Lesson 9 | Suffixes + Construct Form
[2] Pronoun Suffixes On Prepositions
As mentioned in Lesson 7, the prefix prepositions בְּ and לְ can combine with a pronoun prefix without a base word. The meaning in such cases is similar to what the pronoun suffix means when attached to a verb, as it provides the object of the preposition. You will find these forms appear frequently, so get a good handle on how they look.
pronoun suffixes
attached to prefix prepositions
| 1cs |
בִּי |
לִי |
in me / to me |
| 1cp |
בָּנוּ |
לָנוּ |
in us / to us |
| | | |
| 2ms |
בְּךָ |
לְךָ |
in you [sir] / to you [sir] |
| 2fs |
בָּךְ |
לָךְ |
in you [ma’am] / to you [ma’am] |
| 2mp |
בָּכֶם |
לָכֶם |
in you all / to you all |
| 2fp |
בָּכֶן |
לָכֶן |
in all you [ladies] / to all you [ladies] |
| | | |
| 3ms |
בּוֹ |
לוֹ |
in him / to him |
| 3fs |
בָּהּ |
לָהּ |
in her / to her |
| 3mp |
בָּהֶם, בָּם |
לָהֶם |
in them / to them |
| 3fp |
בָּהֶן |
לָהֶן |
in [those ladies] / to [those ladies] |
Non-prefix prepositions with pronoun suffixes
Pronoun suffixes can also attach to the non-prefix prepositions we learned last lesson. Three of these (כְּמוֹ ,עִם, and אֵת) form in ways you would naturally expect. For example, עִמּוֹ means “with him.” Others (עַל ,עַד, אֵל, אַחַר, and תַּחַת) take what would be their plural form (if prepositions could be plural) when given a suffix. For example, אַחֲרָיו means “after him.”
And, of course, there is one troublesome preposition. That word is מִן. It cannot seem to decide how many מ’s or נ’s it wants to use between the different forms! (Note: There are no occurrences of the 2fp or 3fp in the OT. Also notice that the 1cp and 3ms forms are identical.)
pronoun suffixes
attached to מִן
| 1cs |
מִמֶּנִּי |
from me |
| 1cp |
מִמֶּנּוּ |
from us |
| | |
| 2ms |
מִמְּךָ |
from you [sir] |
| 2fs |
מִמֵּךְ |
from you [ma’am] |
| 2mp |
מִכֶּם |
from you all |
| | |
| 3ms |
מִמֶּנּוּ |
from him |
| 3fs |
מִמֶּנָּה |
from her |
| 3mp |
מֵהֶם
| from them |