, so let's talk about how we drive someone crazy in Hebrew. Guy promises a special sanity episode once things get back to normal.

Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon

New Words and Expressions:

Yamim meshugaim – Crazy days – ימים משוגעים

Meshuga – Crazy – משוגע

Pgu'a nefesh – Suffering from mental illness – פגוע נפש

Leshage'ah – To drive someone crazy – לשגע

"Zeh ha-erev ha-ze ha-meshge'ah" – It's this amazing evening – זה הערב הזה המשגע

"Hu meshage'ah et kulan" – He drives all the girls crazy – הוא משגע את כולן

Al teshage'ah oti (al chage'ah oti) – Don't drive me crazy – אל תשגע אותי

"Ha-bachura shelcha, hi rak shig'ah otcha" – Your girl, she only drove you crazy – הבחורה שלך, היא רק שיגעה אותך

Ba'al ha-bayit hishtage'ah – The landlord lost his mind – בעל הבית השתגע

Hishtagata? hishtagat? Hishtagatem? – Have you lost your mind? – השתגעת / השתגעת / השתגעתם

"Yesh tipot shel shiga'on beinenu" – There are drops of insanity between us – יש טיפות של שיגעון בינינו

Shaga'at – Craziness – שגעת

"Kor'im leze shaga'at, kor'im leze tarefet" – They call it insanity, they call it craziness – קוראים לזה שגעת, קוראים לזה טרפת

Metoraf – Crazy – מטורף

Meshugene tiranen – Crazy tyrants – משוגענע טיראַנען

Shaja3 hilmak (Ar.) – Follow your dream – שג'ע חלמכ – شجع حلمك

Tashji'a (Ar.) – Encouragement, cheering – תשג'יע – تَشْجِيع

Mushaja'in (Ar.) – Fans, supporters – מושג'עין – مشجعين

Playlist and Clips:

Matti Caspi – Zemer Mapuhit (lyrics)

Yoni Yosef – Meshage'ah et Kulan (lyrics)

Zohar Argov – Al Teshag'I Oti (lyrics)

Avihu Shabbat & Michal Amdursky – Yalla (lyrics)

Omer Adam – Wai Li (lyrics)

Rami Fortis & Barry Saharoff – Halom Kachol (lyrics)

Benny Bashan – Achla Hamuda (lyrics)

Lior Narkis – Shaga'at/Tarefet (lyrics)

Trio Carpion – Push the Button (lyrics)

Nancy Ajarm & Cheb Khaled – Shaja Hilmak

Ep. no. 151 about intensifiers and superlatives HEB

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is TLV1.
0:10.4	Shalom, it's me, Guy from Streetwise Hebrew.
0:15.5	We're going through some yamim-meshugai crazy days here in Israel.
0:19.8	I'm sure you guys are following events to some extent.
0:22.1	So I decided to talk about this shorish root shin gimalain used for anything crazy.
0:29.0	So mesuga is an adjective. It means crazy, but it comes from the verb system, just like medubar spoken.
0:36.3	Meshuga. So literally it means something like crazed,
0:40.5	that has been crazed by someone.
0:43.0	I know there's no word like that.
0:45.2	Mesuga used to be an okay word
0:46.9	to describe someone who is mentally sick,
0:48.9	but not anymore.
0:49.8	Today the PC term is Pugua nefesh,
0:52.8	someone who is emotionally hurt and has a mental disorder.
0:57.3	Let's go to PL first to check out the active before we go to the passive.
1:02.0	So, Les Chaguer, just like Ledaber, is to drive someone crazy.
1:07.2	The present tense sounds like this. Oh, that's merh, this harou.
1:32.3	It's this terrific evening.
1:38.2	So meshagea could be wonderful, terrific smashing, if it's an adjective.
1:44.3	And you'll hear meshagea, but also mshagea, when we speak fast.
1:48.2	It can also be a verb in the present tense, just like here.
1:58.0	He makeshagea at Kulan.
	...

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