Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Hindi Grammar 2 (Noun Genders)

                                                          
Let’s learn about Hindi nouns. Hindi nouns can be masculine or feminine. If you want to have a rough idea, masculine nouns end with –aa and feminine nouns end with – i in their singular. In real, however, the gender of each noun must be memorized.

MASCULINE NOUNS can be of two types:

Type
Singular
Plural
1
-aa
-e
2
all others
Plural is same as singular

FEMININE NOUNS also can be of two types:

Type
Singular
Plural
1
-i, -ee, -iya
- iyan
2
all others
-en

(Note: when I write “n” at the end of a word (and sometimes in the middle) but you can’t see the letter , that means there’s a nasal sounds, in Devanagari noted by a dot, like in आँख, लडकियां (eye, girls))

Exceptions:


Some nouns ending –aa can be feminine. For example some words derived from Sanskrit , like (भाषा – bhaShaa – language) and female names (रेखा- rekhaa – Rekha,  नेहा-nehaa – Nehaa) etc. are of feminine gender.

 Examples: 

(Blue shade – masculine; pink shade – feminine
Lighter blue and pink – type 1 nouns; darker blue and pink – type 2 nouns)

लड़का
ladka
boy
लड़के
ladke
boys
घोड़ा
ghodaa
horse
घोड़े
ghode
horses
कुत्ता
kutta
dog
कुत्ते
kutte
dogs
बेटा
betaa
son
बेटे
bete
sons
सपना
sapnaa
dream
सपने
sapne
dreams
मंदिर
mandir
temple
मंदिर
mandir
temples
मकान
makaan
house
मकान
makaan
houses
शब्द
shabd
word
शब्द
shabd
words
पलंग
palang
bed
पलंग
palang
beds
हाथ
haath
hand
हाथ
haath
hands
लड़की
ladkee
girl
लड़कियाँ
ladkiyaan
girls
घड़ी
ghadee
watch
घड़ियाँ
ghadiyaan
watches
कुर्सी
kursee
chair
कुर्सियाँ 
kursiyaan
chairs
बिल्ली
billee
cat
बिल्लियाँ
billiyaan
cats
चिड़िया
chidiya
bird
चिड़ियाँ
 chidiyaan
birds
किताब
kitaab
book
किताबें
kitaaben
books
दूकान
dukaan
shop
दुकानें
dukaane
shops
मेज़
mez
table
मेजें
mezen
tables
आँख
aankh
eye
आँखें
aankhen
eyes
तस्वीर
tasveer
picture
तस्वीरें  
tasveeren
pictures

Exercise: You can try and make simple sentences using Hindi numerals and these simple phrases:
(है  hai means “is”,  हैं hain means “are”).

यह है/हैं...
Yah hai/hain...
This is/are...
....कहाँ है/हैं?
...Kahaan hai?
Where is/are...?
....वहां है/हैं।
...Vahaan hai.
...(It)is there.
मेरे पास....है/हैं।
Mere paas...hai.
I have.... .
तेरे पास...है/हैं।
Tere paas...hai.
You have...
एक
 ek
one
दो
do
two
तीन
teen
three
चार
chaar
four
पांच
paanch
five
छे
chhe
six
सात
sat
seven
आठ
aaTh
eighth
नौ
nau
nine
दस
das
ten

Example:

यह एक लड़की है।
Yah ek ladkee hai.
This is a girl.
कुत्ता कहाँ है
Kuttaa kahaan hai?
Where is the dog?
कुत्ता वहां है।
Kutta vahaan hai.
The dog is there.
मेरे पास दो आँखे हैं।
Mere paas do aankhen hain.
I have two eyes.
तेरे पास तीन बेटे हैं।
Tere paas teen bete hain.
You have three sons.





Devanagari number chart.  You can also practice writing Devanagari numbers as they are still quite commonly used in Hindi spoken part of India (North).

(शून्य)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
१०
10

If you have any questions or want correction of your mistakes, please post a comment or send a message.






9 comments:

Anonymous said...

please tell me how to use "mere,meri,thera,theri..."?

CrazyLassi said...

Meraa (m)/meree (f) - my, mine
Teraa (m) / teree (f) casual - your, yours
Tumhaaraa (m)/ tumhaaree (f) casual - your, yours
Aaapkaa (m) / aapkee (f) polite - your, yours
Iskaa/uskaa (m) / iskee/uskee (f) - his, her

Hamaaraa (m)/ hamaaree (f) - ours
Tumhaaraa (m)/ Tumhaaree (f) - yours (casual)
Aapkaa (m) / aapkee (f) - yours (polite)
Inkaa/unkaa (m)/ inkee/unkee (f) - theirs

These are Hindi possessive pronouns. The usage is very simple. You need to know the gender of the noun that you are using it with. For example, if you want to say: "My father", you should say: "Meraa pitaa" (Pitaa is masculine gender so "meraa" (mine) will have to end in "aa" as that is the masculine ending). The same thing is with the feminine gender: "Meree maa" (my mom) or "meree patnee" (my wife) or "meri bahin" (my sister) would end in "ee" as it is used with the feminine nouns. In many cases Hindi verbs end in a consonant and it is impossible to tell which gender it is. The only way is TO MEMORIZE THE GENDER OF EACH HINDI NOUN or listen a lot of Hindi until you talk according to the way you hear and think it is correct. Good luck!

Symmaque said...

why is there a half moon in बिल्लियाँ and not in कुर्सियां ?

CrazyLassi said...

Symmaque@ There is no moon because I forgot to write it. Otherwise, there should always be a moon at the end of end of लड़कियाँ, कुर्सियाँ and other type 1 feminine plural nouns. Sorry for this mistake - I fixed it and thanks for commenting!

Anonymous said...

I find it hard to understand cases like these:
intzaar (noun) + kar raha hai = present in Spanish "esperar".
Traductor
I do not understand how to do the transformation.

Anonymous said...

this is such a well-organized website. thank you!

CrazyLassi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CrazyLassi said...

Anonymous@ Intazaar (noun) + kar raha hai means "He/she is waiting". It's original form would be: "intazaar karnaa" - to wait. It is a verb made out of a noun and both forms are inseparable. They are very popular in Hindi, you can see many verbs such as:

"Baat karnaa" - "to talk"
"Fon karnaa" - "to phone"
"Safar karnaa" - "to travel"
"Kaam karnaa" - "to work"

To make the Hindi "-ing" form (Present Continuous in English) we have to ignore the noun (baat, fon, safar and kaam) and break "karnaa" by removing its "-naa" ending and adding "raha hai/ rahee hai/ rahe hain" according to the person.

"Baat karnaa" (to talk) becomes "Main baat kar rahaa hoon" (I am talking).
"Fon karnaa" (to call) becomes "Main fon kar rahaa hoon". (I am calling)
"Safar karnaa (to travel) becomes "Main safar kar rahaa hoon".( I am travelling)
"Kaam karnaa" (to work) becomes "Main kaam kar rahaa hoon). (I am working)

Here "karnaa" acts as a normal verb such as:

Dhona (wash)- Meenaa kapde dho rahee hai (Meena is washing clothes).
Rona (cry)- Neha abhee ro rahee hai. (Neha is now crying).
Bhagna (run) - Vishnu jaldee bhag rahaa hai. (Vishnu is running fast).
Jaana (go) - Main ghar jaa rahaa hoon. (I am going home)
Likhnaa (write) - Dada-ji chitthee likh rahe hain. (Grandfather is writing a letter)
Bulaanaa (call) - Main abhee pulis bulaa rahee hoon. (I am calling the police now).

Anonymous said...

pls explain to use ka,ki,ko

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