The preposition מ־ / מן marks a source—“from the station,” “from Dana”—and also introduces the standard of comparison—“taller than me.” Before a pronoun, it does not take one transparent set of endings. The everyday paradigm moves among three bases: ממ־, מ־ before the second-person plural, and מה־ before the third-person plural. The first-person plural מאיתנו has a separate history again.
That mixture is genuinely irregular. There is no clean rule that will generate every cell from ממני. Learn the ten forms as a structured table, then anchor them in source, governed-verb, and comparison sentences.
The ten modern forms
| Meaning | Modern spelling | Pointed form and reading |
|---|---|---|
| from/than me | ממני | מִמֶּנִּי miméni |
| from/than you (m. sg.) | ממך | מִמְּךָ mimkhá |
| from/than you (f. sg.) | ממך | מִמֵּךְ mimékh |
| from/than him | ממנו | מִמֶּנּוּ miménu |
| from/than her | ממנה | מִמֶּנָּה miména |
| from/than us | מאיתנו | מֵאִתָּנוּ me'itánu |
| from/than you (m./mixed pl.) | מכם | מִכֶּם mikém |
| from/than you (f. pl.) | מכן | מִכֶּן mikén |
| from/than them (m./mixed) | מהם | מֵהֶם mehém |
| from/than them (f.) | מהן | מֵהֶן mehén |
Two spellings in the table deserve immediate attention. First, singular ממך has two readings: masculine mimkhá, feminine mimékh. Second, plural “from you” is מכם / מכן, not a form mechanically extended from ממנ־. The doubled mem belongs to the first five cells, not to every person.
יואב, לקחתי ממך את המטען בטעות.
Yo'áv, lakákhti mimkhá et hamat'én beta'út
Yoav, I took the charger from you by mistake. (to a man; neutral)
נועה, קיבלתי ממך המלצה מצוינת לספר.
No'á, kibálti mimékh hamlatsá metsuyénet leséfer
Noa, I got an excellent book recommendation from you. (to a woman; neutral)
Why “from us” is מאיתנו
Classical מִמֶּנּוּ served both “from him” and “from us,” and both readings remain possible in modern Hebrew. Because unpointed ממנו is ambiguous and is most readily read as “from him,” learners usually use מאיתנו for a clear “from us.”
מאיתנו is therefore not a fancy or hypercorrect substitute. It repairs a real collision. Morphologically it belongs to מֵאֵת “from/by,” but synchronically a learner should treat it as the ordinary unambiguous first-person plural option in this paradigm.
השליח אסף מאיתנו את החבילה בשמונה בבוקר.
hashalíakh asáf me'itánu et hakhavilá bishmóne babóker
The courier collected the parcel from us at eight in the morning. (neutral)
הוא שמע ממנו את החדשות והתקשר מייד.
hu shamá miménu et hakhadashót vehitkashér miyád
He heard the news from him and called immediately. (ממנו = from him; neutral)
Source: where something comes from
The source may be a person who gives, tells, lends, sends, or removes something. English also uses from in these cases, so the meaning is familiar; Hebrew differs in making the preposition and pronoun one word.
מה אתה רוצה ממני בשעה כזאת?
ma atá rotsé miméni besha'á kazót?
What do you want from me at this hour? (to a man; informal, potentially irritated)
היא לקחה ממנה את המפתח לפני שיצאה.
hi lakhá miména et hamáfteakh lifnéi sheyats'á
She took the key from her before she left. (neutral)
למדנו מכם הרבה במהלך הפרויקט.
lamádnu mikém harbé bemahalákh haproyékt
We learned a lot from you during the project. (to a masculine or mixed group; neutral-professional)
בנות, קיבלתי מכן את כל הטפסים בזמן.
banót, kibálti mikén et kol hatfasím bizmán
Girls, I received all the forms from you on time. (to a group of women; neutral)
שמעתי מהם שהטיול נדחה לשבוע הבא.
shamáti mehém shehatiyúl nidkhá lashavúa habá
I heard from them that the trip had been postponed until next week. (masculine or mixed 'them'; neutral)
קיבלנו מהן תמונות מהטקס עוד באותו ערב.
kibálnu mehén tmunót mehatékes od be'otó érev
We received photos of the ceremony from them that same evening. (all-female 'them'; neutral)
Verb-governed מ־: התעלם and נהנה
With source מ־, the relation is conceptually transparent: something travels from an origin. Some verbs, however, select מ־ as part of their complement pattern. Two dependable high-frequency examples are התעלם מ־ “ignore” and נהנה מ־ “enjoy.” English gives both a direct object, so learners are tempted to use אותו or אותה. Hebrew instead inflects מ־.
