Hebrew word of the day · Street Hebrew and slang
לְנַפֵּחַ אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶלlenape'akh et hasekhel
to drive someone nuts with talk
Hebrew doesn't say he gave me a headache. It says he inflated my brain.
Hear it read by a native speaker
In a sentence
הוּא נִפֵּחַ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל כָּל הַדֶּרֶךְ הַבַּיְתָה
hu nipe'akh li et hasekhel kol haderekh habayta
He drove me nuts with his talking the whole way home
How Israelis use lenape'akh et hasekhel
לְנַפֵּחַ אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל
(lenape'akh et hasekhel) To drive someone nuts with talk. Literally, to inflate the brain.
✗The learner version
הוּא נִפֵּחַ אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל שֶׁלִּי Understandable, and nobody in Israel says it that way.
✓The Israeli version
הוּא נִפֵּחַ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל (hu nipe'akh li et hasekhel, he drove me nuts with talking)
The small word
לִי (li, to me) Hebrew puts the person who suffered right after the verb. That little word carries the whole complaint.
The warning version
אַל תְּנַפֵּחַ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל (al tenape'akh li et hasekhel, don't drive me nuts) Said with a smile, usually.
Say it tonight
Long call, long bus ride, long family dinner. Tell a friend afterwards: הוּא נִפֵּחַ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל
Who earned it this week?
Friends and family only. Not your boss, not the clerk at the bank. Tell us in the comments.
The mistake English speakers make
In Hebrew nobody inflates you. They inflate your brain.
לְנַפֵּחַ אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל
(lenape'akh et hasekhel) To talk someone to death, forty minutes about his landlord with no exit.
✗The sentence to drop
הוּא נִפֵּחַ אוֹתִי (hu nipe'akh oti) An Israeli hears: he blew me up like a balloon.
✓The sentence Israelis say
הוּא נִפֵּחַ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל (hu nipe'akh li et hasekhel, he talked me to death)
Why
The brain is the thing getting inflated, and the sufferer comes in with לִי (li, to me)
One more from real life
After a work call: נִפְּחוּ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל בָּעֲבוֹדָה (nipkhu li et hasekhel baavoda, they talked me to death at work)
Say it tonight
Mid monologue, cut in with this: אַל תְּנַפֵּחַ לִי אֶת הַשֵּׂכֶל (al tenape'akh li et hasekhel, stop talking me to death)
Your turn
Who was the last person who did this to you? Tell me in the comments, in Hebrew if you dare.
Published 4 October 2026 by the Israeli Hebrew Institute. Every word, sentence and vowel point on this page was checked by a native Israeli teacher.