In short

Modern Hebrew has no verb “to have.” To say “I have a brother,” it reuses the existential יש (yesh, “there is”) from lesson 11 and adds a possessor built from the preposition ל־ (le-, “to”): יש לי אח (yesh li ach) — literally “there is to me a brother.” Turn it negative by swapping יש for אין: אין לי אח (ein li ach) “I don’t have a brother.”

The possessor forms — לי (li), לך (lecha / lach), לו (lo), לה (la), לנו (lanu)… — are best learned as ready-made “have” chunks. Two things never move: יש itself never changes (there’s no verb, so nothing to conjugate), and the negator is always אין, never לא. Keep this “have” sentence apart from a “my / your” phrase like הכלב שלי (ha-kelev sheli, “my dog”, lesson 10): one asserts that you have something, the other just names whose it is.

The rule

Hebrew has no verb “to have.” Where English conjugates a verb (I have, she has), Hebrew states existence and points it at an owner with ל־ (le-, “to”). יש לי אח (yesh li ach) is literally “there-is to-me a-brother.” Nothing here is a “have”-verb; there is nothing to conjugate.

The frame is יש / אין + ל־possessor + the thing owned. Build every possession sentence the same way: the existential word first, then the ל־ possessor, then the noun you own. יש לי זמן (yesh li zman, “I have time”), אין לה אוטו (ein la oto, “she doesn’t have a car”). In a yes/no question the pieces stay in place and only the tone rises: יש לך זמן? (yesh lecha zman? “do you have time?”).

The possessor is ל־ plus a pronoun ending — learn the set as “have” chunks. לי (li) = “I have”, לך (lecha, m / lach, f) = “you have”, לו (lo) = “he has”, לה (la) = “she has”, לנו (lanu) = “we have”, and so on. These are the same inflected-preposition forms you will meet systematically in lesson 17; here just memorize them as fixed possession words.

With a name or a full noun, ל attaches — and fuses with the article. Glue ל onto the possessor with no space: יש לדני כלב (yesh le-Dani kelev, “Dani has a dog”). When the possessor is definite, ל swallows the article ה exactly as in lesson 2: יש למורה שאלה (yesh la-mora she’ela, “the teacher has a question”) — ל + ה + מורה gives la-, spelled למורה.

יש never changes. It does not agree, and it does not pluralize. Whether you have one thing or many, it stays יש: יש לי ספר (yesh li sefer, “I have a book”) and יש לי ספרים (yesh li sfarim, “I have books”) use the very same word. There is no ישים and no feminine form.

Negate with אין, not לא. The opposite of יש is the ready-made negator אין (ein) — “there isn’t.” “I don’t have money” is אין לי כסף (ein li kesef), never לא יש לי כסף and never יש לי לא כסף. Treat אין ל־ as one unit meaning “…doesn’t have.”

Possession sentence vs. possessive phrase. יש לי כלב (yesh li kelev) is a whole sentence: “I have a dog.” הכלב שלי (ha-kelev sheli) is just a noun phrase: “my dog” (lesson 10). Don’t reach for שלי when you mean to say that something exists for you — that job belongs to יש / אין ל־.

Colloquially, את slips in before a definite thing. In speech, when the thing owned is definite, you’ll hear את added: יש לי את הספר (yesh li et ha-sefer, “I have the book”). Recognize it now; the direct-object marker את gets its full treatment in lesson 15. With an indefinite noun it never appears — plain יש לי אח, not יש לי את אח.

Forms & patterns

The possessor set — learn each as one “have” chunk:

Note the spelling trap: the masculine לך (lecha) and the feminine לך (lach) are written identically (unvocalized); only the noun and the pronunciation tell them apart.

Possessors from a name or noun — ל attaches and, if definite, fuses with the article:

Like the article after ב / כ / ל in lesson 2, לילד spells both le-yeled (“to a boy”) and la-yeled (“to the boy”) — same letters, different vowel; the definite ה has vanished into the a.

The frame, assembled:

Sentence vs. phrase — don’t confuse them:

Examples

Common mistakes

• אני יש כלב -> יש לי כלב (yesh li kelev) - there is no verb “to have”; possession is יש + a ל־possessor, literally “there is to me a dog.”
• לא יש לי זמן -> אין לי זמן (ein li zman) - negate יש with אין, never with לא; אין already means “there isn’t.”
• יש לי לא כסף -> אין לי כסף (ein li kesef) - don’t tack לא onto יש; the whole “have not” is the single unit אין ל־.
• ישים לי ספרים -> יש לי ספרים (yesh li sfarim) - יש never pluralizes and never agrees; it’s the same word whether you have one thing or many.
• הכלב שלי (meant as “I have a dog”) -> יש לי כלב (yesh li kelev) - הכלב שלי is the phrase “my dog” (lesson 10); to say you have a dog you need the יש לי sentence.
• יש ל המורה שאלה -> יש למורה שאלה (yesh la-mora she’ela) - attach ל with no space, and before the article it fuses to la-.
• יש לי את אח -> יש לי אח (yesh li ach) - the colloquial את appears only before a definite thing (יש לי את הספר), never before an indefinite noun.

Tips

• Drill the possessor set as fixed “have” words: לי = “I have”, לך = “you have”, לו = “he has”, לה = “she has”, לנו = “we have”. Once they’re automatic, possession is effortless.
• Hold onto the literal logic: יש לי = “there is to me” = “I have.” Hebrew owns nothing with a verb — it says a thing exists to someone.
• יש is a rock: it never conjugates, agrees, or pluralizes. If you feel the urge to change it, don’t.
• Flip to the negative by swapping one word: יש לי → אין לי. Never לא יש.
• With a name or a definite noun, glue ל on and let it fuse: לדני (le-Dani), למורה (la-mora) — the article ה disappears into the vowel, just like ב / כ / ל in lesson 2.
• Keep the two structures straight: יש לי כלב is a sentence (“I have a dog”); הכלב שלי is a phrase (“my dog”, lesson 10). One tells you that you have; the other only names whose.
• For contrast you can front the possessor: לי יש זמן, אבל לו אין (li yesh zman, aval lo ein) “I have time, but he doesn’t.” The neutral order still puts יש first.
• Past and future “have” are not built with יש; they use היה / יהיה (haya / yihyeh) and do agree with the thing owned — that comes in lesson 28.