From disaster to bummer: לְהִתְבָּאֵס

לְהִתְבָּאֵס

le-hit-ba-ES, to be bummed out.

It all starts with the noun בָּאסָה (basa), a bummer. According to the Academy of the Hebrew Language, בָּאסָה comes from an Arabic word meaning disaster, trouble, misery.¹

Hebrew took that big, heavy word, shrank it to everyday size, and made a verb out of it.² Now it’s what you say when something small goes wrong: the plan fell through, or it’s raining on the day of the hike.

How Israelis use it today:

• Bummedהִתְבָּאַסְתִּי כְּשֶׁהַהוֹפָעָה בֻּטְּלָה.I was bummed when the show got cancelled.hitba’asti kshe-ha-hofa’a butla
• What a bummerאֵיזֶה בָּאסָה, יוֹרֵד גֶּשֶׁם בְּדִיּוּק בְּיוֹם הַטִּיּוּל.What a bummer, it’s raining exactly on the day of the hike.eize basa, yored geshem be-diyuk be-yom ha-tiyul
• Cheering someone upאֵין מָה לְהִתְבָּאֵס, הַכֹּל יִהְיֶה בְּסֵדֶר.No need to be bummed, everything will be fine.ein ma lehitba’es, ha-kol yihye beseder
• Don’t be bummedאַל תִּתְבָּאֵס / אַל תִּתְבָּאֲסִי(to a man / to a woman)al titba’es / al titba’asi
• Same rootזֶה מְבָאֵס · מְבֻאָסthat sucks · bummed, downze meva’es · mevu’as

1. Academy of the Hebrew Language, post on בָּאסָה; Hebrew Wiktionary, באסה.
2. Pealim, לְהִתְבָּאֵס; Milog, באסה.