Possession with shel שייכות עם של
The everyday way to say my, your, or Dan’s in modern Hebrew is של plus a noun or a pronoun ending. הספר שלי is the phrase you want in class and on the street.
Put של after the thing possessed: הספר של דן, הספר שלי; match the ending of של to the owner.
X של Y means Y’s X. The possessed noun often takes ה when you mean a specific thing: הספר של דן. Indefinite possession exists (חבר של דן, a friend of Dan’s) but the definite pattern is the one to automate first. Word order is possessed, then של, then possessor.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| הספר של דן | ha-sefer shel dan | Dan's book | |
| הבית של רות | ha-bayit shel rut | Ruth's house | |
| חבר שלי | khaver sheli | a friend of mine |
של plus a pronominal suffix gives שלי, שלך, שלו, שלה, שלנו, שלכם, שלכן, שלהם, שלהן. שלך is shelkha for a man and shelakh for a woman; writing does not show the vowel. This set is the default spoken possessive. It inflects for the owner, not for the thing owned.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| שֶׁלִּי | sheli | my / mine |
| שֶׁלְּךָ | shelkha | your / yours (ms) |
| שֶׁלָּךְ | shelakh | your / yours (fs) |
| שֶׁלּוֹ | shelo | his |
| שֶׁלָּהּ | shela | hers |
| שֶׁלָּנוּ | shelanu | our / ours |
| שֶׁלָּכֶם | shelakhem | your / yours (mp) |
| שֶׁלָּכֶן | shelakhen | your / yours (fp) |
| שֶׁלָּהֶם | shelahem | their / theirs (mp) |
| שֶׁלָּהֶן | shelahen | their / theirs (fp) |
הספר שלי החדש keeps adjective agreement with ספר, not with the owner. שלי does not become שלה because the book is feminine; the book is masculine. The owner and the possessed item each keep their own gender. Predicate mine uses זה שלי or זה שלה.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| הספר שלי החדש | ha-sefer sheli ha-khadash | my new book | |
| הדירה שלהם גדולה | ha-dira shelahem gdola | Their apartment is large. | |
| זה שלי | ze sheli | This is mine. |
For learners, של is the productive possessive. Suffix possessives (ביתי) still appear in set phrases and in higher register, and you will study them next. If you are forming a new noun phrase at A1, use של. Native writing mixes the two; your first drafts should not.
Exceptions
Body parts and kinship in set phrases
People still say ראשי and אבי in elevated or fixed language, and לדעתי is the ordinary way to say in my opinion. Those are lexicalized. For אמא and אבא in speech, אמא שלי and אבא שלי are the normal phrases.
| אמא שלי | ima sheli | my mom |
| לדעתי | le-da'ati | in my opinion |
שלך is two spoken words
שלך does not mark masculine versus feminine you in unvowelled writing. Listen for shelkha versus shelakh, or look at who is being addressed. The same hiding of the vowel happens on other ־ך forms.
Common mistakes
שלי ספר → הספר שלי
של follows the possessed noun; it does not come first like English my.
הספר שלי החדשה → הספר שלי החדש
The adjective agrees with ספר, not with the speaker.
הבית של אני → הבית שלי
Use the fused form שלי, not של plus the subject pronoun אני.
Go on to
Possessive suffixes
Hebrew can glue the owner onto the noun: ביתי, ספרו, שמם. The pattern is older and tighter than של, and modern speech keeps it for some words while preferring של for the rest.
A2 · 14 minPersonal pronouns
Hebrew personal pronouns mark person, gender, and number. You need them most in the present tense, where the verb does not tell you who the subject is.
A1 · 10 minSmichut, the construct state
Hebrew often chains two nouns so the first is “of” the second: בֵּית סֵפֶר, עוֹרֵךְ דִּין, כּוֹס קָפֶה. That chain is smichut, and the first noun frequently changes shape.
A2 · 13 min