modern hebrew on memrise

1. The verb “to have”
In this lesson we will learn how to say “I have
something” in Hebrew. This verb is an irregular
construction from what we have learned so far so
we need to learn a couple new things in order to
use it.

2. The verb “to have”
In Hebrew, you don’t say “I have something” but
rather “There is to me something”. Hebrew uses
the …‫ל‬ pronouns in order to accomplish this
saying.
We will learn these pronouns in this lesson.

3. The verb “to have”
The …‫ל‬ pronouns use a compound word. The
preposition …‫ל‬ meaning ‘to’ with the subject
pronoun produces the …‫ל‬ pronoun. For instance:
‫לי‬ = ‫אני‬ + …‫ל‬
‫ל‬‫ו‬ = ‫הוא‬ + …‫ל‬
‫להם‬ = ‫הם‬ + …‫ל‬
Hebrew contracts these pronouns similar to the
way English contracts cannot to can’t. This is done
to make the word flow better. These words have
the meaning of “to me”, “to him”, “to them”.

4. The Preposition …‫ל‬
Subject
Pronouns
The Preposition
…‫ל‬ Pronouns
Translation
‫אני‬ ‫לי‬ li
‫אתה‬ ‫לך‬ laka
‫את‬ ‫לך‬ lak
‫הוא‬ ‫לו‬ lo
‫היא‬ ‫לה‬ la
‫אנחנו‬ ‫לנו‬ lanu
‫אתם‬ ‫ל‬‫כם‬ lekem
‫אתן‬ ‫ל‬‫כן‬ leken
‫הם‬ ‫ל‬‫הם‬ lehem
‫הן‬ ‫ל‬‫הן‬ lehen

5. There is/There is not
In Hebrew, you can express existance or lack
thereof in two words: ‫יש‬ yesh (there is) and ‫אין‬ ein
(there is not). To use these words simply add one
or the other in front of any noun.
‫יש‬‫תפוח‬ yesh tapu’ach (there is an apple)
‫אין‬‫תפוז‬ ein tapuz (there is not an orange)
These words are used quite often in Hebrew so learn
them well.

6. The verb “to have”
To form the idea of “having something” or
“possessing something” you simply combine the
words ‫אין‬ or ‫יש‬ with the correct form of the …‫ל‬
pronouns. Just place an appropriate noun in
place of the … in the following examples.
… ‫לי‬ ‫יש‬ yesh li (there is to me … or I have…)
… ‫לכם‬ ‫אין‬ ein lakem (there is not to you(m.p.) … or You
don’t have…)
… ‫לנו‬ ‫יש‬ yesh lanu (there is to us … or we have...)
‫דוד‬ ‫יש‬‫מכתב‬ yesh david mictav (David has a letter)