Hebrew Pronouns

A Pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. His, she, she, it are examples of pronouns. Here is an example for the use of pronouns: instead of "Karen went home" - "she went home". There are many types of pronouns. In this lesson we'll focus mainly on personal pronouns – words that refer to people in the sentence. In the same way as in English, personal pronouns in Hebrew are divided into three categories:

1. First Person – refers to me or us – אני, אנחנו.
2. Second Person – refers to you – אתה, אתם, אתן
3. Third Person – refers to him, her, them, and they – הם, הן, הוא, היא

Pronoun Specification

In the same way as nouns and verbs, pronouns are specified by gender, and are either singular or plural. One of the most important differences between English and Hebrew regarding pronouns surrounds the word "you". In English, the word "you" doesn't specify the gender of person or persons involved. On the other hand, Hebrew has different form for the word "you" – single and plural forms for each gender. If there is a mixed group of men and women, the form of masculine plural is used. The feminine form is used only regarding a group comprised of women. An additional difference between Hebrew and English are the words "is, am, are" etc. Hebrew does not have those kinds of forms. They are included in the basic form of Hebrew pronouns when needed.

There are many different pronouns in Hebrew. Here is a table of a few basic Hebrew personal pronouns:

Here are a few rules which will make these pronouns easy to remember:
1.Second person always begins with את (AT).
2.Third person always starts with the letter ה (HEH).
3.Plural masculine pronouns always end with the letter מ (M).
4.Plural feminine pronouns end with the letter ן (NUN).

Exercise 1
Translate the following phrase to Hebrew:
a.We went to the beach.
b.I had fun.
c.Kim has a big dog.

Translate the following phrases to English:

א.אני רעב.
ב.יש לי רעיון
ג.הן הולכות לחנות
ד.יש להם נעליים גדולות

Questions and answers using pronouns:

ב – BE… - Inside
ל – LE.. - to…(location)

As noted, there are many pronouns in Hebrew. Being aware to them is the first step towards knowing to use them. The next time you read a Hebrew text, try and identify pronouns and specify what type of pronouns they are.

We invite you to advance through our Hebrew online beginner's course.