אותי, אותך, אותו: את Inflected | Hebrew Grammar

This paradigm earns a page of its own for a reason that most tables hide: it is not built on one stem. Eight of the ten forms sit on אוֹת־ — אותי, אותך, אותו — and then the two second-person plurals abandon it and build straight on אֶת, giving אֶתְכֶם and אֶתְכֶן. Pealim and Wiktionary agree on this cell for cell — and Pealim does not record an אות־ variant for them at all — so nothing about the first eight prepares you for the last two.

Why the marker cannot be dropped here

Before the table, the mechanism — because it makes the whole thing predictable rather than arbitrary.

את marks a definite direct object. A pronoun is definite by its nature: "him" refers to somebody both speakers already have in mind, and there is no such thing as an indefinite a him. So a pronoun object is always in the one situation where את is obligatory — and Hebrew, rather than writing two words, fuses them into one.

The consequence is absolute: Hebrew has no bare pronoun in object position. "I saw him" is ראיתי אותו, never *ראיתי הוא, because הוא is a subject pronoun and cannot carry an object role at all.

ראיתי אותו אתמול ברחוב והוא בכלל לא זיהה אותי.

ra'íti otó etmól barekhóv vehú bikhlál lo zihá otí

I saw him in the street yesterday and he didn't recognise me at all.

היא הזמינה אותנו לארוחת ערב ביום שישי.

hi hizmína otánu la'arukhát érev beyóm shishí

She's invited us to dinner on Friday.

The paradigm

Meaning	Form	Reads
me	אוֹתִי	otí
you (m. sg.)	אוֹתְךָ	otkhá
you (f. sg.)	אוֹתָךְ	otákh
him, it (m.)	אוֹתוֹ	otó
her, it (f.)	אוֹתָהּ	otá
us	אוֹתָנוּ	otánu
you (m. pl.)	אֶתְכֶם	etkhém
you (f. pl.)	אֶתְכֶן	etkhén
them (m.)	אוֹתָם	otám
them (f.)	אוֹתָן	otán

Two cells are highlighted because they break the pattern in both spelling and vowel — etkhém, not *otkhém, and אֶת rather than אוֹת. It is not a typo in your textbook, and it is not optional in careful Hebrew.

אני אקח אתכם לתחנה, אין בעיה.

aní ekákh etkhém latakhaná, ein be'ayá

I'll run you to the station, no problem. (to a group)

אני לא סובלת אותו, אבל אני חייבת לעבוד איתו.

aní lo sovélet otó, avál aní khayévet la'avód itó

I can't stand him, but I have to work with him. (f. speaker)

💡

You will hear אותכם and אותכן in (informal) speech, levelled to match the other eight cells. English Wiktionary's usage note puts it plainly: etkhém and etkhén are the more correct forms, and otkhém and otkhén are also common in everyday usage. So this is a register split, not a mistake to sneer at — but אתכם is what you write, and what a teacher will expect.

Swapping a noun for its pronoun

The drill that builds the reflex: take a sentence with a full noun object, and replace the noun. The marker does not disappear — it swallows the pronoun.

With the noun	With the pronoun
אני מכיר את דנה	אני מכיר אותה
ראינו את הילדים בגן	ראינו אותם בגן
ביקשתי את החשבון	ביקשתי אותו
שכחתי את המפתחות	שכחתי אותם
הם מחפשים את הכלב	הם מחפשים אותו

ביקשתי את החשבון לפני רבע שעה ועדיין כלום.

bikáshti et hakheshbón lifnéi réva sha'á va'adáyin klum

I asked for the bill fifteen minutes ago and there's still nothing.

אני מכיר אותה מהעבודה, היא בסדר גמור.

aní makír otá meha'avodá, hi beséder gamúr

I know her from work — she's absolutely fine. (m. speaker)

אותו or לו? The English verb will not tell you

Here is the part that decides whether you sound fluent. Hebrew verbs split into those that take a direct object (marked with את, so אותו in the pronoun) and those that govern ל־ (so לו). English translates both groups with a bare object, which means the English sentence contains no information at all about which one you need.

