בשביל

Hebrew

Root
שׁ־ב־ל (sh-b-l)
5 terms

Etymology

From בְּ־ (b'-, “in”) +‎ שְׁבִיל (sh'vil, “trail of”); hence, literally, “in the trail of”.

Pronunciation

• (Modern Israeli) IPA^(key): /biʃˈvil/

• Audio:

  (file)

Preposition

בִּשְׁבִיל • (bishvíl)

1. For, for the sake of, for the benefit of, in order for.

Usage notes

• While most senses of בשביל are also senses of ל־ (l'-), the reverse is not true; so, in some cases only ל־ is possible (because בשביל does not have the requisite sense), and in some cases only בשביל is possible (because ל־ would imply something different). For example, גנבו לי את המכונית (“[they] stole my car”) cannot be rephrased with בשביל; and גנבו את המכונית בשבילי (“[they] stole the car for me”) would likely be misunderstood if it were rephrased with ל־.

Inflection

Inflection table

base form	בִּשְׁבִיל (bishvíl)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	singular		plural
	m	f	m	f
1st person	בִּשְׁבִילִי (bishvilí)		בִּשְׁבִילֵנוּ (bishvilénu)
2nd person	בִּשְׁבִילְךָ (bishvilkhá)	בִּשְׁבִילֵךְ (bishvilékh)	בִּשְׁבִילְכֶם (bishvilkhém)	בִּשְׁבִילְכֶן (bishvilkhén)
3rd person	בִּשְׁבִילוֹ (bishviló)	בִּשְׁבִילָהּ (bishviláh)	בִּשְׁבִילָם (bishvilám)	בִּשְׁבִילָן (bishvilán)

Synonyms

• (for): ל־ (l'-, “to, for”)