הם או -ם- suffix for them

[Corinnebelle]

So this is a post I made on Duo with no answers, it seems everyone has fled the forum. I will try here to see if I get an answer.

I notice in some words -ה in the -הם suffix gets excised. Other times not. Examples שלהם אבל לא אותם. Is that because of tav in אותם?

[EranBarLev]

I found an interesting article about this: (It's in Hebrew though, so I'm not sure you can understand it.)

https://www.safa-ivrit.org/form/etzlam.php

TLDR: There's a rule for that, but שלהם is an exception to this rule. There's also a common error by many native speakers with the preposition אצל. The correct form is אצלם, but many native speakers say אצלהם.

I'm afraid you'll just have to memorize which prepositions get the ה and which ones don't.

[Corinnebelle]

Thanks for answering! Yes, a lot of things to memorize.

עם also does that and

בשביל

נגד

[EranBarLev]

Actually:

• עם can be either עמם or עמהם, both are correct, but both are formal and uncommon. The most common form is איתם, which is irregular.
• בשביל is similar to אצל - the correct form is בשבילם, but there's a common error by many native speakers בשבילהם.
• נגד goes according to the rule - נגדם.

[Corinnebelle]

Actually:

• עם can be either עמם or עמהם, both are correct, but both are formal and uncommon. The most common form is איתם, which is irregular

very irregular

[Corinnebelle]

Another interesting anomaly is when the suffixed direct object loses the vav for אתכם ואתכן as opposed to for example אותו for him. Just ironing out the finer points.