Hindi Lessons/Combinatet

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Welcome to the Hindi lessons Wikibook.

This book is an introduction to Hindi and the script used to write it. It was written as an entry at hindi.unilang.org, and the author was kind enough to grant permission to copy and freely modify the text under the GFDL. Presently it is in a very colloquial style and needs editing to conform to Wikibooks conventions and take a bit more scholastic tone (per Vasil's comments), but it is a good start.

First and foremost, let me say some words about how well I know Hindi and about the way I'll teach it... I've learned the little Hindi I know from a guy, who call himself Siddharth. Thanks to him, I'm writing these lessons - with his permission of course ;-) So, here's the best time to give my gratitude to my guru: धन्यवाद गुरु जी (Dhanyavaad guru-ji)!

Now, back to Hindi. I'll write the lessons in Devanagari (that is the script the Indians use to write Hindi). Don't worry if you don't know how to read Devanagari. I've written with every word in Hindi a transliteration in English letters. Apart from that I've written one short lesson about how to read the hindi script: Lesson 0. (since I'm a programmer, I always start to count from 0, lol:)

First Lesson is about the Language Hindi in general, i.e. about what's Hindi, where is it spoken etc. (of course for those who don't know :-) The number of lessons isn't great for now, as I'm learning more I'll teach more! Besides I think that Hindi grammar isn't that difficult to learn, and actually there isn't much to learn! So, after learning some basic grammatical structures and patterns you'll be able to say much in Hindi! Wish you luck! Enjoy!


Lessons:

Not a book title page. Please remove {{alphabetical}} from this page.

Contents

[edit] Lesson 1

Lesson 1: About Hindi. Linguistic Information.

The Republic of India has 18 official or national languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English. Not all languages are from the same group, thus an Indian speaker of Hindi would understand a Tamil speaker so well as for example an Englishman would understand a Chinese! Hindi as one of the official languages of India (Bharaat) has more than 180 000 000 speakers! It's an Indoeuropean language, descendant of Sanskrit. It uses the devanagari script to write. Another name for the language Hindi, is "khadi boli" (khari boli) - that's actually the name of a dialect, spoken originally in Delhi, from which Hindi developed. Surprisingly, Hindi isn't spoken only in India and parts of the surrounding countries, but also in... Africa! Yes, it's true and all Hindi speakers in Africa are more than 2 000 000! About the half of them live in South Africa (~800 000) and Uganda (~150 000).

Urdu, the national language of Pakistan is the same language as Hindi (FYI, back in history, India was a much bigger country, including the territories of today's Pakistan and Bangladesh. In that times the language spoken in the country was called Hindustani...). In some cases it's spoken about Hindi-Urdu language. However as languages, spoken in different countries, they are in many aspects different - mostly in vocabulary. Since Urdu is spoken in an islamic country it had borrowed many words from Arabic and Persian and thus it has an arabic hue, whereas Hindi would use rather Sanskrit words... Another difference is the writing system. As said, Hindi uses the devanagari script, but Urdu uses a modified version of the Arabic script (or rather the script used by Persians).

Most of the other official language of India possess their own script. However some of them use the devanagari script too. Marthi write in devanagari for example. Gujarati has its own script. Some Panjabi speakers use the devanagari script as well, but other (the Sikhs) use a special script, called "Gurumukhi". It's very similar to Hindi though... It's regarded as the script of the gurus (teachers), so it says its name - guru = teacher, mukh = mouth. On the other hand, "devanagari" means "the heavenly script" or the script used in the city of gods (deva = god, nagari = city, town)...

To get a simple idea of how Hindi looks like written, see the text below:

हिन्दुस्तान में बहुत सारी भाषाएँ बोली जाती हैं और इस से पता चलता है कि भारत दुनिया का सब से बड़ा प्रजातान्त्रिक देश है।।

So, that was the very first lesson. It's short, yes, but I think it's important, since for me it's important to know some "linguistic" background of the language I learn. I think you share my opinion on that.

Anyways, now you're ready to get to Lesson 2, where you can find and learn your first words in the fascinating language Hindi!

[edit] Lesson 2

Lesson 2: Some Basic Words & Phrases

In this lesson we will learn some very basic Hindi phrases. We'll start with the two little words "yes" and "no". I think they would be useful :-) So here we are:

  • हाँ = YES ( haa~ - note the nasal "n")
  • नहीं = NO ( nahi~ - note the nasal "n")

There is a more polite way of saying "yes" or "no". If you want to sound more polite you have to use the particle "जी" (JI). Remember it well! It's very important particle. It's similar to Japanese "さん" (san) or Korean "씨" (sshi), because it could be glued at the end of a name or title to make it more polite. If you want for example to say "Hello Mr. X" you can say "Hello Mr. X-ji" what would sound polite and a Hindi native would appreciate it... So, let's get back to our "yes-no" thingie and see how to use "ji" there:

  • जी हाँ = YES (or "Yes, sir"... Ji Haa~)
  • जी नहीं = NO (or "No, sir"... Ji Nahi~)

Note that you can place "JI" after "haa~" or "nahi~" too:

  • हाँ जी = YES (or "Yes, sir"... Haa~ Ji)
  • नहीं जी = NO (or "No, sir"... Nahi~ Ji)

Here is a good place to say that you can use जी (ji) on its own. When alone it could mean also "YES", so if you reply to a question just with "ji" you speak proper Hindi. You can also use that in another way! Isn't Hindi cool, huh?:-) It could mean "what?; pardon me; yes?" etc...:

  • जी = YES (kinda the English "yeah" or "yep")
  • जी = Yes? Pardon me? What? What do you mean? etc.

Well after you've learned that, it's time to learn how to say "Hello" and "Goodbye". Here they are:

  • नमस्ते = Hello! OR Goodbye! ( Namaste )

As you see "namaste" is universal, just like Italian "Ciao" for example, which also can be used for both - hello and goodbye. There is another form of "namaste". It's namaskar, bearing the same meaning; you can use it instead of "namaste". They're fully interchangable. Of course if you want to be more polite, you can add the famous "ji" particle :-)

In India you can almost devide the population in two parts according to their religion. The first part are hindus and the second one - muslims. Because of their religious believes, they sometimes use different words when speaking. For example a muslim could use the arabic "assalamu alaikum" (peace be upon you, salam /selam/ means peace, it's the same as hebrew "shalom") instead of the hindu "namaste", because muslims use many arabic words. If somebody greet you with "assalamu alaikum" you have to answer with "walaikum assalam" (peaca be upon you too). In Urdu (and thus in Hindi) they say "khuda hafiz" for "goodbye". If you meet a muslim you can use that for goodbye...

Next we'll learn two words, designating "thanks" or "thank you":

  • धन्यवाद = Thank you. ( Dhanyavaad, it's the "native" Hindi word )
  • शुक्रिया = Thank you. ( Shukriyaa, it's a word from arabic origin, coming from the arabic word "shukran")

We'll end this lesson with a phrase, meaning "Where are you from". You don't have to know what the words in there really mean, remember it just as a phrase:

  • आप कहां से हैं? = Where are you from? ( Aap kahaa~ se hain? )
    • Note that ~ is used to show nasal sound, i.e. nasalied a. I'll use always that, when showing nasalied sound.

The transliterated "ai" is pronounced not as "a" + "i", but as "ae" or "e". It's similar to the sound of "a" in "apple". I don't write it as "e" to distinguish it from the other 'e'.

That's all for this lesson. Before you continue be sure to remembered all well!

[edit] Lesson 3

Lesson 3: Pronouns.

First, a basic table of the Hindi personal pronouns, then I'll give some explanation.

Personal pronouns
SINGULAR PLURAL
(हिंदी) Hindi English (हिंदी) Hindi English
मैं (main, mai~) I हम(ham) We
तु (tu) You (intimate) आप (aap) You
तुम (tum) You वे (ve) They/These
वह / यह (voh/vah) (yeh) He/She/It/That ये (ye) They/Those

तु (tu) is used only for very close person, e.g. your girlfriend/boyfriend. Then तुम (tum) is probably the most used word for "you" (sg) in Hindi. You can say that to everybody unless you want to be polite, if so you can use the word "aap" (आप). NB. When using "aap" (आप) or "tum" (तुम) you have to conjugate the verb for plural, since they're actually the plural form of "you". Well, you don't know how to conjugate at this point, but do remember that rule! When meeting for the first time and when politeness is needed better use 'aap' for 'you'!

Now let's have a look at some demonstrative pronouns:

  • यह = This ( yeh / yah )
  • वह = That ( woh / wah )
  • ये = These ( ye )
  • वे = Those ( ve )

Now for the possesive pronouns:

possesive pronouns
SINGULAR PLURAL
(हिंदी) Hindi English (हिंदी) Hindi English
मेरा (mera) My हमारा (hamara) Our
तेरा (tera - /tu/) Your आपका (aapka) Your
तुम्हारा (tumhara - /tum/) Your उनका (unka) Their
उसका (uska) His

I think one can build many sentences with so many pronouns. So, let's say something in hindi at last! ;-)

  • है = is ( hai /hae/ )
  • सेरा नाम Peter है = My name is Peter. ( Mera naam Peter hai. नाम (naam) means "name" ).

NB: The verb in Hindi is placed always at the end of the sentence. That's a feature which many asian languages share as well. So, Hindi is SOV language (i.e Subject-Object-Verb). In our case we don't say "My name is Peter", but "My name Peter is", that's the proper wordorder in Hindi. More examples:

  • उसका नाम Peter है. = His name is Peter. (Uska naam Peter hai.)
  • यह पानी है. = This is water. ( Yah pani hai. )
  • यह घर है. = This is a house. (Yeh ghar hai. )

That's enough material for the lesson I think. Next lesson will be about genders and verbs.

[edit] Lesson 4

Lesson 4: Genders in Hindi. Hindi Verbs - Part 1.

Unlike many European language, that have 3 genders or unlike other (e.g. English), which don't have any genders, Hindi has just two - masculine and feminine. There isn't really any reliable rule of what types of words are masculine and what feminine. However you can easily get the gender of a word by looking at it's ending. Most hindi words end in a vowel! If a word ends in a it is masculine. If a word ends in i (actually long i - ee) it is feminine. There are of course words ending in consonants or other vowels. They're not much, and their gender cannot unfortunately be predicted from their endings. So, you have to learn their gender. When we learn the adjectives, how to conjugate verbs etc, you'll see that those -a and -i ending are very important! So, please remember that well:

   -a (ा)   -  general mark of masculine words (singular!) - nouns, adjectives, verbs
   -i (ी)   -  general mark of feminine words (even both - singular and plural) - nouns, adjectives, verbs

There come even better news. Many Hindi masculine words (ending in -a of course:) can be easily turned into feminine ones by simply replacing the -a ending with -i! Let's show you some example to clear all what I said up:

  लडका (ladka) = boy,        लडकी (ladki) = girl    (Many hindi speakers would pronounce the 'd' in lardka/ladki as "R", so don't wonder if you see somebody write in irc-chats "larka" or "larki"...)
  बिल्ला (billa) = tomcat,        बिल्ली (billi) = cat, pussycat

Masculine Words, ending in -a:

कमरा (kamra) = room केला (kela) = banana तारा (tara) = star हवा (hava) = wind

Feminine Words ending in -i (-ee):

पानी (pani) = water चीनी (chini) = sugar पक्षी (pakshi) = bird

Words ending in consonant:

डोस्त (dost) = friend (Masculine) किताब (kitab) = book (Feminine) औरत (aurat) = woman (Feminine :-)

Words ending in a vowel different from -a or -i:

गुरु (guru) = teacher

To the general rule of the -a and -i ending there exist some exceptions, that is, there exist some masculine words, which end in -i. Such word is for example the word for "man" (and what more masculine than that, lol) - admi:

आदमि (aadmi) = man

. Verbs in Hindi. General Information.

Every hindi verb ends in -na! Remember this! That's the main form of the verb, i.e. the infinitive.

-ना (-na) is the verb ending in the infinitive form of all verbs in Hindi

Some verbs:

खाना (khana) = to eat पीना (pina) = to drink जाना (jana) = to go आना (aana) = to come करना (karna) = to do (remember that verb, it's used in many other "compound" verb forms...) देना (dena) = to give लेना (lena) = to take लिखना (likhna) = to write पढना (padhna) = to read समझना (samajhna) = to understand समझाना (samjhaana) = to explain (i.e. to make someone understand) सीखना (sikhna) = to learn

To get the root of the verb you have to remove the -na ending. Once you've done that, you can conjugate the verbs. You remember the rule about words ending in -a/-i, right? So here is the moment to talk about plural. In plurar the masculine -a ending becomes -e and the feminine -i ending remains -i (or becomes -i~). So here it is once more, specially for you:

   -a (ा)   -  general mark of masculine words (singular!) - MASC. SG.
   -e (े)   -  general mark of masculine words (plural!) - MASC. PL.
   -i (ी)   -  general mark of feminine words (even both - singular and plural) - FEM. SG. and FEM. PL. (sometimes for pl - -in /-i~/ though!)

Now back to verbs:

Add "ता" (ta) to verb-root for masculine singular and "ते" (te) for masculine plurar. Add "ती" (ti) for feminine singular and plurar.

Examples:

खाता (khata) = eat पीता (pita) = drink etc... etc... *Note that those are conjugated verbs, but not ready to use, i.e. you cannot say "Mai~ khata", you need to use the copula "to be", so please be a bit patient, and wait until i've explained the most important verb in Hindi, the verb "to be":

. The verb "TO BE" (Hona - होना)

मैं हुं (mai~ hu~) = I am

तु है (tu hai) = You (intimate) are

तुम हो (tum ho) = You are

वह है (voh hai) = He/She/It/That is


हम हैं (ham hai~) = We are

आप हैं (aap hai~) = You are

वे हैं (ve hai~) = They are


Let's give you a pattern:

Verb root + TA / TE / TI + Conjugated corresponding form of "Hona" (to be) = Present Imperfect Tense

Some examples:

NB: Hindi does not use articles

मैं खाता हुं. (mai~ khata hu~) = I eat.

लडका खाता है. (larka khata hai) = The (A) boy eats.

लडकी खाती है. (ladki khati hai) = The (A) girl eats.

आप पीते हैं. (aap pite hai~) = You (polite sg) eat OR You (plural) eat.

मैं पानी पीता हुं. (mai~ pani pita hu~) = I drink water.

तुम पानी पीते हो. (tum pani pite ho) = You drink water. NB: "tum" is the most used word for "you" and is actually plural! So whenever you use it, conjugate as plural!

Here another, somewhat "funny" example:

मैं सिगरेट पीता हुं. (mai~ sigaret pita hu~). I smoke a cigarette... The literal meaning of the sentence is "I drink a cigarette.", but every language has its oddities and peculiarities

I think I better stop now. It's enough material for one lesson. More about other verb tenses you'll learn in the next lesson(s). Please do revise the whole lesson again and make sure you know the grammar well before continue to next lesson.

[edit] Lesson 5

Lesson 5: Hindi Verbs - Part 2.

We continue with some other tenses in Hindi:

     Present Continuous Tense:

Verb Stem + रहा / रहे / रही (raha/rahe/rahi) + Present Tense of "Hona" (to be)

For those who don't like grammatical terms and don't know for sure what's "continuous tense", I'll tell that it's the same as the English verbs, ending in "-ing". So if you want to say that you "read" a book in the moment of speaking, you have to say "I am reading a book", not simply "I read a book", because the last could mean that you read a book in general, i.e. you're not reading it in the moment of speaking. So let's clear all that out with some examples.

   मैं किताब पढ रहा हुं. (mai~ kitab padh raha hu~) = I'm reading a book.
   मैं पानी पी रहा हुं. (mai~ pani pi raha hu~) = I'm drinking water.
   मैं रोटी खा रही हुं. (mai~ roti kha rahi hu~) = I'm eating bread. (a girl speaking!)

The verbs stem and raha/rahe/rahi are pronounced almost as one (at once), although they're written separately. Sometimes in colloquial speech all is even shortened more. The "raha hu~" for example is pronounced "rahu~", "raha hai" as "rahai", "raha hai~" -> "rahai~"...

     Past Tense:

Building past is easy. Just take the root of a verb and add -a, -e, or -i, respectively for Masculine Singular, Masculine Plurar and Feminine both - Singular and Plurar:

Verb Stem + ा/े/ी (-A/-E/-I) = Past Tense

NB! For verbs, whose stem end in a vowel you have to add या/ये/यी (ya/ye/yi) E.g. खाना -> खा -> खाया(Khana -> Kha (stem) -> Khaya)

Some examples:

   मैं खाया. (mai~ khaya) = I ate.
   मैं पढा. (mai~ padha) = I read.
   लडका खाया. (larka khaya) = The boy ate.
   लडकी खायी. (larki khayi) = The girl ate.
   आप पीया. (aap piya) = You ate. (Sg. polite or Plural)
   मैं पानी पीया. (mai~ pani piya) = I drank water.
   तुम पानी पीये. (tum pani piye) = You drank water.

   Some Verbs are irregular. I'll show you some of them (A little below you'll see the past of 'to be', which is needed to build the imperfect past tense, necessary to be able to say such phrases as "I've used to go ..."):

   Past of जान (Janaa = to go)

   गाया / गाये / गायी / गायीं (gaya / gaye / gayi / gayi~)
   (1: Masc. Sg, 2: Masc. Pl. 3: Fem. Sg, 4: Fem. Pl.)

To build the past imperfect tense, we have first to learn the past tense of the "main" hindi verb: "to be" (Hona). Past of "hona" is even simplier than the present form:

Past of होना (Honaa = To be)

टा (tha) = was (for Masculine SINGULAR) टे (the) = were (for Masculine PLURAL)

टी (thi) = was (for Feminine SINGULAR) टीं (thi~) = was (for Feminine PLURAL)

Examples:

मैं वहां टा. (mai~ vaha~ tha.) = I was there. आप यहां टे. (aap yaha~ the) = You (polite) was here. OR You were here. (वहां /vaha~/ = there, यहां /yaha~/ = here, जहां /jaha~/ = where) Now as you know here/there/where (btw, there exist also another word for where = kaha~) I'll give you a hindi proverb:

जहां धुआं है, वहां आग भी है. (jahan dhua~ hai, vaha~ aag bhi hai) = Where there is a smoke, there is a fire too.

     Past Imperfect Tense:

... Verb Stem + ता / ते / ती (TA/TE/TI) + Past Tense of "Hona" (to be) = Past Imperfect Tense Stem + ता/ते/ती + टा/टे/टी/टीं = Past Imperfect Tense

The past imperfect tense is used to tell about habitual actions in the past. In English it's best translated with the pattern "used to + verb":

मैं खाता टा. (mai~ khata tha) = I used to eat. लडका खाता टा. (larka khata tha) = The boy used to eat. लडकी खाती टी. (larki khati thi) = The girl used to eat. आप पीते टे. (aap pite the) = You used to eat. (Sg. polite or Plural) मैं पानी पीता टा. (mai~ pani pita tha) = I used to drink water. तुम पानी पीते टे. (tum pani pite the) = You used to drink water.

Next comes of course the past continous tense:

     Past Continuous Tense:

Well, no need to help you much here. It's the same as the present continous except that it's used the past tense of Hona:

Verb Stem + रहा / रहे / रही (raha/rahe/rahi) + Past Tense of "Hona" (to be) = Past Continuous Tense

   मैं किताब पढ रहा टा. (mai~ kitab padh raha tha) = I'm was reading a book.
   मैं पानी पी रहा टा. (mai~ pani pi raha tha) = I'm was drinking water.
   मैं रोटी खा रही टी. (mai~ roti kha rahi thi) = I'm was eating bread. (a girl speaking!)

I think you got it, now for the FUTURE:


     Future Tense:

The Future tense it a bit more complicated than the past for it has more verb-endings for person than those by the past tense.

     Future Imperfect Tense:

Let us conjugate a verb in the future tense, then I'll give the endings:

Future Imperfect of "Pina" (पीना = to drink)

मैं पीउंगा (mai~ piunga) = I will drink तु पीएगा (tu piega) = You will drink तुम पीओगे (tum pioge) = You will drink वह पीएगा (voh piega) = He/She/It will drink.

हम पीएंगे (ham pienge) = We will drink आप पीएंगे (aap pienge) = You will drink. वे पीएंगे (ve pienge) = They will drink.

For "I" use -unga, for "Tu" use "ega", for "Tum" use "oge", for "voh" use "ega" and for "ham/aap/ve" the plural form "enge".

     Future Continuous Tense:

To build that tense use these endings: रहुंगा रहेगा रहेंगे रहोगे (rahunga/rahega/rahenge/rahoge) similarly as the forms for Future Imperfect together with the "conjugated" verb.

Verb Stem + TA / TE / TI + rahunga/rahega/rahenge/rahoge = Future Continuous Tense

Let's make the future continuous of the verb "pina" to make things clear:

Future Continuous of "Pina" (पीना = to drink)

मैं पीता रहुंगा. (mai~ pita rahunga) = I will be drinking. तु पीता रहेगा. (tu pita rahega) = You will be drinking. तुम पीते रहोगे. (tum pite rahoge) = You will be drinking. वह पीता रहेगा. (voh pita rahega) = He/She/It will be drinking.

हम पीते रहेंगे. (ham pite rahenge) = We will be drinking. आप पीते रहेंगे. (aap pite rahenge) = You will be drinking. वे पीते रहेंगे. (ve pite rahenge) = They will be drinking.

So, now you have everything you have to know about verbs except if I've missed something. That was a long and a hard lesson so have a rest before you go to the next lesson :)

[edit] Lesson 6

Lesson 6: Adjectives. Colors

After the long and fatiguing lesson about hindi tenses, let me explain you how adjectives act in hindi in a short and neat lesson :-)

What you've learned so far will help you much to understand the adjectives in Hindi. Actually they act just like nouns or verbs, having the ending -a for masculine and -i for feminine (generally speaking). The other thing you have to know about them is that they're declined according to the noun they modify. Nothing new as I said! Here are some adjectives, which I'll use a little below in a few examples.

Some Adjectives:

बडा (bada - some pronounce that 'bara') = Big छोटा (chhota) = Small लम्बा (lamba) = Long महंगा (mahnga) = Expensive सस्ता(sasta) = Cheap साफ (saf) = Clean गान्दा(gandha) = Dirty ठण्डा(thanda) = Cold गर्म (garam) = Hot

  • Note that all adjectives given above are in masculine. To make them feminine simply change the -a to an -i and of course those not ending in a vowel do ont decline at all...

Now we'll use those to build some senteses you already are familiar with:

यह बडा घर है. (Yeh bara ghar hai. ) = This is a big house. यह घर बडा है. (Yeh ghar bara hai.) = This house is big. लडकी अच्छी रोटी खाती है. (larki acchi roti khati hai) = The girl eats a tasty bread. मैं ठण्डी पानी पी रहा हुं. (mai~ thandi pani pi raha hu~) = I'm drinking cold water.

Note how meaning can change depending on the position of the adjective in the first two sentenses. Actually nothing so different in meaning, but rather the way of saying that "the house is big" is changed... Now you get the idea, I hope. Therefore let me show you some colors:

रंग (rang) = Color सफेद (safed) = White काला (kala) = Black नील (nila) = Blue हरा (hara) = Green पीला (pila) = Yellow लाल (lal) = Red

I've mentioned it above, but I'll say it once again. You have to "decline" the adjective according to the word it modifies. If it's masculine, use the adjective with the ending -a else i.e. if the word being modified is feminine change the ending to -i. If a word ends in a consonant however you don't have to decline it at all!

You have it all now. You can build crazy sentences as for example "This is a blue house" (Yeh nila ghar hai) or "The girl eats red bread" (Ladki lal roti khati hai) etc. :-) Just be imaginative. I won't give more examples in this lesson. I've promised it'll be short, so it is. Next lesson is about the cases. It isnt' really hard, but it's very important. There you'll learn some postpositions as well.

[edit] Lesson 7

Lesson 7: Cases in Hindi. The Direct and Oblique cases. Plural of Nouns.

Like the many prepostitions in English (e.g. in, at, on, under, below, of etc.) in Hindi there exist the so called postpositions, playing the same role as the English prepostitions, having the same meaning, but with the only difference that they stay after the noun not before it. For example in English we say "In London", but in Hindi that would be "London in" (London men).

In Hindi there are two cases: The Direct case and The Oblique case. When a word is used with a postposition it is in the Oblique case, in all other cases it is in the Direct case. The Direct case is kinda the same case as Nominative in many European languages. Here are some postpositions:

में (me~) = In से (se) = From का (ka) = Of को (ko) = Not really translatable, used to build Dative and Accusative. I'll explain a little below.

In the previous lessons, I gave many nouns. Their forms are the main forms, i.e. they're in the Direct case. I explained also that masculine nouns ending in -a become in the plural the ending -i. That's the general rule. However there are words, which do not end in -a and I havn't explained the plural of feminine, so here it goes:

     Singular and Plural of Nouns in the Direct Case:

Masculine: Ending in -a

Singular: लडका (ladka) = boy Plural: लडके (ladke) = boys

Masculine: Ending in other vowel (very few):

Singular: गुरु (guru) = teacher Plural: गुरु (guru) = teacher

Masculine: Ending in a consonant

Singular: दोस्त (dost) = friend Plural: दोस्त (dost) = friends

Feminine: Ending in -i

Singluar: लडकी (ladki) = girl Plural: लडकीया (ladkiya) = girls

Feminine: Ending in a consonant

Singular: किताब (kitab) = book Plural: किताबें (kitabe~) = books

Feminine: Ending in -a or -u

Singular: आध्यापीका (adhyapika) = female teacher Plural: आध्यापीकाएं (adhyapikae~) = female teachers

All the senteces I gave in past lessons you can easily turn into plural now or in some cases the sentences are even in plural since some words don't change in plural. Let me show you some examples:

लडकीया अच्छी राटी खातीं हैं. (larkiya acchi rati khati~ hai~). = The girls eat tasty bread. लडके अच्छी रोटी खाते हैं. (larke acchi roti khate hai~) = The boys eat tasty bread. ये बडे घर हैं. (Ye bare ghar hai~) = These are big houses. वे सुन्दर लडकीया हैं. (Ve sundar larkiya hai~) = Those (they) are pretty girls. वे लडकीया सुन्दर हैं. (Ve larkiya sundar hai~) = Those girls are pretty.

Now for the oblique case. Nouns change in singular and plural in the oblique case as well, here is the explanation (to make it easier for you i'll use the same words as in the examples of direct case above):

     Singular and Plural of Nouns in the Oblique Case:

Masculine: Ending in -a

Singular: लडके (ladke) Plural: लडकों (ladko~)

Masculine: Ending in other vowel (very few):

Singular: गुरु (guru) Plural: गुरुओं(guruo~) (for "admi" /man/ it'll be "admiyo~" - आदमियों)

Masculine: Ending in a consonant

Singular: दोस्त (dost) Plural: दोस्तों (dosto~)

Feminine: Ending in -i

Singluar: लडकी (ladki) Plural: लडकीयों (ladkiyo~)

Feminine: Ending in a consonant

Singular: किताब (kitab) Plural: किताबों (kitabo~)

Feminine: Ending in -a or -u

Singular: आध्यापीका (adhyapika) Plural: आध्यापीकाओं (adhyapikao~)

At last you know the cases in Hindi. Now (believe me) you know almost all grammar in Hindi! Congats! Now we can extend our well-know sentences and make them look really long. Let's try:

सफेद घर में लडकीया अच्छी रोटी खातीं हैं. (safed ghar men larkiya acchi roti khati~ hai~). = The girls eat tasty bread in the white house. मैं कमरे नें ठण्डी पानी पी रहा हुं और लडकी अच्छी राटी खा रही है. (mai~ kamre me~ thandi pani pi raha hu~ aur ladki acchi rati kha rahi hai). = I'm drinking cold water in the room and the girl is eating tasty bread. etc... The point is, whenever you wanna say "in", "at", "on", "of" etc of something, you have to use the oblique case, since you use the word with a postposition. Note for example how it is: "kamre me~", not "kamra me~", because we use the postposition "in" (me~).

Now I want to explain you the use of the postposition particle "ka", meaning "of".

     Use of the postposition "का" (ka) = OF

1. Since it's a postposition you always have to use the word preceding it in the Oblique case. 2. Second thing you have to know about it is, that it could (and should :) change to ke/ki according to the word following it (the subject).

In English we say "the house of the girl". In hindi that should be said as "the girl of the house". In this case "the girl" should be in oblique case and house of course (since obviously is the subject) is in the direct case. Our example will be in Hindi "Ladki ka ghar" (लडकी का घर). But if we use a feminine word for a subject "ka" changes to "ki" as in "Ladki ki sari" (लडकी की सरी), meaning "the sari of the girl" (sari is a traditional indian female clothing). Then if we wanna say "the houses of the girl" we have to say "ladki ke ghar" (लडकी के घर). I think you got the idea. Now we can build even bigger sentences...

The last thing I should tell you about in this lesson is the use of the particle (postposition) "ko". It's could be translated as "to", but in some cases it shouldn't be translated at all. That's so because actually it's the accusative or dative marker. If somebody is the receiver of an action (or the verb) you have to use that particle.

     Use of the postposition "को" (ko)

I'll give firstly some examples and then explain you:

लडका लडकीयों को पानी देता है. (ladka ladkiyo~ ko pani deta hai) = The boy gives water to the girls. लडका लडकीयों को किताबें देता है. (ladka ladkiyo~ ko kitabe~ deta hai) = The boy gives the books to the girls. मैं लडके को जानता हुं. (mai~ ladke ko janta hu~) = I know the boy. मैं लडकी को जानता हुं. (mai~ ladki ko janta hu~) = I know the girl. मैं लडकों को जानता हुं. (mai~ ladko~ ko janta hu~) = I know the boys. मैं लडकीयों को जानता हुं. (mai~ ladkiyo~ ko janta hu~) = I know the girls.

Some verbs require the use of dative/accusative and thus the use of 'ko'. Such verb is "to know - janna" (as spanish "conocer", italian "conoscere" or german "kennen"), there are of course other verbs of that sort as for example "to give". "I give the book to the girl" -> To whom do I give to book? -> to the girl (or even just 'the girl') -> dative, so "ladki ko"... I'm sure I'll find a better way to explain that, but for now use that poor explanation. However I think examples do much...

[edit] Lesson 8

Lesson 8: Modal Verbs.

Well, modal verbs are verbs such as "to want", "to can" (to be able to), "to have to" etc... Actually in this lessons I'm going to explain you how to use such verbs in Hindi and to be more precise I'll give you in the lesson the use of exactly those four verbs: to can (be able to), to must (to have to), to need and to want. So here we go:

(1). Can /be able to/ = sakna (सकना) You only have to know that it's added to the root of the main verb. "I can read hindi" - in that sentence "the main verb" is "read". So:

Verb stem + SAKNA / सकना (sakta/sakte/sakti/sakti~) + To be (hona, conjugeted) = Can + Verb

Oh, of course you must "conjugate" the verb sakna as I taught you (i.e. add ta/te/ti/ti~ to it's stem "sak"). Here are some examples:

मैं हिंदी में लिख सकता हुं. (mai~ hindi me~ likh sakta hu~) = I can write in Hindi. मैं हिंदी कुछ कुछ बोल सकता हुं. (mai~ hindi kuch kuch bol sakta hu~) = I can speak a very little Hindi. मैं वह नहीं समझा सकता हुं. (mai~ voh nahi~ samajha sakta hu~) = I cannot explain that. लडकी अच्छी राटी कर सकती हैं. (ladki acchi roti bana sakti hai~) = The girl can make tasty bread.

(2). Must (to have to)

It's build extremely easy! :-) It's used the Dative case. The pronounce change when used in dative of course, but I didn't explained it to you yet. I will later. For know I'll say that "mai~" becomes "mujhe" (to me) and "tu" becomes"tujhe" (to you), as for the plural we use the particle "ko". I hope you remember it from the previous lesson. So "ham ko" = "to us". Now about the verb "to have to", the hindus use this "pattern" to express it: "to me ... it is", so if you want to say "I have to go" in Hindi, you have to say "to me it is to go". Examples:

मुझे जाना हैं. (mujhe jana hai.) = (to me / to go / is) = I have to go. तुझे खाना हैं. (tujhe khana hai.) = (to you / to eat / is) = You have to eat. भरात में हमको हिंदी बोलना हैं. (bharat me~ hamko hindi bolna hai) = (India in / to us / hindi / to speak / is) = In India we have to speak Hindi.

(3). Need (Chahie - चाहीए)

It's used in similar manner as the verb "to have to". Again you have to say "to me" or "to you" or "to tus", "to the person", i.e. use the Dative case. Instead of placing the conjugated verb "to be" at the end of the sentence place "chahie":

मुझे जाना चाहीए. (mujhe jana chahie) = I need to go. (Similar to meaning and construction with "mujhe jana hai"...) मुझे पानी चाहीए. (mujhe pani chahie) = I need water.

(4). Want (chahna = चाहना)


Verb infinitive + CHAHNA / चाहना (chahta/chahte/chahti/chahti~) + To be (hona, conjugeted) = Want to + Verb

मैं जाना चाहता हुं. (mai~ jana chahta hu~) = I want to go. वह खाना चाहता है. (voh khana chahta hai) = He wants to eat. हम हिंदी सीखना चाहते हैं. (ham hindi sikhna chahte hai~) = We want to learn Hindi. मैं चाबल चाहता है. (mai~ chaval chahta hu~) = I want rice.

That'll set the end for that lessons. Yes, I know I should extend it, give more example and explanations, but that's all I know about Hindi modal verbs. If I learn something new, I'll put in here for sure. Enjoy the next lesson, where you'll learn how to count to 20 and where you'll learn some wh-questions as well...

[edit] Lesson 9

Lesson 9: Numbers up to 20. Wh-questions and other question-words.

Here is a table of the numbers up to 20:


Number Hindi Transliteratoin Number Hindi Transliteration
1 एक ek 11 ग्यारह gyarah
2 दो do 12 बारह barah
3 तीन thin 13 तेरह terah
4 चार char 14 चौदह chaudah
5 पांच panch 15 पन्द्रह pandrah
6 छः chha (chhe) 16 सोलह solah
7 सात sath 17 सत्रह satrah
8 आठ aath 18 अठारह athharah
9 नौ nau 19 उन्नीस unnis
10 दस das 20 बीस bis

Next come the question words:

क्या (kya) = What? कौन (kaun) = Who? कहां (kaha~) = Where? क्यों (kyo~) = Why? कैसा / कैसे / कैसी (kaisa/kaise/kaisi) = How? कितना / कितने / कितनी (kitna/kitne/kitni) = How much?, How many?

So, basicly, that was the lesson, but I forgot something to tell you about. It's concerning the numbers. The Devanagari script even possess its own letters for writing the numbers, but those are not used much in our time. However I'll give them here too:

१ = 1 २ = 2 ३ = 3 ४ = 4 ५ = 5 ६ = 6 ७ = 7 ८ = 8 ९ = 9 १० = 10

As you can see they resembles the ""arabic"" ciphers we use, and it should be so, since actually the arabic ciphers are INDIAN ciphers. The writing system, on base 10, developen in India, where people used to write numbers with the letters you see above... Later arabs adopted that system and brought it all over the word, thus it became known as "arabic numbers"... Btw, written in Devanagari, the year, in which I'm writing these lesson will look as २००३...

[edit] Glossary

Hindi-English lesson glossary

  • HINDI ENGLISH
  • धन्यवाद, शुक्रिया thank you
  • गुरु teacher
  • हाँ yes
  • नहीं no
  • जी हाँ yes
  • जी नहीं no
  • हाँ जी yes
  • नहीं जी no
  • नमस्ते Hello!; Goodbye!
  • शुक्रिया thank you
  • मैं I
  • तू You (very informal)
  • तुम You (mid formality)
  • आप You (polite and formal)
  • वह He, she, it, that
  • हम We
  • यह This
  • वह That (demonstr.)
  • ये These
  • वे Those
  • मेरा My
  • तेरा Your (very informal)
  • तुम्हारा Your (mid formal)
  • उसका His/her (informal)
  • उनका His/her (informal)
  • हमारा Our
  • आपका Your (very formal)
  • उनका Their
  • नाम Name
  • पानी Water
  • घर House/home
  • लड़का Boy
  • लड़की Girl
  • बिल्ला Tomcat
  • बिल्ली Cat
  • कमरा Room
  • केला Banana
  • तारा Star
  • हवा Wind
  • चीनी Sugar, also Chinese as an adjective and noun for a Chinese person. Context would make which one clear.
  • मकडी Spider
  • पक्षी Bird
  • दोस्त Friend
  • किताब Book
  • औरत Woman
  • आदमी Man
  • खाना To eat, also means food
  • पीना To drink
  • जाना To go
  • आना To come
  • करना To do
  • देना To give
  • लेना To take
  • लिखना To write
  • पढ़ना To read
  • समझना To understand
  • समझाना To explain, to make someone understand
  • सीखना To learn
  • सिगरेट Sigaret
  • रोटी Bread
  • वहाँ There
  • यहाँ Here
  • जहाँ Where
  • धुआँ Smoke
  • आग, अग्नि Fire
  • भी Also, too, as well
  • बड़ा Big
  • छोटा Small
  • लम्बा Long (object), tall (person)
  • महंगा expensive
  • सस्ता cheap
  • साफ़ clean
  • गंदा Dirty
  • ठण्डा Cold
  • गरम Hot (also spelled as गर्म)
  • रंग Color
  • सफ़ेद White
  • काला Black
  • नीला Blue
  • हरा Green
  • पीला Yellow
  • लाल Red
  • में In
  • से From, with, by
  • का Of
  • आध्यापीका female teacher
  • जानना to know
  • चाबल Rice
  • एक One
  • दो Two
  • तीन Three
  • चार Four
  • पांच Five
  • छः Six (also spelled as छह
  • सात Seven
  • आठ Eight
  • नौ Nine
  • दस Ten
  • ग्यारह Eleven
  • बारह Twelve
  • तेरह Thirteen
  • चौदह Fourteen
  • पन्द्रह Fifteen
  • सोलह Sixteen
  • सत्रह Seventeen
  • अठारह Eighteen
  • उन्नीस Nineteen
  • बीस Twenty
  • क्या What
  • कौन Who
  • कहाँ Where
  • क्यों Why?
  • कैसा How? Also, of what kind/sort/type?
  • कितना How much?
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