Welcome to the 8th lesson about Hebrew grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.
We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Hebrew and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Hebrew and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Hebrew.
Prepositions - Hebrew |
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and ו |
above מעל |
under מתחת |
before לפני |
after אחרי |
in front of מול / בחזית ה/לפני |
behind מאחורי |
far from רחוק מ |
near ליד / על יד/קרוב ל |
in בתוך / ב |
inside בתוך / בפנים |
outside בחוץ/מחוץ ל |
with עם |
without ללא/בלי |
about על |
between בין |
but אבל |
for עבור/בשביל |
from מן |
to אל |
The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.
Prepositions + Rules - Hebrew |
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I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] אני אוכל ללא סכין |
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] היא גרה ליד הכנסייה |
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] הוא גבוה ממנה |
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] הוא בא עם כלב הקטן שלו |
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] אתה יכול לבוא איתי? |
Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.
Negation + Rules - Hebrew |
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I understand you [affirmative form] אני מבין אותך |
I don't understand you [negation + verb] אני לא מבין אותך |
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] זו לא המילה הנכונה |
don't leave me [imperative negation] אל תעזב אותי |
no problem [negation + noun] אין בעיה |
Negative Sentences - Hebrew |
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I don't speak French [negation + present tense] אני לא מדבר צרפתית |
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] היא לא בקרה בגרמניה |
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] הוא לא יכול לראות אותנו |
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] היא לא יכולה לשחק שחמט? |
we will not come late [negation + future tense] אנחנו לא נבוא מאוחר |
Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:
English - Hebrew |
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how? איך? |
what? מה? |
who? מי? |
why? למה? |
where? איפה? |
More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:
Questions + Rules - Hebrew |
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where do you live? [interrogative + verb] איפה אתה גר? |
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] היא מדברת סינית? |
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] כמה זה? |
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] אני יכול לעזור לך? |
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] מה שמך? |
It's time to learn the adverbs in Hebrew. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:
Adverbs - Hebrew |
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now עכשיו |
yesterday אתמול |
today היום |
tonight הערב/הלילה |
tomorrow מחר |
soon בקרוב |
quickly מהר |
slowly לאט |
together יחד |
very מאוד |
almost כמעט |
always תמיד |
usually בדרך כלל |
sometimes לפעמים |
rarely לעתים רחוקות |
never מעולם לא/לעולם לא |
The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.
Adverbs + Rules - Hebrew |
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do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] אתה מבין אותי עכשיו? |
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] אני זקוק לעזרה מיד |
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] היא אינטליגנטית מאוד |
I will always love you [verb + adverb] אני תמיד אוהב אותך |
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] אנחנו יכולים ללמוד יחד גרמנית? |
We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Hebrew. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:
Personal Pronouns - Hebrew |
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I אני |
you אתה |
he הוא |
she היא |
we אנחנו |
they הם |
Object Pronouns - Hebrew |
---|
me אותי |
you אותך |
him אותו |
her לה/אותה |
us אותנו |
them להם/אותם |
Possessive Pronouns - Hebrew |
---|
my שלי |
your שלך |
his שלו |
her שלה |
our שלנו |
their שלהם |
I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.
Personal Pronouns - Hebrew |
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I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] אני חבר שלך |
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] אתה מדבר מהר מאוד |
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] יש לו שלושה כלבים |
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] היא יכולה לדבר גרמנית |
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] אנחנו לא נבוא מאוחר |
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] הם קנו חלב ולחם |
The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:
Object Pronouns - Hebrew |
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can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] אתה יכול לומר לי את השם שלך? |
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] אני אתן לך כסף |
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] היא כתבה לו מכתב |
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] הם ביקרו אותה אתמול |
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] היא יכולה לעזור לנו? |
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] הוא נתן להם אוכל |
Possessive Pronouns - Hebrew |
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my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] שמי מאיה |
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] אחיך גר כאן |
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] אמא שלה מבשלת לנו |
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] התחביב שלו הוא קריאת ספרים |
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] החלום שלנו הוא לבקר בפריז |
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] הבית שלהם לא רחוק |
One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.
Demonstrative Pronouns - Hebrew |
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this is my house זה הבית שלי |
that restaurant is far המסעדה הזו רחוקה |
these apples are delicious התפוחים האלה טעימים |
those stars are shiny הכוכבים האלה זוהרים |
I hope you learned a lot about the Hebrew grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!
Inspirational Quote: First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. Epictetus |