Hebrew

Preposition

מִ־ • ‎(mi-)

1. From, of, from inside.
   1. Introducing a noun or other nominal.

      יצתי מהחדר.‎ ― yatzáti mehakhéder. ― I left [literally went out from] the room.

      מתי מגיעה הטיסה מתל אביב?‎ ― matái magi'á hatisá mitel-avív? ― When does the flight from Tel Aviv arrive?

   2. Introducing a prepositional phrase or other adverbial.

      הכרתי אותו מלפני הרבה שנים.‎ ― hikárti otó milifnéi harbé shaním. ― I've known him since many years ago [literally from before many years].

2. Than, more than.

   הוא יותר גבוה ממנה.‎ ― hu yotér gavóah miménah. ― He is taller than her [literally more tall than her].

   הוא גבוה ממנה.‎ ― hu gavóah miménah. ― He is taller than her [literally tall than her].

3. (in negative) Without, without the existence or presence of.
4. Because of, due to, for.

   רק מסיבה אחת הסכמתי: ביקשת.‎ ― rak misibá akhát hiskámti: bikásht(a). ― For only one reason did I agree to: you asked.

5. Used to construe various verbs.

   ביקשו ממך גם?‎ ― bikshú mimkhá/mimékh gam? ― Did they ask [literally ask from] you, too?

   כולם מפחדים ממנו.‎ ― kulám m'fakh'dím miménu. ― Everyone is afraid of him/us.

   ניסינו למנוע את זה מלקרות.‎ ― nisínu limnóa et ze milikrót. ― We tried to prevent it from happening.

   שכחנו מההצגה.‎ ― shakhákhnu mehahatzagá. ― We forgot about the play.

Usage notes

• In writing with niqqud, the preposition מִ־ induces a dagesh forte (gemination) in the following consonant, unless that consonant is a guttural one, and thus, does not accept dagesh (i.e. א, ה, ח, ע, or ר), in which case the preposition becomes מֵ־ ‎(me-), except before חוט ‎(khut, “thread”), חוץ ‎(khutz, “outside”), היות ‎(h'yot, “be”), where it remains מִ־. However, neither gemination nor the vowel change is ordinarily reflected in Modern Israeli Hebrew pronunciation.

Inflection

• מִ־ shares its inflected forms with מִן ‎(min).

References

• “מ־” in Abraham Even-Shoshan (אַבְרָהָם אֶבֶן־שֹׁשָן) et al., הַמִּלּוֹן הֶחָדָשׁ ‎(ha-milón he-khadásh, “The New Dictionary”), Kiryat-Sefer Ltd. (קִרְיַת־סֵפֶר בְּע״ם)‎ (1984), ISBN 965-17-0084-X, volume 2 of 3 (ל to צ), ISBN 965-17-0096-3, page 611.