how to say “bad luck” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /]בִּישׁ מַזָּל
You may have been congratulating people with Mazel Tov – מזל טוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /] – your whole life and not realized that it means literally, good luck.
Well, bad luck is either מזל רע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /], or the more common and true-to-the-sources (the Talmudic ones) expression, ביש מזל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /].
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /]היה לו ביש מזל ונקלע למלכודת.
He had bad luck and fell into a trap.
The word ביש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /] comes from Aramaic, but it’s related to the Hebrew root ב.א.ש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /] meaning stinking, gone bad, as in the word for skunk – בואש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ביש-מזל-#.m4a” /].
