Hebrew Pronouns

If you’re a native English speaker, you know instinctively that there is a difference between the words “he” and “him”.

You would say, “He is going to the market,” not “Him is going to the market.” In this case, the male spoken of is the subject of the sentence. In Hebrew, it’s called כִּנּוּי הַגּוּף.

Likewise, you would say “I am giving him the ball,” rather than “I am giving he the ball.” Here, the male spoken of is the object of the sentence. In Hebrew, it’s called כִּנּוּי הַמֻּשָּׂא.

א.     Subject pronouns – כינויי הגוף

Here’s a chart with the various Hebrew pronouns when they are the subject of the sentence:

ב.      Object pronouns – כינויי המושא

Whereas in English, object pronouns such as “him” and “her” are words in and of themselves, in Hebrew, they are suffixes, or endings to words.

Here’s a chart with the various Hebrew pronoun suffixes – when they are the object of the sentence.

You may have noticed that the vowels change with the new word. As you enrich your Hebrew vocabulary, you’ll start to gain a sense of how to change the vowels.

Plurals

To talk about possessing many books, add a י (except for אני), change the vowels and sometimes a ה (in הם and הן).

Here’s the modified chart: