The preposition lamed in Hebrew can take various meanings. It is quite similar in meaning to the dative case in Greek. video
- It can mean direction and is often translated “to” or “towards”.
- It can mean advantage or disadvantage and is translated “for” or “against”.
- Sometimes it is the equivalent of the object marker word.
- It can also refer to the IO of a sentence.
- It can mean possession and is translated “belongs to…” §h
- It is also very commonly used to mark an infinitive construct.
It can also take all the pronominal suffixes as in the table below:
| Singular Forms | Plural Forms |
|---|---|
| לִי (li) – to/for me (1cs) | לָנוּ (lānū) – to/for us (1cp) |
| לְךָ (lekhā) – to/for you (2ms) | לָכֶם (lākhem) – to/for you (2mp) |
| לָךְ (lākh) – to/for you (2fs) | לָכֶן (lākhen) – to/for you (2fp) |
| לוֹ (lō) – to/for him (3ms) | לָהֶם (lāhem) – to/for them (3mp) |
| לָהּ (lāh) – to/for her (3fs) | לָהֶן (lāhen) – to/for them (3fp) |