# רעיון vs. מושג



## sawyeric1

What's the difference between רעיון and מושג? Are they used on different occasions?

Thanks


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## slus

They both mean "idea", but מושג is more philosophical and "רעיון" is more practical.

"יש לי מושג כללי לגבי תורת האבולוציה"
"יש לי רעיון - בואו נלך לים"
"אין לי מושג על מה אתה מדבר"
"אין לי שום רעיון מה כדאי לעשות היום"


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## sawyeric1

This is from material from my Hebrew tutor:

A. First, I have to find the button
קודם כל, אני צריך למצוא את הכפתור

B. Where did you lose it?
איפה איבדת את זה?

A. I have no idea
אין לי מושג

Why wouldn't it be רעיון, the more practical one?


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## aavichai

I think רעיון is an idea that kinda has an advice too

I have an Idea doing something

-I lost the button, ive searched all over do you know where it is?
-I have no Idea = מושג

- I have and Idea, (search under the bed) = רעיון

also רעיון can be an idea for an invention

therefore, in these kinda things, the מושג would be in negative more than positive

back again to:
-I lost the button, ive searched all over do you know where it is?
let's say:
-I lost the button, ive searched all over do you have an idea where it is?

if i use מושג as idea
then it would be like "do you have any clue where it is"
as you don't looking for "advice" but just a "knowledge" (maybe he knows)

if it is רעיון as an Idea
then you actually say: do you have any idea where to search (not because he know, but looking for advice through the other man's mind)

also מושג is also Concept, or principle, or main points
like המושגים בתורת האבולוציה
the concepts or main point in the Evolution theory

maybe I miss something or not correct at something

to understant the usage
it is better to write a lot of sentences with the word idea
and when me and other translate that to hebrew, yo ucan see, feel and understand the differences by yourself.


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## slus

sawyeric1 said:


> This is from material from my Hebrew tutor:
> 
> A. First, I have to find the button
> קודם כל, אני צריך למצוא את הכפתור
> 
> B. Where did you lose it?
> איפה איבדת את זה?
> 
> A. I have no idea
> אין לי מושג
> 
> Why wouldn't it be רעיון, the more practical one?



אין לי מושג is this case in not practical. It roughly means something like "I am not in the concept of knowing". Another answer to the same question is:
אין לי שום רעיון or אין לי אף רעיון, meaning "I don't even have one idea."

BTW, איפה איבדת את זה is not good Hebrew. It should be איפה איבדת אותו.


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## shalom00

People will say both אין לי מושג and איפה איבדת את זה in this context.


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## slus

Native speakers will definitely say אין לי מושג 
but no one says איפה איבדת את זה - this come from the English "it".


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## Drink

slus said:


> Native speakers will definitely say אין לי מושג
> but no one says איפה איבדת את זה - this come from the English "it".



I think sometimes there is a tendency to blame English even when it doesn't make sense. In this case, "it" would be translated as אותו, while "את זה" would be a translation of "this" or "that". No one in English would say "Where did you lose that?" in this context.


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## sawyeric1

When would you use "אין לי רעיון" instead of "אין לי מושג"?


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## Drink

sawyeric1 said:


> When would you use "אין לי רעיון" instead of "אין לי מושג"?



Probably when in English you would say "I have no ideas (yet)".


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## aavichai

people do say
איפה איבדת את זה
and it is common as
איפה איבדת אותו

both fine
why is it a problem

and as for "i have no idea"

in the contex of "looking" for something you say
אין לי מושג

because אין לי רעיון
is more as "advice"

and it is used as an "idea" for doing something
and not an Idea as "knowing" something

as i have no idea where to search for it
it is fine to use both

but i have no idea where it is
it is מושג
it is like "i don't have a clue where it is"

so in that context
i don't have a idea=clue where where it is = מושג


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## Ali Smith

Nowadays מושג musag is almost always used to mean “concept”, isn’t it?


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## slus

Yes. But as you know idioms don't work the same way in different languages.


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## Ali Smith

Of course. And it comes as no surprise to me that the idiom אין לי מושג למה means not “I have no concept why” but “I have no idea why.”


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## slus

BTW the idiom is אין לי מושג and not אין לי מושג למה.
אין לי מושג מה זה הדבר הזה
אין לי מושג מתי מתחילים
אין לי מושג איפה השארתי את המפתחות


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