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:

Subject pronoun in English	כינוי הגוף בעברית
I	אֲנִי
We	אֲנַחְנוּ
You (one male)	אֲתָּה
You (one female)	אֲתְּ
You (more than one male or mixed)	אֲתֶּם
You (more than one female)	אֲתֶּן
He	הוּא
She	הִיא
They (male or mixed)	הֵם
They (female)	הֵן

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.

Object pronoun in English	Hebrew suffix	Sample word.. (סֵפֵר means book)	…and its English translation
Me	-ִי	סִפְרִי	My book
Us, our	-נוּ	סִפְרֵנוּ	Our book
You, your (one male)	-ךָ	סִפְרְךָ	Your book
You, your (one female)	-ךְ	סִפְרֵךְ	Your book
You, your (more than one male or mixed)	-כֶם	סִפְרְכֵם	Your book
You, your (more than one female)	-כֶן	סִפְרְכֶם	Your book
Him, his	-וֹ	סִפְרוֹ	His book
Her, hers	-ָהּ	סִפְרָהּ	Her book
Them, their (males or mixed)	-ָם, -ֵם	סִפְרָם	Their book
Them, their (females)	-ָן, -ֶן	סִפְרָן	Their book

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:

Object pronoun in English	Sample word.. (סֵפֵר means book)	…and its English translation
Me	סִפְרַי	My books
Us, our	סִפְרֵינוּ	Our books
You, your (one male)	סִפְרֶיךָ	Your books
You, your (one female)	סִפְרַיךְ	Your books
You, your (more than one male or mixed)	סִפְרֵיכֵם	Your books
You, your (more than one female)	סִפְרֵיכֶם	Your books
Him, his	סִפְרָיו	His books
Her, hers	סִפְרֶיהָּ	Her books
Them, their (males or mixed)	סִפְרֵיהֶם	Their books
Them, their (females)	סִפְרֵיהֶן	Their books