In short

Modern Hebrew has two kinds of everyday preposition. Three of the most common are single letters glued to the front of the next word with no space — ב (be-, “in / at”), ל (le-, “to / for”) and מ (mi-/me-, “from”). The rest are ordinary separate words — עם (im, “with”), על (al, “on / about”) and אל (el, “to / toward”). With just these six you can already say where something is, where you are going, where you came from, and what you are doing something with.

Two things to watch from the start. English “with” splits into two Hebrew words: a tool takes ב (בסכין be-sakin, “with a knife”), a companion takes עם (עם חברים im chaverim, “with friends”). And אל (el) is a bit literary — in everyday speech “to a place” is simply ל.

The rule

• The prefixes ב ל מ attach with no space. They are one-letter words that lean on the next noun and are written as part of it: בתל אביב (be-Tel Aviv, “in Tel Aviv”), לירושלים (le-Yerushalayim, “to Jerusalem”), מחיפה (me-Haifa, “from Haifa”). A space (ב תל אביב) is a spelling error, exactly like the article ה־ in the previous article lesson.
• ב (be-) = “in / at”, and also “by means of”. One little letter covers both place and instrument. Place: בבית (be-vayit, “in a house”), בעיר (be-ir, “in a city”). Instrument — “using / by means of”: כותב במחשב (kotev be-machshev, “writing on a computer”), חותך בסכין (chotech be-sakin, “cutting with a knife”). If you can rephrase English “with” as “by means of”, it is this instrumental ב.
• ל (le-) = “to / for”. Direction toward a place — נוסע לירושלים (nosea le-Yerushalayim, “travelling to Jerusalem”) — and the recipient or beneficiary of something: מתנה לחבר (matana le-chaver, “a gift for a friend”).
• מ (mi-/me-) = “from”. Same letter, two readings. Before an ordinary consonant it is mi- with a doubling of that consonant: מבית (mi-bayit, “from a house”), מתל אביב (mi-Tel Aviv). Before the gutturals א ה ח ע and before ר it softens to me-: מחיפה (me-Haifa), מאמריקה (me-Amerika), מרחוב (me-rechov, “from a street”). The spelling never changes — only the vowel you pronounce. A literary variant is the separate word מן (min), seen mostly in set phrases (מן הסתם, min ha-stam, “presumably”); everyday Hebrew uses the prefixed מ.
• עם (im) = “with (someone)”. This is accompaniment — being together with a person or thing: אני עם חברים (ani im chaverim, “I’m with friends”), נפגשים עם המורה (nifgashim im ha-mora, “meeting with the teacher”). עם is never the tool of an action; that is ב.
• על (al) = “on”, and “about”. Physical position — הספר על השולחן (ha-sefer al ha-shulchan, “the book is on the table”) — and the topic of talk or thought: מדברים על סרט (medabrim al seret, “talking about a movie”).
• אל (el) = “to / toward”, literary. It points in a direction, but in ordinary speech Israelis reach for ל instead. Say נוסעים לחיפה (nos’im le-Haifa), not נוסעים אל חיפה. Keep אל for a more formal or set directional feel: פנתה אל התלמידים (panta el ha-talmidim, “she turned to the pupils”).
• With a definite noun, ב and ל fuse with the article. בבית can mean “in the house” (ba-bayit) and לילד “to the boy” (la-yeled), the ה being swallowed. That fusion belongs to the article lesson — see Definite article ha- & its fusion after ב/כ/ל. Here we stay with plain, indefinite nouns and proper names.
• Full nouns only, for now. This lesson attaches prepositions to nouns. To say “to me / on me / from me” the preposition instead fuses with a pronoun ending (li, alai, mimeni) — a separate paradigm covered in Prepositions inflected for pronoun (li / lecha / lo).

Forms & patterns

Prefixed prepositions — glued to the noun, no space:

Reading of מ (“from”) — the vowel depends on the next sound:

Independent prepositions — written as separate words:

The two Hebrew words for English “with”:

Examples

Common mistakes

• ל ירושלים -> לירושלים - a one-letter preposition attaches with no space; le-Yerushalayim is one written word.
• אני חותך עם סכין -> אני חותך בסכין - a tool is instrumental ב (be-sakin); עם is only for company, never for an instrument.
• אני נמצא בחברים -> אני עם חברים - accompaniment (“with friends”) is עם (im chaverim); ב here would mean “inside friends”.
• נוסעים אל חיפה -> נוסעים לחיפה - everyday “to (a place)” is ל (le-Haifa); אל is literary/directional.
• מחיפה = mi-Haifa -> מחיפה = me-Haifa - before the gutturals א ה ח ע and before ר, מ is read me-, not mi-.
• מירושלים = me-Yerushalayim -> מירושלים = mi-Yerushalayim - before an ordinary consonant מ is mi-; me- is reserved for gutturals and ר.

Tips

• The prefixes ב ל מ are always glued to the next word — no space, ever. If you could slip a space in, the spelling is wrong.
• ב does two jobs with one letter: place (in / at) and instrument (by means of). “In Tel Aviv” and “with a computer” are both plain ב.
• English “with” is two Hebrew words. Ask yourself: could I say “by means of”? → ב (בסכין). Do I mean “together with”? → עם (עם חברים).
• מ keeps one spelling but two sounds: mi- before normal consonants, me- before א ה ח ע ר. Learn the trigger sounds, not new letters.
• על covers both “on” (physical) and “about” (a topic): הספר על השולחן and מדברים על סרט.
• Use ל for everyday “to somewhere”; save אל for literary or set directional phrases. Israelis say לירושלים, not אל ירושלים.
• These are the full-noun forms. “To me / on me / from me” fuses the preposition with a pronoun ending (li, alai, mimeni) — that comes next.
• With a definite noun, only ב and ל swallow the ה (בבית → ba-bayit); מ, עם, על and אל never fuse — that spelling detail lives in the article lesson.