Infinitive of Purpose: כדי ל־ vs a Bare ל־ | Hebrew Grammar

Hebrew often needs less machinery than English to say why someone went somewhere. After a verb of motion, a bare ל־ infinitive already sounds purposive: הלכתי לקנות means “I went to buy.” Add כדי when the purpose needs to stand out; switch to כדי ש and a finite verb when the purpose has a subject of its own.

קפצתי למכולת לקנות חלב, חסר עוד משהו?

kafátsti lamakólet liknót khaláv, khasér od máshehu?

I popped over to the corner shop to buy milk — do we need anything else?

באנו לעזור לכם עם המעבר, לא רק לשתות קפה.

bánu la'azór lakhém im hama'avár, lo rak lishtót kafé

We came to help you move, not just to drink coffee. (to a mixed or all-male group)

After motion, the bare infinitive is the default

With הלך “go,” בא “come,” יצא “go out,” ירד “go down,” קפץ “pop over,” and similar motion verbs, the following infinitive naturally answers what for? The mover and the doer of the infinitive are understood to be the same person. English may insert in order to; conversational Hebrew normally does not insert כדי.

יצאתי לרוץ לפני שנהיה חם מדי.

yatsáti larúts lifnéi shenihyá kham midái

I went out for a run before it got too hot.

ירדתי לזרוק את הזבל ונתקעתי חצי שעה עם השכנה.

yarádti lizrók et hazével venitkáti khatsí sha'á im hashkhená

I went downstairs to take out the rubbish and got stuck talking to the neighbour for half an hour.

The same compact pattern occurs after effort or intentional action when the relation is obvious: עצרתי לבדוק “I stopped to check,” התכופפתי להרים “I bent down to pick up.” This is structurally the same verb-plus-infinitive pattern: the infinitive has no expressed subject and borrows the main verb’s subject.

Adding כדי is still grammatical. It simply makes the purpose more explicit, and therefore often sounds heavier in a routine motion sentence.

קפצתי למכולת כדי לקנות כמה דברים לארוחת הערב.

kafátsti lamakólet kdei liknót káma dvarím la'arukhát ha'érev

I popped over to the corner shop in order to buy a few things for dinner. (correct, but more explicit than the bare infinitive)

💡

Try the motion test. If the sentence begins “I went/came/went out…” and the same person performs the next action, use the bare infinitive first. If English in order to feels useful because the purpose is being emphasized, contrasted, or moved to the front, כדי is safe.

When כדי earns its place

Use כדי + infinitive when the purpose phrase is fronted, when it is the focus of a contrast, or when its scope might otherwise be unclear. A fronted bare infinitive is possible as marked focus in literary or rhetorical prose, but it is not the neutral way to open an ordinary purpose sentence.

כדי להספיק לרכבת, יצאנו מהבית בשש.

kdei lehaspík larakévet, yatsánu mehabáyit beshésh

To make the train, we left home at six.

באתי לא כדי להתלונן, אלא כדי למצוא פתרון.

báti lo kdei lehitlonén, éla kdei limtsó pitrón

I didn't come to complain; I came to find a solution.

To make negative purpose unambiguous, use כדי לא + infinitive. Hebrew can instead negate the motion verb—לא באתי להתווכח; באתי לעזור—and contrastive לא + infinitive is also possible, but both are more scope-sensitive. A finite negative-purpose clause uses כדי שלא + future; that pattern is especially useful when a different subject is involved.

לא באתי להתווכח; באתי לעזור.

lo báti lehitvakéakh; báti la'azór

I didn't come to argue; I came to help. (the matrix motion verb is negated)

באתי כדי לא להתווכח, אלא כדי להקשיב.

báti kdei lo lehitvakéakh, éla kdei lehakshív

I came so as not to argue, but to listen. (the purpose itself is explicitly negated)

יצאנו מוקדם כדי לא לעמוד שעות בפקקים.

yatsánu mukdám kdei lo la'amód sha'ót bapekakím

We left early so as not to spend hours in traffic. (we left; we avoid waiting)

סגרתי את החלון כדי שלא ייכנס עשן מהרחוב.

sagárti et hakhalón kdei sheló yikanés ashán meharakhóv

I closed the window so smoke wouldn't come in from the street.

A different subject requires כדי ש

An infinitive cannot independently say who performs it. If the person doing the purposeful action differs from the subject of the main clause, use כדי ש + future-tense verb. The future here does not necessarily locate the event tomorrow; in a purpose clause it marks an intended, not-yet-realized outcome.

השארתי את האור דולק כדי שהילדים ימצאו את המפתח.

hish'árti et ha'ór dolék kdei shehayeladím yimtse'ú et hamaftéakh

I left the light on so the children would find the key.

