#108 Learning Hebrew Doesn’t Have to Be a Bummer (Rerun)

Streetwise Hebrew

TLV1 Studios

Israel, Tlv1, Religion & Spirituality, Language Learning, Education, Language, Judaism, Hebrew, Streetwise

4.9 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sometimes we’re just “in basa” – in a state of annoyance, not really angry, but just bummed. Guy teaches us verbs derived from “basa,” plus more nouns like “hitba’asut,” which could be translated as “the process of getting bummed out.” Who said Hebrew isn’t a rich language?

Hear the All-Hebrew Episode on Patreon

New Words and Expressions:

Bassa – Bummer – באסה

Eize bassa – What a bummer – איזה באסה

Eize basa ze she… – It’s so annoying when… – איזה באסה זה ש

Ani be-basa – I am depressed – אני בבאסה

Kuli be-basa – I am so bummed out – כולי בבאסה

Ani al ha-panim – I am not doing well at all – אני על הפנים

Meva’es, m’va’es – It’s bumming me out – מבאס

Ze ma ze m’va’es – That’s so annoying – זה מה-זה מבאס

Mva’es ta-tachat – It’s so annyoing – מבאס ת’תחת

Mevo’as – Annoyed – מבואס

“Ze lo meshane she-chavera shelcha mevo’eset” – It doesn’t matter that your girlfriend is bummed out – זה לא משנה שחברה שלך מבואסת

Mevo’eset mi- Bummed out because of something – מבואסת מ

“Ani merutse me’od, kamuvan hitba’asti she-lo kibalti telefon” – I am very satisfied. Of course I am bummed out because I didn’t get a phone call – אני מרוצה מאוד, כמובן התבאסתי שלא קיבלתי טלפון

Hitba’ast she-lo hitkasharti? – Were you bummed out I didn’t call? – התבאסת שלא התקשרתי

Hitba’asoot – Becoming upset – התבאסות

Nirshema hitba’asut – “An annoyance was registered” – נרשמה התבאסות

Me’ootsban – Pissed off – מעוצבן

Playlist and Clips:

Cohen & Mushon – Basa (lyrics)

Comedy bar, standup comedy, eize basa

Ha-dag Nachash – Lazuz (lyrics)

Hitba’asti

Ep. no. 68 about nivcheret HEB

Ep. no. 254 about me’ootsban HEB

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is TLV1
0:03.2	One
0:03.2	Streetwise
0:11.3	Shalom, it's me, Guy from Streetwise Hebrew.
0:15.7	Today we're talking about BASA, Bet al-Sameh Hay.
0:19.6	It's going to, it's it's kreve, and it's always car. Hey, hey, it's a Bette Alef Samach Hey. BASA is bummer, something disappointing. It comes from Arabic, BASA. In the classical Arabic dictionary, I found today that Basa is poverty, famine, torture, misery,
0:41.9	war, catastrophe.
0:43.6	In Moroccan Arabic, they say, la bas aleck, meaning no harm to you, you're fine.
0:47.9	And this is just like, how are you?
0:50.7	In modern Israeli Hebrew, Basa, Bette alif Samach Hey, sometimes Bet Ayn Sameh Hay, is annoyance, a disappointing situation, usually when you expected one thing and got something else. Hey, this basa, to redem on smithet piquet, and when you're nother, bachar, face of your face you're looking like Wafel, Belgi. Eze Bassa, what a bummer, and Eze Bassa Z. Here we can hear some comedians who are describing annoying situations using this structure, so A, what a, and then the noun, Bassa. So what a basa and then the word zhe so this is usually we say it like
1:32.9	this se basa the ze becomes kind of se then we dwell on the ba of basa like hell so again
1:40.8	se basa yalla se basa by the'allla, sebasa.
1:47.2	By the way, you can find links to all the songs in the show notes.
1:50.0	Press the TLV1 logo if you use an app or go to tilv1.fm slash streetwise Hebrew on today's show.
1:55.5	Often we use bebasa, in a state of basa.
1:59.4	So kind of annoyed or bumped, be basa sometimes you'll be hearing
2:04.3	Kooli be basa something like all of me is drenched with bassanness to show you how
2:13.1	pissed off I am you can also say I'm on the face literally I'm al hap also say, I'm on the face literally, I'm al-haphanim, meaning I'm upset.
2:21.7	And this could be also physically, when we are sick, Ani al-a-panim, whilst Ani-Basas is always
2:28.0	emotional, never physical. The verbs of this shoresh, Bet al-Same, are piel, puel, and hitpael.
2:36.7	So when it's in pel, it's like medabber.
2:39.5	He is talking, so medabar, mevaes, something which is bumming me out, or annoying.
	...

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