Lesson 15 1

15 שיעור הסברים דקדוקייםGrammatical Remarks

1. The Conjugation of the Preposition ...ל – Singular

The prepositions in Hebrew conjugate according to the different pronouns (את ,אתה ,אני, and so on). The conjugation of the preposition “to” ( ...ל ), for instance, is: “to me”, “to you”, and so on. Below is a table presenting the conjugation of this preposition in the singular:

Feminine נקבה Masculine זכר

li גוף ראשון יחיד לי First person singular

lax לך lexa גוף שני יחיד לך Second person singular

la לה lo גוף שלישי יחיד לו Third person singular

Notice that the pronunciation of the form לו (“to him”) is identical to that of the word לא (“no”). As the two words are very common in Hebrew, it is essential to mind their spelling. Here is an example for the usage of the conjugated preposition ל... . As demonstrated in the example, a change in the word order may occur in the sentence when converting the unconjugated preposition to its conjugated form. I write an e-mail to Lea. לאהלאני כותב אימייל. Ani kotev e-mail le-Lea. I write her an e-mail. אימייללהאני כותב . Ani kotev la e-mail.

2. The Construction ...קוראים ל The construction קוראים לי (kor’im li), קוראים לו (kor’im lo), and so on, is used in informal Hebrew to say “My name is”, “His name is”, and so on. Notice that the only alternating component of the construction is the preposition ל... , while the verb קוראים stays unchanged. For example: My name is Rina. רינהליקוראים . Kor’im li Rina. Your name is Avi. אבילךקוראים . Kor’im lexa Avi. Her name is Tali. טלילהקוראים . Kor’im la Tali.

Lesson 15 2

3. The Construction ...יש ל and ...אין ל

Another Hebrew construction that uses the conjugation of the preposition ל... is the construction expressing the idea of “to have” and “not to have”. The conjugation of ל... is used here instead of the pronouns (את ,אתה ,אני, and so on). For example: I have ice cream. גלידהלייש . Yesh li glida. He does not have a dog. כלבלואין . Ein lo kelev. In sentences of this sort, the subject is not the person who owns the object, as in English, but the object owned. Notice that the words יש and אין stay unchanged regardless of the form of the preposition ל... and of the gender and number of the noun which follows. Thus, any combination from the chart below may be used: “I have friends”, “You do not have a friend”, and so on.

li לי

Yesh lexa xaver. חבר. יש לך

lax xavera. חברה. לך Ein lo xaverim. חברים. אין לו

La xaverot. חברות. לה