Hebrew Pronouns: A One-Page Cheat Sheet

A student once told me she wanted a single sheet of paper she could tape above her desk with every Hebrew pronoun on it. So I made one. Here it is in blog form, with the three groups that matter most: the basic "I/you/he/she" pronouns, the possessives, and the question words. Keep this page open, or screenshot it. This is your cheat sheet.

The basic subject pronouns

These are the "I, you, he, she, we, they" words you'll use in nearly every Hebrew sentence. Hebrew splits some of them by gender, so there's a masculine and feminine version for "you" and "they".

• ani (אֲנִי), I.
• ata (אַתָּה), you (masculine singular).
• at (אַתְּ), you (feminine singular).
• hu (הוּא), he.
• hi (הִיא), she.
• anachnu (אֲנַחְנוּ), we.
• atem (אַתֶּם), you (masculine plural or mixed group).
• aten (אַתֶּן), you (feminine plural).
• hem (הֵם), they (masculine or mixed).
• hen (הֵן), they (feminine only).

Small note: in everyday spoken Hebrew, atem is often used for mixed or feminine groups too. Aten and hen sound a bit formal in daily speech. If you're talking to two women on the street, most Israelis will just say atem.

The possessive endings

Hebrew sometimes shows possession by adding a small ending to the noun itself, like a suffix. These endings come in both formal (suffix-style) and casual (using shel) forms.

The casual way uses shel (of):

• sheli (שֶׁלִּי), mine.
• shelcha (שֶׁלְּךָ), yours (masc).
• shelach (שֶׁלָּךְ), yours (fem).
• shelo (שֶׁלּוֹ), his.
• shela (שֶׁלָּהּ), hers.
• shelanu (שֶׁלָּנוּ), ours.
• shelachem (שֶׁלָּכֶם), yours (plural masc/mixed).
• shelahem (שֶׁלָּהֶם), theirs (masc/mixed).

So "my book" is hasefer sheli. "Your dog" is hakelev shelcha. This construction is the one Israelis use in daily speech. The suffix-style version (like sifri for "my book") is mostly literary now.

Question words

Hebrew's question words are short and easy to memorize. These are the main ones:

• mi (מִי), who.
• ma (מָה), what.
• eifo (אֵיפֹה), where.
• matai (מָתַי), when.
• lama (לָמָּה), why.
• eich (אֵיךְ), how.
• kama (כַּמָּה), how much/how many.
• eizeh (אֵיזֶה), which (masc).
• eizo (אֵיזוֹ), which (fem).

Put these in front of a sentence and you've got a question. Eifo habayit? (Where is the house?). Ma nishma? (What's up? Literally "what is heard?").

Object pronouns

When you want to say "me", "him", "her", "us" as the object of a verb, Hebrew uses the word et (אֶת) plus a pronoun ending stuck to it:

• oti (אוֹתִי), me.
• otcha (אוֹתְךָ), you (masc).
• otach (אוֹתָךְ), you (fem).
• oto (אוֹתוֹ), him.
• ota (אוֹתָהּ), her.
• otanu (אוֹתָנוּ), us.
• otchem (אֶתְכֶם), you (plural).
• otam (אוֹתָם), them.

So "he sees me" is hu ro'eh oti. "She wants him" is hi rotsah oto. These forms pop up constantly in everyday speech.

How to actually use this sheet

Don't try to memorize all four groups today. Here's a faster path:

• Week 1: Drill the subject pronouns (ani, ata, hu, hi) until they come out without thinking.
• Week 2: Add the possessives you'll use most (sheli, shelcha, shelo, shela).
• Week 3: Learn the question words, one a day.
• Week 4: Start folding in object pronouns as you meet them in sentences.

By the end of a month, this whole list will feel automatic. Better yet, your brain will start predicting which form you need before you finish the sentence, which is the real sign you're getting fluent.

For more grammar in small doses, our grammar section has additional articles, and our phrases section includes plenty of real sentences where these pronouns live in context.

Screenshot this page, tape it above your desk, and start using it. That's the whole deal.