Prepositions

Prepositions that stick to the word

A preposition tells how one word relates to another: "in", "to", "from", "with". Several of the commonest Hebrew prepositions are not separate words at all. They are a single letter fused to the front of the next word, the way the article was. Three of them turn up in the first chapters of Genesis.

בְּ (be) means "in" or "with". The very first word of the Bible, בְּרֵאשִׁית (bereshit), is בְּ plus רֵאשִׁית, "beginning", so "in the beginning". In Genesis 1:26, בְּצַלְמֵנוּ (betzalmenu) is "in our image".

לְ (le) means "to" or "for". לְאַבְרָהָם (le'avraham) is "to Abraham", from Genesis 26:3, where God tells Isaac of the oath he swore "to Abraham your father".

כְּ (ke) means "like" or "according to". כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ (kidmutenu), "after our likeness", is also from Genesis 1:26. Notice that the vowel under כ is not a shewa but a hireq. When the next letter itself carries a shewa, the preposition's vowel often shifts to hireq, as in בִּנְאוֹת (bin'ot), "in pastures of", in Psalm 23:2. You do not have to learn the rule yet. If you see a בּ, ל or כ at the front of a word, suspect a preposition.

מִן, "from"

"From" is מִן, and when it is attached it shortens to מִ or מֵ. Exodus 20:2 has two: מֵאֶרֶץ (me'eretz), "from the land of", where it is מֵ, and מִבֵּית (mibeit), "from the house of", where the נ of מִן has disappeared and left a dagesh that doubles the ב. When it stands alone it can be tied to the next word with a maqqef, the short horizontal line, as in מִן־ (min-) in Genesis 2:7, where the dust is taken from the ground. מִן appears more than 1,100 times.

Prepositions that stand alone

Other prepositions are separate words, and many are linked to the next word by a maqqef, so the two are read as one unit.

עַל־ ('al-) means "on, over", as in "over the surface of the deep" in Genesis 1:2. It appears more than 5,700 times. אֶל־ ('el-) means "to, toward"; in Genesis 12:1 it is the "to" in "the LORD said to Abram", and it occurs more than 5,500 times. עַד ('ad) means "until, as far as", as when Abram passes through the land "as far as" Shechem.

A few more to meet: עִם ('im), "with", about 980 times, as in "to walk humbly with your God" in Micah 6:8, עִם־ (the עִמָּדִי, "with me", of Psalm 23:4 is a related but separate word); מִתַּחַת (mitachat), "from under", which is מִ plus תַּחַת (tachat), "under"; אַחַר ('achar), "after", as in "after these things"; and בֵּין (bein), "between". The panel often labels אַחַר and בֵּין as adjectives, and תַּחַת as a noun. That is the database's classification, and you can read them as the prepositions they are here.

When a preposition meets "the"

Here is the neat part. When a one-letter preposition comes before a noun with the article, the ה of the article drops out, and its vowel moves under the preposition. You cannot see the ה any more, but the vowel is a clue that "the" is hiding there.

In Genesis 1:5, God calls light "day", using לָאוֹר (la'or). That is לְ + הָאוֹר put together, "to the light". The next word, וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ (velachoshekh), is וְ ("and") + לְ + הַחֹשֶׁךְ, "and to the darkness". The panel labels such words "Preposition · Definite", where "definite" means that a "the" is hidden inside. Likewise בָּאָרֶץ (ba'aretz) is בְּ + הָאָרֶץ, "in the land". Compare בְּרֵאשִׁית, where בְּ keeps its shewa and no "the" is meant. If the vowel under the preposition is an a-vowel (בַּ, בָּ, לַ, לָ), the noun is probably definite. The word מִן usually keeps its form and is just followed by the article, as in מִן־הָאָרֶץ.

One note on labels: the panel sometimes also marks "definite" on prepositions with a pronoun ending, such as לְךָ ("to you") and בּוֹ ("in it"). That is the database's own tag. There is no "the" in those words.

Summary

בְּ ("in"), לְ ("to") and כְּ ("like") are one-letter prepositions fused to the front of a word; מִן ("from") shortens to מִ or מֵ. Separate prepositions include עַל, אֶל, עַד, עִם, תַּחַת, אַחַר and בֵּין, often tied on with a maqqef. When a one-letter preposition meets the article, the ה disappears and only its vowel remains.

Words in this lesson

• עַלalupon5,744 times in the OT
• אֶלelto(wards)5,509 times in the OT
• מִן־minfrom1,186 times in the OT
• עִםimwith979 times in the OT
• עַדadtill1,261 times in the OT
• בַּ֫יִןbayinbetween381 times in the OT
• אַחַרacharafter714 times in the OT
• תַּחַתtachatunderneath: under240 times in the OT

Practice