בשביל
Hebrew
Etymology
From בְּ־ (b'-, “in”) and שְׁבִיל־ (sh'vil-, “trail of”); hence, literally, “in the trail of”.
Preposition
בִּשְׁבִיל • (bishvíl)
- 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
| Non-personal-pronoun-including form | בשביל (bishvíl) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun- including forms |
Singular | Plural | ||
| Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | |
| First person | בשבילי (bishvilí) | בשבילינו (bishvilénu) | ||
| Second person | בשבילך (bishvilkhá) | בשבילך (bishvilékh) | בשבילכם (bishvilkhém) | בשבילכן (bishvilkhén) |
| Third person | בשבילו (bishviló) | בשבילה (bishviláh) | בשבילם (bishvilám) | בשבילן (bishvilán) |
Synonyms
- (for): ל־ (l'-, “to, for”)