In short

To say whose something is, Modern Hebrew uses the little word של (shel, “of”). You name the thing first, then add של plus the owner: הבית שלי (ha-bayit sheli) is literally “the-house of-me” — “my house”. The owner can be a person’s name (הכלב של יוסי, ha-kelev shel Yosi, “Yosi’s dog”) or a pronoun folded into של as an ending: שלי (sheli, my), שלך (shelcha, your), שלו (shelo, his), and so on.

These endings are not new vocabulary — they are the subject pronouns of lesson 1 stuck onto של. So שלי/שלך/שלו/שלה line up with אני/את·ה/הוא/היא. Like those pronouns, they mark masculine vs. feminine only; there is no polite “your” and no T/V distinction. The one thing to burn in from the start: the possessed noun keeps its ה־ (the article of lesson 2). It is always הבית שלי, never בית שלי.

The rule

• The frame is [definite noun] + של + owner. Put the possessed thing first — with its article — then של, then whoever owns it. הבית שלי (ha-bayit sheli, “my house”), הספר של המורה (ha-sefer shel ha-mora, “the teacher’s book”). This is the reverse of English “my house”, where the owner comes first; in Hebrew the owner comes last.

• The possessed noun keeps its ה־. This is the single biggest trap. “My house” is הבית שלי (ha-bayit sheli), with ה־ on בית. Drop it and בית שלי is wrong. The thing you own is a specific, definite thing (“the house, which is mine”), so it carries the definite article from lesson 2 just as it would on its own.

• The pronoun owners fuse into של as suffixes. Instead of writing של plus a separate pronoun, Hebrew glues the ending on: של + אני → שלי (sheli), של + הוא → שלו (shelo). Say שלי, never של אני. The full set — שלי/שלך/שלו/שלה/שלנו/שלכם/שלכן/שלהם/שלהן — is in the table below and mirrors the ten pronouns of lesson 1 (with 1st person gender-neutral, as always).

• A name or full noun just follows the bare word של. When the owner is spelled out — a name, or a noun with its own article — you do not fuse anything: הכלב של יוסי (ha-kelev shel Yosi), הספר של המורה (ha-sefer shel ha-mora), המכונית של אבא (ha-mechonit shel aba). Only pronoun owners turn into the שלי/שלך endings.

• Only the suffix agrees — with the OWNER, never with the possessed noun. של itself never changes to match the thing owned. “My book” and “my books” are both שלי: הספר שלי (ha-sefer sheli) and הספרים שלי (ha-sfarim sheli). The ending changes only to track the owner’s gender and number: שלו (shelo) = his, שלה (shela) = her, שלהם (shelahem) = their.

• שלך is one spelling for two words. Written unvocalized, שלך covers both shelcha (“your”, to a man) and shelach (“your”, to a woman). You hear the difference in speech; on the page it is identical. Choose which you mean by the listener’s gender — there is no polite third option.

• Possession can be the whole sentence. Because Hebrew has no present-tense “to be” (lesson 5), a של phrase can be the predicate: הספר הזה שלי (ha-sefer ha-ze sheli) = “this book is mine”. Subject (הספר הזה) + predicate (שלי), nothing in between. (של is really a preposition inflecting for its object; the general mechanism behind these endings is lesson 17, and the tighter bound form ביתי comes much later in lesson 41.)

Forms & patterns

The של paradigm — the owner-suffixes, laid out like the pronoun grid of lesson 1 (person down, gender across). Note that 1st person makes no gender distinction:

The frame in action — [definite noun] + של + owner:

של never agrees with the possessed noun — the same שלי, whatever the gender or number of the thing owned:

Examples

Common mistakes

• בית שלי -> הבית שלי (ha-bayit sheli) - the possessed noun must keep its ה־; without the article it is not “my house”.
• שלי הבית -> הבית שלי (ha-bayit sheli) - don’t copy the English “my house” order; in Hebrew the noun comes first, then של.
• הבית שלו (meaning “her house”) -> הבית שלה (ha-bayit shela) - the suffix agrees with the owner: שלו (shelo) = his, שלה (shela) = her.
• הספרים שליים -> הספרים שלי (ha-sfarim sheli) - של never pluralizes to match the possessed noun; “my books” is still just שלי.
• של אני -> שלי (sheli) - a pronoun owner fuses into של as a suffix; say שלי, not של + the separate word אני.
• שלכה (for “your”, m.) -> שלך (shelcha) - “your” is written שלך — one unvocalized spelling for both shelcha (m.) and shelach (f.); there is no ה in it.

Tips

• Build the phrase in order: point at the thing (with its ה־), say של, then say whose. “ha-bayit … sheli.”
• The endings are just the pronouns you already know: שלי/שלך/שלו/שלה = ani / at·a / hu / hi → my / your / his / her. Learn the grid once and it covers everything.
• Keep the ה־ glued to the possessed noun every time: הבית שלי, הכלב שלה, המפתחות שלנו — never a bare noun.
• של stays frozen; only the tail moves. הספר שלי, הספרים שלי, הדירה שלי — same של, same שלי, whatever the noun’s gender or number.
• For a named owner, use the bare word של + the name or full noun: הכלב של יוסי, הספר של המורה. Fusing (שלי-type endings) is only for pronoun owners.
• To say “this is mine”, just make a nominal sentence (lesson 5): הספר הזה שלי — subject, predicate, no verb.
• שלך = shelcha to a man, shelach to a woman: identical on the page, different by ear. Pick by the listener’s gender; there is no polite form.
• Register: in everyday speech שלהם / שלכם often cover feminine groups too, though careful Hebrew keeps the feminine שלהן / שלכן. Learn the full set as the standard.