Hindi Grammar Basics

Study Notes

Hindi Grammar Rules

Learning any new language can seem daunting with its unique alphabet, pronunciations, and grammar rules. If you're starting your journey learning Hindi, don't worry; we have some key grammar points listed below to help you get started. These aren't comprehensive by any means, but they will give you a solid foundation to build upon.

Nouns

In Hindi, nouns do not inflect for gender like most Indo-European languages. This makes it easier to remember their forms without having to keep track of masculine, feminine, and neuter endings. However, there is still a distinction between singular and plural, which follows a simple suffix system: -ओं (-ōṃ) for masculine plurals and -ें (-ēṃ) for all other genders. For example, 'kitaab' (book) becomes 'kitābeṅ' when referring to more than one book.

Verbs

There are two types of verbs in Hindi: active and passive. Active voice is used for direct actions while passive voice focuses on being affected by something else. In passive sentences, 'करना (karanā)' meaning 'to do' is added along with the past tense form of the main verb to indicate past action performed by someone or something else. So, for instance, instead of saying 'I cooked dinner last night', you would say 'Dinner was cooked last night'.

Subject Pronouns

Unlike English where subject pronouns such as I, he, she etc., remain unchanged during conjugation, Hindi has different base forms depending on who is performing the action. While English uses three bases (subjective, objective, possessive), Hindi only requires two because there isn't much need for distinguishing between subjective and possessive cases due to word order conventions within the sentence structure. Instead, the personal pronouns change based on whether the action is happening now ("हैं" — haiṃ = present participle) or happened before ("था / थी / थे / थें" — thā / thī / thāe / thēn̐ = perfect participle).

Prepositions

Prepositions are used in Hindi similarly to how they're employed in English, indicating relationships between noun phrases within the context of a clause. Some common prepositional phrases include:

में (mē̃) for "in," "on," or "within."
से (se) for "from," "of," or "by."
को (ko) for "to," "for," or "as."
पर (par) for "over" or "upon."
द्वारा (dvārā) for "through" or "via."

Conjunctions & Adverbial Clauses

Conjunctions are used to connect clauses together either coordinate (joins equal ideas) or correlative (places emphasis) ways. There are five primary coordinating conjunctions in Hindi: "और (aur)" (and), "भिन्‍ना (bhinnā)" (but), "इतना (itannā)", "युग्म रूप से (yuğma rūp sē)" (simultaneously), and "अधिक जल्दी (adhik jaldī)" (more quickly). Additionally, there are several adverbial clauses forming structures using conditional mood (if...then), comparisons (as...so), temporal sequencing (before..., after...), and logical consequence (because...).

Remembering these basic grammar points will set you off on the right foot as you begin your journey into understanding and speaking this beautiful language!

Description

Explore fundamental grammar rules of the Hindi language including nouns, verbs, subject pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbial clauses. Learn about noun pluralization, active and passive verbs, personal pronoun variations, common prepositions, and conjunction usage. Build a strong foundation in Hindi grammar with these key points!