In short

In lesson 15 you learned that a definite direct object gets the little marker את (et): אני רואה את הכלב (ani roe et ha-kelev), “I see the dog”. But what happens when the object is a pronoun — “I see him”, “she loves me”? Hebrew does not leave the pronoun as a free word after את. Instead the pronoun fuses onto את as a suffix, giving one word: אותו (oto, “him/it”), אותי (oti, “me”), אותה (ota, “her/it”).

This is the very same fusion machinery you already met on של in lesson 10 (שלי/שלך/שלו) and on the prepositions in lesson 17 (לי/לך/לו). Here the base that carries the suffixes is אות־ (ot-), the inflected form of the object marker. Because a pronoun is inherently definite (“him” is always some particular him), this inflected את is obligatory — there is no pronoun-object version without it, exactly the mirror image of the indefinite objects in lesson 15 that take no את at all.

The rule

• A pronoun direct object fuses into את — never את + free pronoun. You cannot say אני אוהב את הוא for “I love him”. The pronoun הוא melts into the marker and you get one word: אני אוהב אותו (ani ohev oto). The same for every person: “me” is אותי (oti), “her” is אותה (ota), “them” is אותם (otam).

• The base is אות־ (ot-), and it takes the suffix set you already know. The endings are the familiar family -i / -cha (m) ~ -ach (f) / -o / -a / -nu / -am / -an — the same set that rides של and ל. So if you can produce שלי/שלך/שלו (sheli/shelcha/shelo) from lesson 10 and לי/לך/לו (li/lecha/lo) from lesson 17, you already own most of this paradigm; just swap the base to אות־.

• One spelling אותך, two readings. Like the other 2nd-person singular suffixed forms in Hebrew, “you” splits masculine/feminine under one unvocalized spelling: אותך is otcha to a man but otach to a woman. The letters are identical; the addressee’s gender picks the vowel — exactly as with לך (lecha/lach) in lesson 17.

• No separate “it”. Hebrew has no neuter pronoun. אותו (oto) covers both “him” and “it” for a masculine noun; אותה (ota) covers both “her” and “it” for a feminine noun. What “it” refers to decides which one you use.

• “You (pl)” has a careful form and an everyday form. The normative object forms are אתכם / אתכן (etchem / etchen, “you” m/f pl), built on the bare base את־. In everyday spoken Hebrew people regularize them to אותכם / אותכן (otchem / otchen), matching the אות־ base of all the other cells. Both are understood; אתכם is the form to write in careful prose, while אותכם is common and unremarkable in speech.

• Pronoun objects are inherently definite → the marker is compulsory. In lesson 15 an indefinite object took no את (אני רואה כלב, ani roe kelev, “I see a dog”). A pronoun can never be indefinite — “him”, “them” always point at something specific — so the inflected את is never optional here. There is no such thing as a bare pronoun object.

• Beware verb government — not every verb takes a direct object. Some verbs govern a preposition instead of את, and then the object rides that preposition, not אות־. The classic trap is לעזור (la’azor, “to help”), which takes ל: “I helped him” is עזרתי לו (azarti lo), never עזרתי אותו. Learn each verb together with the preposition it wants (the full list is lesson 59).

• A literary bound form exists, but you speak the analytic one. Formal and literary Hebrew can attach the object pronoun straight onto the verb: ראיתיו (re’itiv, “I saw him”), אהבתיה (ahavtiha, “I loved her”). Recognize these in books, but in everyday Modern Hebrew you always split them into verb + אותו: ראיתי אותו (ra’iti oto).

Forms & patterns

Full inflection of את — the object pronouns (base אות־, ot-):

The same suffix set across the three “engines” you have learned — one family of endings, three bases:

Full-noun object vs. pronoun object — same slot, different shape:

Examples

Common mistakes

• אני אוהב את הוא -> אני אוהב אותו (ani ohev oto) - a pronoun never stands as a free word after את; it fuses into it, giving אותו.
• ראיתי את היא -> ראיתי אותה (ra’iti ota) - the same rule for “her”: one fused word אותה, not את plus the pronoun היא.
• עזרתי אותו (meaning “I helped him”) -> עזרתי לו (azarti lo) - לעזור governs ל, so its object rides לו, not the direct-object אות־.
• אותך read otcha to a woman -> אותך read otach - one spelling, two readings: otcha to a man, otach to a woman, chosen by the addressee’s gender.
• אני מכיר הוא -> אני מכיר אותו (ani makir oto) - a pronoun object is inherently definite, so it must carry the marker; a bare pronoun cannot be an object.
• ראיתיו in conversation -> ראיתי אותו (ra’iti oto) - the bound literary suffix ראיתיו belongs to formal writing; everyday Hebrew uses the analytic אותו.

Tips

• Build every form the same way: take the base אות־ (ot-) and glue on the person ending you already know — -i, -cha/-ach, -o, -a, -nu, -am, -an. If you can say שלי/שלו and לי/לו, you can say אותי/אותו.
• A pronoun object always needs the marker: there is no “bare pronoun” object the way there is a bare indefinite noun object. If the object is “me/you/him/her/us/them”, reach for the אות־ form automatically.
• אותו is both “him” and “it (m)”; אותה is both “her” and “it (f)”. Hebrew has no separate word for “it” — the noun’s gender decides.
• One spelling, two vowels for “you”: אותך = otcha to a man, otach to a woman — same split you saw in לך and שלך.
• For “you (pl)”, write the careful אתכם / אתכן (etchem / etchen) in formal text; the everyday spoken אותכם / אותכן (otchem / otchen) is regular and perfectly well understood.
• Check the verb’s government before you reach for את: some verbs take a preposition — עזר ל־ (azar le), הפריע ל־ (hifria le) … — so their “object” is לו, not אותו. Learn the verb and its preposition as a pair; the full rection list is lesson 59.
• The bound literary suffix (ראיתיו, אהבתיה) is worth recognizing when you read, but never produce it in speech — split it into ראיתי אותו, אהבתי אותה.
• Don’t mix this up with the possessive suffixes on nouns (ביתי “my house”, lesson 41): those attach to a noun, while אות־ attaches to the object marker and stands after the verb.