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How Hindi packages meaning
Hindi grammar at a glance
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Common questions about Hindi
What is Hindi's split-ergative pattern?
In the perfective past, the transitive subject takes the postposition ने and the verb agrees with the object, not the subject. लड़के ने किताब पढ़ी means 'the boy read the book' — पढ़ी (feminine singular) agrees with किताब (book), not with the boy. In imperfective tenses, agreement is normal subject-controlled.
How do Hindi postpositions work?
Postpositions follow the noun (the opposite of English prepositions). ने marks ergative subjects, को marks definite/animate objects and recipients, से marks instruments and origin, में marks locations, पर marks 'on'. The noun before a postposition usually shifts to its oblique form: लड़का → लड़के से ('from the boy'). Compound postpositions stack: के पास, के लिए.
Does Hindi have grammatical gender?
Two genders — masculine and feminine. Verbs, adjectives, and possessives all agree. Most nouns ending in -ा are masculine and -ी are feminine, but exceptions exist (आदमी 'man' is masculine despite ending in -ī). The speaker's own gender even changes the verb form when they refer to themselves: मैं जाता हूँ (I [m.] go) vs मैं जाती हूँ (I [f.] go).
Is Hindi SOV or SVO?
SOV. Subject before object before verb. लड़का किताब पढ़ता है = 'boy book reads is'. The verb sits at the end, modifiers precede their head, postpositions follow the noun, and relative clauses can come either before or after the head noun. Word order is fairly flexible due to case marking on objects, but the verb stays put.
Why are there three different ways to say 'you' in Hindi?
Hindi marks social relationship in pronouns. तू (tū) is intimate or rude — used with close family, lovers, or as an insult. तुम (tum) is familiar — friends, peers, younger family. आप (āp) is formal — strangers, elders, professional contexts. