# He crossed over with the animals.



## Ali Smith

שלום

How do you say _He crossed over with the animals._? Is it הוא עבר בבהמות or הוא עבר עם הבהמות? If they're both correct is there a slight difference in meaning between them?

אני מודה לכם מאוד


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## slus

הוא עבר עם הבהמות

הוא עבר בבהמות means he crossed over / passed inside the animals.


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## Ali Smith

Thanks! Can it mean anything else? I’m asking because my Hebrew textbook contains it (see attachment).


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## Albert Schlef

‎"ב" can indeed mean "with [object]", but this is seldom used in Modern Hebrew.

(Interestingly, Arabic uses it: "he brought X" = جاء ب)


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## Aleppan

Ali, it seems your textbook's author was translating literally from English. The preposition ב does mean "with", but not in the sense of "in the company of" but in the sense of "by means of".

So, הוא עבר בבהמות means "He crossed over by means of the animals." and makes no sense.


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## Ali Smith

You may be right. The author makes a similar mistake in another chapter:

היום העם ממואב עבר במלכים מההרים בדרך אל ירושלם
Today the nation from Moab crossed over with kings from the mountains on the road to Jerusalem.

It should have been עם מלכים, for במלכים makes no sense here.


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## amirsherman

Although ב and עם have the same English translation, they do NOT mean the same thing!!!

ב means the same thing as the Arabic ب but עם means the same thing as the Arabic مع. And of course ب and مع do not mean the same thing in Arabic, even though they both have the same English translation: with.


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## Abaye

Would anyone be kind enough to demonstrate some biblical passages when ב means "with"? I cannot easily find it.


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## Drink

במקלי עברתי את הירדן


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## Ali Smith

קָטֹ֜נְתִּי מִכֹּ֤ל הַחֲסָדִים֙ וּמִכׇּל־הָ֣אֱמֶ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִׂ֖יתָ אֶת־עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֣י בְמַקְלִ֗י עָבַ֙רְתִּי֙ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֣ן הַזֶּ֔ה וְעַתָּ֥ה הָיִ֖יתִי לִשְׁנֵ֥י מַחֲנֽוֹת׃
(בראשית לב יא)

I was smaller than all the kindnesses and all the truth that you did with your slave, since by means of my stick did I cross this Jordan River, and now I have become two camps.

How did Moses cross the river with his stick?


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## Drink

Moses? This is said by Jacob.

The Jordan River is not very deep. It is very muddy though.


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## Abaye

Drink said:


> במקלי עברתי את הירדן


Interestingly, in modern Hebrew there's a tendency to replace such (or similar) ב by עם, even when considered grammatically incorrect. For example, we may say אני כותב עם עט instead of אני כותב בעט. Grammarians claim that אני כותב עם עט means "I and a pen write" rather than "I write with a pen".


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