Takes את → אותו	Governs ל־ → לו
פגש את — meet someone	עזר ל־ — help someone
הכיר את — know someone	הפריע ל־ — bother someone
סבל את — put up with someone	הקשיב ל־ — listen to someone
ביקש את — ask for something	התקשר ל־ — ring someone
שמע את — hear something	חיכה ל־ — wait for someone

There is no rule underneath this, and pretending otherwise wastes your time. Help, bother and ring look exactly like meet, know and hear from the English side; the two columns are a lexical fact you have to have met. Learn each verb with its marker attached — פגש את, עזר ל־ — and the pronoun form follows automatically.

הכרתי אותו בצבא ואני עדיין עוזר לו בטפסים.

hikárti otó batsavá va'aní adáyin ozér lo batfasím

I met him in the army and I still help him with the paperwork. (הכיר את, but עזר ל־ — one sentence, both patterns)

חיכינו לה חצי שעה ובסוף ראינו אותה יושבת בפנים.

khikínu la khatsí sha'á uvasóf ra'ínu otá yoshévet bifním

We waited half an hour for her and in the end spotted her sitting inside.

The literary alternative

Hebrew has a second way to attach an object pronoun: directly onto the verb. ראיתיו "I saw him", אהבתיה "I loved her", מצאתיו "I found him". These are (literary) — the register of novels, poetry, legal prose and the Bible — and no Israeli produces them in conversation.

לא מצאתיו בבית ולא השארתי הודעה.

lo metsatív babáyit veló hish'árti hoda'á

I did not find him at home and left no message. (literary — in speech, לא מצאתי אותו בבית)

Recognise them when reading; use אותו when speaking. The forms are set out on object suffixes on the verb.

Common Mistakes

1. Using a subject pronoun as an object. English he and him are two words; Hebrew הוא is only the first of them.

❌ אני מחפש הוא

Incorrect — הוא is a subject pronoun. An object pronoun fuses with the marker: אני מחפש אותו.

✅ אני מחפש אותו כבר שעה, הוא לא עונה לטלפון.

aní mekhapés otó kvar sha'á, hu lo oné latélefon

I've been looking for him for an hour — he's not answering his phone. (m. speaker)

2. Giving a direct-object verb the dative. The over-correction that arrives once לי and לו are drilled.

❌ פגשתי לו בקניון

Incorrect — פגש takes a direct object, so the pronoun is אותו: פגשתי אותו בקניון.

✅ פגשתי אותו בקניון והוא לא זכר איך קוראים לי.

pagáshti otó bakanyón vehú lo zakhár eikh kor'ím li

I ran into him at the mall and he couldn't remember my name.

3. Giving a ל־ verb an object pronoun. The mirror image, and just as common.

❌ אני מחכה אותך

Incorrect — חיכה governs ל־: אני מחכה לך. אותך would mark a direct object, and this verb has none.

✅ אנחנו מחכים לך בכניסה, אל תמהרי.

anákhnu mekhakím lakh baknisá, al temaharí

We're waiting for you at the entrance — no rush. (to a woman)

4. Spelling "him" אתו. Not an invented form — an outdated one, and it collides with a different word.

❌ אתו

Incorrect as modern ktiv male for 'him' — write אותו. אתו is the older ktiv-haser spelling, and unpointed it also reads as אִתּוֹ 'with him'.

✅ ראיתי אותו רק פעם אחת מאז שחזר.

ra'íti otó rak pá'am akhát me'áz shekhazár

I've only seen him once since he got back.

Key Takeaways

A pronoun object is inherently definite, so the marker is obligatory and fuses with it: ראיתי אותו, never *ראיתי הוא. Hebrew has no bare pronoun in object position.
The paradigm is אותי, אותך, אותו, אותה, אותנו, אתכם, אתכן, אותם, אותן — ten cells, with אותך covering both second-person singulars: eight built on אות־ and two on את.
אתכם / אתכן are the odd cells. Spoken Hebrew levels them to אותכם / אותכן; English Wiktionary calls the אֶת־ forms the more correct ones and the אוֹת־ forms common in everyday use.
אותך is one spelling for two words: otkhá to a man, otákh to a woman.
את or ל־ is a lexical fact about each verb. פגש את / הכיר את / סבל את / ביקש את against עזר ל־ / הפריע ל־ / הקשיב ל־ / חיכה ל־. The English translation contains no clue; learn the verb with its marker.
Object suffixes on the verb — ראיתיו, אהבתיה — are (literary). Read them, do not say them.
אותו before a noun is a different word — the determiner "the same", as in אותו יום and באותה שעה. Only position separates the two readings, and the determiner has its own page: אותו = the same.

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