היא התעלמה ממנו כל השבוע ואז התקשרה כאילו לא קרה כלום.
hi hit'almá miménu kol hashavúa ve'áz hitkashrá ke'ílu lo kará klum
She ignored him all week and then called as if nothing had happened. (informal narrative)
ההצגה הייתה מצוינת, וכולנו נהנינו ממנה.
hahatsagá haytá metsuyénet, vekulánu nehenénu miména
The show was excellent, and we all enjoyed it. (neutral)
Comparison: “than me” is still an inflected preposition
Hebrew uses the same paradigm for a comparison standard. English says taller than me, where than does not behave like a preposition that fuses with me. Hebrew says גבוה ממני, literally with the inflected מ־ form. That transfer gap explains the common attempt to strand a bare מ before אני.
אחי הצעיר כבר גבוה ממני בראש שלם.
akhí hatsa'ír kvar gavóha miméni berósh shalém
My younger brother is already a whole head taller than me. (neutral)
החדר הזה קטן, אבל החדר לידו קטן ממנו בהרבה.
hakhéder hazé katán, avál hakhéder leyadó katán miménu beharbé
This room is small, but the room next to it is much smaller than it. (neutral)
זה יצא טוב יותר ממה שחשבתי.
ze yatsá tov yotér mimá shekhashávti
It turned out better than I thought. (the standard of comparison is a clause; neutral)
The comparative construction itself—word order with יותר and פחות, adjective agreement, and clausal standards—belongs on the comparative page. Here the key point is morphological: whenever the standard is a pronoun, use the matching inflected מ form.
Orthography: solid spelling and one yod
The doubled ממ is part of the word. Write ממני solid, without a space and without a maqaf. Modern ktiv male has exactly one yod at the end: ממני, not מימני and not ממניי. The internal vowel /i/ in מִמֶּנִּי is not represented by an extra yod.
Common Mistakes
1. Leaving אני separate after מ. A pronoun must be built into the preposition.
❌ קיבלת הודעה מ אני בבוקר.
Incorrect—מ cannot stand before free אני; 'from me' is the single word ממני.
✅ קיבלת ממני הודעה בבוקר ולא ענית.
kibálta miméni hoda'á babóker veló aníta
You got a message from me this morning and didn't answer. (to a man; informal)
2. Inserting an extra yod into ממני. The standard modern spelling begins ממ, not מימ.
❌ היא לקחה מימני את הספר.
Incorrect as the standard spelling — write ממני with doubled mem and one final yod.
✅ היא לקחה ממני את הספר והבטיחה להחזיר אותו מחר.
hi lakhá miméni et haséfer vehivtikhá lehakhazír otó makhár
She took the book from me and promised to return it tomorrow. (neutral)
3. Giving התעלם a direct object. The Hebrew verb selects מ־.
❌ התעלמתי אותו כל הערב.
Incorrect—התעלם governs מ־; 'ignored him' is התעלמתי ממנו.
✅ התעלמתי ממנו כל הערב אבל בסוף התנצלתי.
hit'alámti miménu kol ha'érev avál basóf hitnatsálti
I ignored him all evening, but in the end I apologized. (neutral)
4. Giving נהנה a direct object. English enjoyed them again hides מ־.
❌ נהנינו אותם בטיול.
Incorrect—נהנה governs מ־; with masculine plural referents, say נהנינו מהם.
✅ נהנינו מהם כל הטיול וכבר קבענו להיפגש שוב.
nehenénu mehém kol hatiyúl ukhvar kavánu lehipagésh shuv
We enjoyed their company throughout the trip and have already arranged to meet again. (masculine or mixed group; neutral)
Key Takeaways
- The paradigm has three visible bases: ממני–ממנה, מכם/מכן, and מהם/מהן. Do not force every person into a ממנ־ template.
- ממך is masculine mimkhá or feminine mimékh. Unpointed spelling leaves the gender to context.
- For unambiguous modern production, use ממנו for “from him” and מאיתנו for “from us.” The first-person plural reading of ממנו remains possible in modern and classical Hebrew.
- התעלם מ־ and נהנה מ־ require the same inflected forms even though English uses direct objects.
- Write ממני solid, with doubled mem, no maqaf, and one yod.
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- מ־ / מן: From, Out Of, ThanA1 — The one prefix that behaves differently from the others: ב, ל and כ swallow the definite article, מ־ leaves it standing. It also supplies the basic comparison marker translated as 'than'.
- Comparatives: יותר … מ־A2 — Hebrew has no -er suffix and no word for than. Comparison is built from two free pieces — יותר (or פחות) beside the adjective, and מ־ glued to whatever you are comparing against — and the second piece is where English speakers come unstuck, because מ־ is a prefix and a prefix cannot stand in front of a pronoun.
- Verbs Governed by מ־: פחד מ, נהנה מ, התעלם מB1 — Learn common Hebrew verbs whose source, cause, avoided object, or person asked is introduced by מ־ rather than by a direct object.
- Full Inflection Tables for the Main PrepositionsB1 — Look up the ten person-and-gender forms of twenty central Hebrew prepositions in a uniform comparison grid.