Free grammar · Unit 43 of 45

The possessive glued to the noun: סִפְרִי, אִשְׁתִּי, בֵּיתוֹ

Instead of הַסֵּפֶר שֶׁלִּי «my book», Hebrew can glue the owner onto the noun: סִפְרִי. The endings are those of לִי: סִפְרִי, סִפְרְךָ, סִפְרֵךְ, סִפְרוֹ «his book», סִפְרָהּ «her book», סִפְרֵנוּ, סִפְרְכֶם, סִפְרָם. A noun with an ending never takes הַ: סִפְרִי already means «the book of mine».

In conversation people say הַסֵּפֶר שֶׁלִּי; the glued form lives in writing, in set phrases (שְׁמִי «my name») and above all on the family: אִמִּי «my mother», אָבִי «my father», אָחִי, אֲחוֹתִי, בְּנִי, בִּתִּי, אִשְׁתִּי «my wife», בַּעֲלִי «my husband». A noun ending in ־ָה changes it to ־ָת before the ending: מִשְׁפָּחָה, מִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ «his family».

The page has the explanation, the table of סֵפֶר and מִשְׁפָּחָה with the endings and the first two exercises: «my wife works at the hospital» and «his family lives in Haifa». The other four, including typing «my daughter» in one word, open with a free account.