Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar

Level Twoa Noun + noun, e.g. ‘the bride’s parents’Formal Hebrew often uses possessive construct phrases such as: the end of the story the committee’s decision the subject of the program the letters of Rav Kook the bride’s parentsFor possessives – as against set expressions – there is nothing wrong withusing ‘of’; the use of the construct just tends to be more succinct andelegant.Similarly, for phrases equivalent to ‘the closing of the gate, rearingturkeys’ with an action noun, formal Hebrew tends to use a construct,while colloquial style uses , thus: or or the closing of the gaterearing of turkeysb–c Possessive suffixes: . . . , Possessive suffixes are generally favored in – and limited to – formal style:literature, lectures, officialese, journalese and the like. Thus ‘ourculture’, ‘their approval’.130However, even colloquial Hebrew may often use possessive suffixes withcertain words, notably kinship terms such as ‘brother’, ‘mother’,and ‘parents’; indeed, there is a general preference for. . . , ‘my, your . . . husband’ and . . . , ‘my,your . . . wife’ (rather than , and so on).