These Hebrew-to-English Direct Translations Are Hilarious

1 min read
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aviad

1. מפה לאוזן

Transliteration: mi’peh leh’oh’zen

Direct Translation: from mouth to ear

Actual Translation: word-of-mouth

2. תן/תני בראש

Transliteration: ten/t’ni bah’rosh

Direct Translation: give in the head

Actual Translation: go for it

3. מערכת יחסים

Transliteration: mah’ah’reh’chet yeh’chah’sim

Direct Translation: relations system

Actual Translation: relationship

4. קרם הגנה

Transliteration: krem hah’gah’nah

Direct Translation: protection/defense cream

Actual Translation: sunscreen

5. מרכך שיער

Transliteration: meh’rah’kech seh’ar

Direct Translation: hair softener

Actual Translation: conditioner

6. תפוח אדמה

Transliteration: tah’pu’ach ah’dah’mah

Direct Translation: land apple

Actual Translation: potato

7. לשים לב

Transliteration: lah’sim lev

Direct Translation: to put (your) heart

Actual Translation: to pay attention/to notice

8. מגיע לי

Transliteration: mah’gi’yah li

Direct Translation: it arrives to me

Actual Translation: I deserve it

9. פירות ים

Transliteration: pay’rote yahm

Direct Translation: sea fruits

Actual Translation: seafood

10. על הפנים

Transliteration: al hah’pah’nim

Direct Translation: on the face

Actual Translation: very bad, terrible, lousy

11. בית ספר

Transliteration: beit seh’fer

Direct Translation: book house

Actual Translation: school

12. אחראי משמרת

Transliteration: ach’rah’ee mish’meret

Direct Translation: responsible shift

Actual Translation: shift manager/supervisor

13. לאכול סרטים

Transliteration: leh’eh’chol s’rah’tim

Direct Translation: to eat movies

Actual Translation: to be delusional

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Hebrew Nugget:

These Hebrew-to-English Direct Translations Are Hilarious

The past year has been an emotional rollercoaster – moving from the shock, pain, and sadness of unimaginable events to the moments of hope we felt with each hostage coming home, each family reunited, and every soldier returning safely. Alongside this, we’ve found countless reasons to be grateful – for the incredible outpouring of support from civilians, and for the things we still hold dear, like our families, our partners, and our community. But these feelings are always mixed with the ache and despair that everyone in Israel still carries, even now.
I’d say the best way to describe how everyone around me is feeling is רגשות מעורבים (reh-gah-shoht meh-oh-rah-veem), which means “mixed emotions.” רגש (reh-gehsh) means “an emotion” in singular, but in plural, רגשות, it might sound feminine with the “OHT” ending. But here’s the catch: this doesn’t change the gender of the noun or the adjective that follows, which still matches the singular form. So, it’s מעורבים and not מעורבות. It’s just one of those quirks of Hebrew that’s tricky to explain.