Declension in Hindi
Hindi has three noun cases (nominative, oblique, and vocative) [1][2] and five pronoun cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, and oblique). The oblique case in pronouns has three subdivisions: Regular, Ergative, and Genitive. There are eight case-marking postpositions in Hindi and out of those eight the ones which end in the vowel -ā (the semblative and the genitive postpositions) also decline according to number, gender, and case.
Nouns
All the case declension paradigms for nouns are shown below. The vocative case is an obsolete case and its rarely used colloquially, its function is taken by the oblique case.
Case | Masculine | Feminine | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ending in -ā | ending in -i/ī | ending in -u/ū | ending in -ø | ending in -i/ī | ending in -ā | ending in -ø | ||||||||
Boy | Man | Knife | Tree | Girl | Mother | Train | ||||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
Nominative | लड़का
laɽkā |
लड़के
laɽke |
आदमी
ādmī |
आदमी
ādmī |
चाकू
chakū |
चाकू
chakū |
पेड़
peɽ |
पेड़
peɽ |
लड़की
laɽkī |
लड़कियाँ
laɽkiyā̃ |
माता
mātā |
माताएँ
mātāẽ |
ट्रेन
ʈren |
ट्रेनें
ʈrenẽ |
Oblique | लड़के
laɽke |
लड़कों
laɽkõ |
आदमियों
ādmiyõ |
चाकुओं
chākuõ |
पेड़ों
peɽõ |
लड़कियों
laɽkiyõ |
माताओं
mātāõ |
ट्रेनों
ʈrenõ | ||||||
Vocative | लड़को
laɽko |
आदमियो
ādmiyo |
चाकुओ
chākuo |
पेड़ो
peɽo |
लड़कियो
laɽkiyo |
माताओ
mātāo |
ट्रेनो
ʈreno |
Pronouns
The declension of all the pronouns of Hindi are mentioned in the table below:
Personal Pronouns
Case | Personal | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person | 2nd person | |||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||||
Intimate | Familiar | Formal | ||||||
Nominative | मैं
mɛ̃ |
हम
ham |
तू
tū |
तुम
tum |
आप
āp | |||
Dative | मुझे
mujhe |
हमें
hamẽ |
तुझे
tujhe |
तुम्हें
tumhẽ |
— | |||
Accusative | ||||||||
Oblique | Regular | मुझ
mujh |
हम
ham |
तुझ
tujh |
तुम
tum |
आप
āp | ||
Ergative | मैं
mãĩ |
तू
tū | ||||||
Emphatic | मुझी
mujhī |
हमीं
hamī̃ |
तुझी
tujhī |
तुम्हीं
tumhī̃ |
— | |||
Genitive | ♂ | मेरे
mere |
हमारे
hamāre |
तेरे
tere |
तुम्हारे
tumhāre |
— | ||
♀ | मेरी
merī |
हमारी
hamārī |
तेरी
terī |
तुम्हारी
tumhārī |
Demonstrative, Relative, Interrogative Pronouns
Case | Demonstrative | Relative | Interrogative | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3rd person | |||||||||||||||
Proximal | Non-proximal | Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | ||||||||
Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | ||||||||||
Nominative | यह
yah |
ये
ye |
वह
vah |
वे
ve |
जो
jo |
कौन, क्या
kaun, kyā | |||||||||
ये
ye |
वो
vo | ||||||||||||||
Dative | इसे
ise |
इन्हें
inhẽ |
उसे
use |
उन्हें
unhẽ |
जिसे
jise |
जिन्हें
jinhẽ |
किसे
kise |
किन्हें
kinhẽ | |||||||
Accusative | |||||||||||||||
Oblique | Regular | इस
is |
इन
in |
उस
us |
उन
un |
जिस
jis |
जिन
jin |
किस
kis |
किन
kin | ||||||
Ergative | इन्हों
inhõ |
उन्हों
unhõ |
जिन्हों
jinhõ |
किन्हों
kinhõ | |||||||||||
Emphatic | इसी
isī |
इन्हीं
inhī̃ |
उसी
usī |
उन्हीं
unhī̃ |
— | — | किसी
kisī |
किन्हीं
kinhī̃ |
Possessive Pronouns
Pronoun | Masculine | Feminine | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Oblique | Nominative | Oblique | ||||||||||
Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | ||
1st Person | Singular | मेरा (merā) | मेरे (mere) | मेरी (merī) | |||||||||
Plural | हमारा (hamārā) | हमारे (hamāre) | हमारी (hamārī) | ||||||||||
2nd Person | Intimate | तेरा (terā) | तेरे (tere) | तेरी (terī) | |||||||||
Familiar | तुम्हारा (tumhārī) | तुम्हारे (tumhāre) | तुम्हारी (tumhārī) |
Note: The formal 2nd person pronoun आप (āp) does not have possessive pronoun forms, instead the genitive postposition का (kā) is used with the oblique case to form the possessive pronoun.
Postpositions
The case-marking postpositions of Hindi are mentioned in the table below on the left, and the declensions of the genitive and semblative postpositions are on the right:
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Verbs
In the table below, ø represents the verbal root and suffixes are added to the verb roots to construct different participles and other verbal forms.
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References
- "Hindi Noun Cases". hindilanguage.info. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
- "(PDF) Ergative Case-marking in Hindi". researchgate.net. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- Tokaj, Jolanta (2016-06-01). "A comparative study of participles, converbs and absolute constructions in Hindi and Medieval Rajasthani". Lingua Posnaniensis. 58. doi:10.1515/linpo-2016-0007.
- Subbarao, K.; Arora, Harbir (2009-01-01). "The Conjunctive Participle in Dakkhini Hindi-Urdu: Making the Best of Both Worlds*". 70: 359–386. Cite journal requires
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(help) - Montaut, Annie (2018-09-10), "On the nature of the Hindi infinitive: History as an answer to its syntactic behavior?", Trends in Hindi Linguistics, pp. 115–146, ISBN 978-3-11-061079-6, retrieved 2020-07-03
- Campbell, George L. (1995). Compendium of the World's Languages. Great Britain: Routledge. pp. 225–229. ISBN 0-415-11392-X.
- Shapiro, Michael C. (2003). A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd. p. 116. ISBN 81-208-0508-9.