Learn, Practice, and Perfect Your Hebrew: Weary, Bleary-eyed, and Spent

Ani ayefa me-chayim, I’m tired of life. Ayefa met, dead tired. Oh, sorry, not actually. I’m just practicing my Hebrew thanks to Guy Sharett’s StreetWise Hebrew TLV1 podcast.

Seriously, though: Whether we live in Tel Aviv, New York City, or anywhere else in the Diaspora, feeling tired, exhausted, and drained like a dead battery are commonplace, especially in our always-on, networked environments. In this episode of StreetWise Hebrew, Sharett runs over some common language for ayefoot (tiredness) that you can use to tell your Hebrew-speaking friends just how shafuch (wiped—literally “spilled” in Hebrew) you are; so wiped, perhaps, that “nishpachti al ha-sapa,” “I crashed on the sofa” (literally, “I got spilled on the sofa”). (Along the way, Sharett shares this fantastic Rami Kletinstein pop tune with a country twang—think ’80s Don Henley, maybe.)

As always, follow along with the words and phrases below as you listen.

Words and expressions discussed:

Ayef, Ayefa – עָיֵף, עֲיֵפָה

Ayefoot – עֲיֵפוּת

Mi-ma ata ayef – ?מִמָּה אַתָּה עָיֵף

Ani ayef me-avoda – אֲנִי עָיֵף מֵעֲבוֹדָה

Ani shafuch – אֲנִי שָׁפוּך

Nishpachti al ha-sapa – נִשְפַּכְתִּי עַל הַסַּפָּה

Ani ma’uch tilim – אֲנִי מָעוּך טִילִים

Kamti hafuch – קַמְתִּי הָפוּך

Gamur – גָּמוּר

Karu’a me-ayefoot – קָרוּעַ מֵעֲיֵפוּת