Hindi Grammar: Word Order, Nouns, Pronouns

• Hindi grammar, like many Indo-Aryan languages, is characterized by a relatively complex morphology and a fairly regular syntax.

Word Order

• Hindi generally follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order.
• Modifiers usually precede the words they modify.
• Adjectives typically come before nouns.
• Adverbs also generally precede the verbs they modify.
• Postpositions (akin to prepositions in English) follow the nouns or pronouns they govern.
• Word order can be flexible to some extent for emphasis or stylistic variation.

Nouns

• Hindi nouns are inflected for gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular and plural).
• Gender is often, but not always, predictable from the form of the noun, and it affects agreement with other parts of speech like adjectives and verbs.
• Noun pluralization varies depending on the noun and its gender.
• Hindi nouns decline based on case, indicating their function in a sentences

Pronouns

• Hindi pronouns are inflected for case, number, and gender (in some instances).
• There are different sets of pronouns for different levels of formality and respect.
• These include personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they), demonstrative pronouns (this, that), relative pronouns (who, which, that), and interrogative pronouns (who, what, which).
• Pronouns change form depending on their role in the sentence (subject, object, etc.).
• The honorific आप (āp) is used as the polite form of "you" and is treated as plural, regardless of the number of people being addressed.

Verbs

• Hindi verbs are highly inflected, marking tense, aspect, mood, gender, number, and person.
• Verb roots combine with suffixes to indicate these grammatical features.
• Hindi has three main tenses: past, present, and future.
• Aspect indicates the completion, duration, or habituality of an action.
• Mood expresses the speaker's attitude towards the action (e.g., indicative, subjunctive, imperative).
• Auxiliary verbs are often used to form compound tenses and aspects.
• Agreement between the verb and the subject is complex.
• Agreement depends on transitivity, tense, and the presence of postpositions.
• In some constructions, the verb agrees with the object rather than the subject.

Adjectives

• Hindi adjectives generally precede the nouns they modify.
• They agree with the noun in gender and number.
• Some adjectives are indeclinable and do not change form.
• Adjectives can be used attributively (modifying a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb).
• Comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives are formed using various strategies, including the use of adverbs like ज़्यादा (zyādā – more) and the postposition से (se – than).

Postpositions

• Hindi uses postpositions instead of prepositions.
• These are placed after the noun or pronoun they govern.
• Common postpositions include को (ko – to, for), से (se – from, with, by), में (meṁ – in, into), पर (par – on, at), के लिए (ke lie – for), and के साथ (ke sāth – with).
• Postpositions indicate a variety of relationships, including location, direction, cause, and possession.
• The use of postpositions often requires nouns or pronouns to be in the oblique case.

Case System

• Hindi employs a case system that marks the grammatical function of nouns and pronouns.
• The main cases are direct, oblique, and vocative.
• The direct case is used for subjects of intransitive verbs and for objects when there is no postposition.
• The oblique case is used before most postpositions and in certain other grammatical contexts.
• The vocative case is used for direct address.

Verb Conjugation

• Hindi verb conjugation involves changes to the verb stem to indicate tense, aspect, mood, person, number, and gender.
• There are regular patterns of conjugation, but also some irregular verbs.
• Tense is marked by adding suffixes to the verb stem.
• Auxiliary verbs are frequently used to create compound tenses and to express nuances of aspect and mood.
• The present tense can indicate habitual actions.
• The past tense differentiates between perfective (completed action) and imperfective (ongoing or habitual action) aspects.
• The future tense is relatively straightforward, using a suffix to indicate future time.

Compound Verbs

• Hindi makes extensive use of compound verbs, which consist of a main verb followed by one or more auxiliary verbs.
• Compound verbs express nuances of meaning related to aspect, mood, and manner.
• They can indicate the completion of an action, the intention to perform an action, or the manner in which an action is performed.

Syntax

• Basic sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
• Relative clauses precede the nouns they modify.
• Coordination is typically achieved using conjunctions like और (aur – and), या (yā – or), but can sometimes be expressed without a conjunction.
• Subordination is marked by conjunctions such as कि (ki – that) and अगर (agar – if).

Agreement

• Verb agreement in Hindi can be complex, influenced by tense, aspect, and the presence of postpositions.
• In simple tenses, the verb typically agrees with the subject in gender and number.
• However, in certain constructions, particularly with transitive verbs in the past tense, the verb agrees with the object if the subject is followed by the postposition ने (ne).
• Adjectives also agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.

Sandhi (संधి)

• Sandhi refers to the phonological process of sound combination or fusion at the junction of two words or morphemes.
• It is common especially in more formal speech and writing
• There are external and internal sandhi types.