hebrew course on memrise

1. Possessives II
 In lesson 12 we learned to create possessive
pronouns using the preposition ‫.של‬ In this lesson
we will discuss a second method by attaching a
possessive suffix to the noun.

2. Possessives II
 Most of the time in spoken Hebrew we will use the
‫של‬ preposition to show possession as learned in
lesson 12. It is by far the most common:
 ‫שלי‬ ‫הכלב‬
 However, in written Hebrew and in some spoken
Hebrew such as when speaking about family
members and in a few expressions, the possessive
suffix can be used.
 The good news is we have already learned the
suffixes in other lessons.

3. Possessives II
 The procedure for showing possession using these
suffixes is simply to add the correct form of the
suffix based on gender and number to the end of
the noun. In fact, most of the endings actually use
the same as the inflection of the preposition ‫.ל‬
 There are a few differences that we will see on the
following slides. We will use the word ‫דוד‬ or uncle
in the translation as it has all 4 gender and number
combinations.

4. The Possessive Suffix
Feminine
Plural
‫דודות‬
Masculine
Plural
‫דודים‬
Feminine
Singular
‫דודה‬
Masculine
Singular
‫דוד‬
The
possessiv
e suffix
The
possessiv
e
pronouns
‫דודותי‬‫י‬ ‫דודי‬‫י‬ ‫דודת‬‫י‬ ‫דוד‬‫י‬ ‫י‬ ‫שלי‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫ך‬ ‫דודי‬‫ך‬ ‫דודת‬‫ך‬ ‫דוד‬‫ך‬ ‫ך‬ ‫שלך‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫י‬‫ך‬ ‫דודיי‬‫ך‬ ‫דודת‬‫ך‬ ‫דוד‬‫ך‬ ‫ך‬ ‫שלך‬
‫דודותי‬‫ו‬ ‫דודי‬‫ו‬ ‫דודת‬‫ו‬ ‫דוד‬‫ו‬ ‫ו‬ ‫שלו‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫ה‬ ‫דודי‬‫ה‬ ‫דודת‬‫ה‬ ‫דוד‬‫ה‬ ‫ה‬ ‫שלה‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫נו‬ ‫דודי‬‫נו‬ ‫דודת‬‫נו‬ ‫דוד‬‫נו‬ ‫נו‬ ‫שלנו‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫כם‬ ‫דודי‬‫כם‬ ‫דודת‬‫כם‬ ‫דוד‬‫כם‬ ‫כם‬ ‫של‬‫כם‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫כן‬ ‫דודי‬‫כן‬ ‫דודת‬‫כן‬ ‫דוד‬‫כן‬ ‫כן‬ ‫של‬‫כן‬
‫דודותי‬‫הם‬ ‫דודי‬‫הם‬ ‫דודת‬‫ם‬ ‫דוד‬‫ם‬ ‫ם‬ ‫של‬‫הם‬
‫דוד‬‫ותי‬‫ה‬‫ן‬ ‫דודי‬‫הן‬ ‫דודת‬‫ן‬ ‫דוד‬‫ן‬ ‫ן‬ ‫של‬‫הן‬

5. Possessives II
 Let’s go through the changes one at a time. We will
start with the singular forms.
 The masculine form is constructed by simply adding the
possessive suffix to the end of the noun. No changes
occur in this form. The endings are exactly the same
as the ‫ל‬ pronouns we learned quite a while ago.
 The reason there are no changes is because masculine
singular nouns do not contain an ending. They simply
use the base form of the noun.

6. Possessives II
 The first change you will notice is the feminine singular
form. The feminine singular suffix for a noun as you
know is ‫.ה‬
 ‫דודה‬
 When a possessive suffix is added to a word, the ‫ה‬
changes to a ‫.ת‬ This is similar to the construct form.
 ‫דודת‬
 Then the appropriate suffix is added.
○ ‫דודתנו‬ means our aunt.
 Be careful to recognize the ‫.ת‬ Without this letter the noun
becomes masculine. ‫דודנו‬ our uncle.

7. Possessives II
 The masculine plural ending for nouns is ‫.ים‬
 ‫דודים‬
 When adding a possessive suffix to a masculine
plural word, the letter ‫ם‬ is dropped. This is also
similar to the construct form.
 ‫דודי‬
 Finally the appropriate possessive suffix is added.
 ‫דודיי‬ my uncles
 The first ‫י‬ is the noun ending. The second one is
the possessive suffix.

8. Possessives II
 Also, notice the additional ‫י‬ in the feminine singular
second person form of the possessive suffix on
masculine plural nouns.
 ‫דודייך‬ your(fs) uncles
 This can be used to differentiate the masculine
pronoun from the feminine pronoun for possessive
suffixes.

9. Possessives II
 The feminine plural forms, unlike the feminine
singular and masculine plural forms, keep the
entire noun ending. Recall that the noun ending for
feminine plural forms is ‫ות‬
 ‫דודות‬
 To form a possessive suffix on a feminine plural
noun, you must first add the plural marker ‫י‬
followed by the appropriate form of the possessive
suffix.
 ‫דודותיו‬ his aunts
 The same extra ‫י‬ exists for the feminine second person
singular form of feminine plural nouns ‫דודותייך‬

10. Possessives II
 Lastly notice that the possessive suffix for 2nd person
plural changes from ‫ם‬ in singular nouns to ‫הם‬ in plural
nouns. The same change occurs in the feminine forms
‫ן‬ to ‫.הן‬
 The most important thing to remember about
possessive suffixes is that when they are added to a
noun, the noun will be definite.
 ‫דודי‬ means my uncle which is a definite noun because it is the
specific uncle owned by me.
 This construction is identical to ‫שלי‬ ‫הדוד‬ which does
have the definite article. Make sure not to forget the
DDO marker before these definite nouns where
required.