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)
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 (so: אותו) | Governs ל־ (so: 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 | ענה ל־ — answer 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 answer 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. Other English bare-object verbs may select a different Hebrew preposition again: התקשר "ring, call" takes אל־, hence התקשר אליי "called me."
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 belong chiefly to (literary) and formal written Hebrew — novels, poetry, legal prose and the Bible — rather than neutral 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. Informal speech often 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־. Other verbs select still another preposition (התקשר אל־). The English translation contains no clue; learn the verb with its marker.
- Object suffixes on the verb — ראיתיו, אהבתיה — belong chiefly to (literary) and formal writing. Recognise them there; use ראיתי אותו and אהבתי אותה in neutral conversation.
- 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.
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- את: The Definite Direct-Object MarkerA1 — את stands in front of a definite direct object and nowhere else. It translates to nothing at all, which is why English gives you no warning that it is missing — and why omitting it in careful writing, or putting it in front of an indefinite noun, are two common mirror-image mistakes.
- Object Pronouns: אותי, אותך, אותוA1 — Hebrew's object pronouns are the object marker את with pronoun endings welded on. That explains the different base in normative אתכם, the common colloquial reshaping אותכם, the definiteness condition, and why an English direct object does not guarantee a Hebrew one.
- Verbs with Object Suffixes: ראיתיו, אהבתיהC2 — Forms such as ראיתיו and להודיעך fuse an object pronoun directly to a verb, a synthetic pattern still encountered in formal infinitives, literature, songs, fixed formulas, and occasional speech.
- אותו, אותה: Saying 'The Same'B1 — Put אותו in front of a noun and it stops being 'him' and becomes 'the same' — אותו יום, אותה בעיה, באותה מידה. Position is the whole story: every other Hebrew demonstrative follows its noun, and this one precedes it, which is also the only thing separating the determiner from the object pronoun spelled with the same letters.
- לי, לך, לו: ל־ InflectedA1 — The first inflected paradigm a learner needs, drilled cell by cell. לי marks possession (יש לי), a recipient (תן לי), the argument of a whole class of verbs (עזר לי) — and the experiencer in several everyday state constructions: קר לי, כואב לי, נמאס לי.