עשיתי צילום מסך כדי שהוא יבין בדיוק איפה ללחוץ.

asíti tsilúm masákh kdei shehú yavín bediyúk éifo lilkhóts

I took a screenshot so he'd understand exactly where to click.

Hebrew can also use כדי ש when both clauses have the same subject — כדי שאבין “so that I understand” — especially when person marking matters. The restriction runs only the other way: a bare infinitive cannot introduce a new subject. The fuller system is covered under כדי ש and purpose and result clauses.

💡

Trace the doers, not the English words. In השארתי אור כדי שהילדים ימצאו, “I” does the leaving but “the children” do the finding, so a finite ש-clause is compulsory. In יצאתי לקנות, “I” does both actions, so the infinitive is enough.

Formal and informal alternatives

על מנת ל־ (formal) occurs constantly in administrative, legal, and academic prose. For simple purpose it is heavier than neutral כדי; it can also retain its older conditional sense, “on condition that,” so context matters.

הצדדים נפגשו על מנת להגיע להסכמה לפני הדיון.

hatsdadím nifgeshú al menát lehagía lehaskamá lifnéi hadiyún

The parties met in order to reach an agreement before the hearing. (formal)

בשביל + infinitive (informal) is real Israeli speech. It is often criticized in prescriptive editing, where כדי is preferred, but it is not an ungrammatical learner error. Compare the register rather than crossing one out.

✅ באתי בשביל לעזור עם האריזה.

báti bishvíl la'azór im ha'arizá

I came to help with the packing. (informal speech)

✅ באתי כדי לעזור עם האריזה.

báti kdei la'azór im ha'arizá

I came to help with the packing. (neutral; preferred in edited prose)

למען (formal/elevated) normally takes a noun phrase, not an ordinary ל־ infinitive: למען הקהילה “for the community.” The legal formula למען הסר ספק is a fossilized exception containing the bare form הָסֵר, not ‏*למען להסיר.

למען הסר ספק, ההרשמה אינה מבטיחה מקום בסדנה.

lemá'an hasér safék, haharshamá einá mavtikhá makóm basadná

For the avoidance of doubt, registration does not guarantee a place in the workshop. (formal legal formula)

Common Mistakes

1. Giving an infinitive a separate subject. English can say “for the children to leave”; Hebrew needs a finite clause with ש.

❌ פתחתי את הדלת כדי הילדים לצאת

Incorrect — הילדים cannot be the subject of an infinitive. Use כדי שהילדים יצאו.

✅ פתחתי את הדלת כדי שהילדים יצאו לחצר.

patákhti et hadélet kdei shehayeladím yetse'ú lekhatsér

I opened the door so the children could go out into the yard.

2. Omitting ש before an expressed finite subject. A subject and finite verb form a clause, so ש must introduce it after כדי.

❌ הזמנתי לו מונית כדי הוא לא יאחר לטיסה

Incorrect — a finite clause needs ש: כדי שהוא לא יאחר, or the compact כדי שלא יאחר.

✅ הזמנתי לו מונית כדי שלא יאחר לטיסה.

hizmánti lo monít kdei sheló ye'akhér latisá

I ordered him a taxi so he wouldn't be late for his flight.

3. Treating למען like כדי. Modern למען governs a noun; its frozen legal formula does not license new combinations.

❌ אספנו כסף למען לעזור למשפחה

Incorrect in neutral modern Hebrew — use כדי לעזור למשפחה, or put a noun after למען.

✅ אספנו כסף למען המשפחה אחרי השרפה.

asáfnu késef lemá'an hamishpakhá akharéi hasrefá

We collected money for the family after the fire. (formal/elevated)

4. Marking בשביל ל־ as simply wrong. It is a register choice, not a grammatical contrast.

✅ נפגשנו בשביל לסגור את התקציב עוד היום.

nifgáshnu bishvíl lisgór et hataktsív od hayóm

We met to finalize the budget today. (informal speech)

✅ נפגשנו כדי לסגור את התקציב עוד היום.

nifgáshnu kdei lisgór et hataktsív od hayóm

We met in order to finalize the budget today. (neutral/careful)

Key Takeaways

After motion, the same-subject bare infinitive is the conversational default: יצאתי לרוץ.
Use כדי ל־ when purpose is fronted, contrastive, explicit, or structurally helpful.
כדי לא + infinitive makes same-subject negative purpose explicit; matrix negation and contrastive לא + infinitive are also possible but more scope-sensitive. A finite negative purpose clause is כדי שלא + future.
A different subject forces כדי ש plus a finite verb: השארתי אור כדי שהילדים ימצאו.
על מנת ל־ is formal, בשביל ל־ is informal but real, and למען normally takes a noun.

Now practice Hebrew

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Hebrew →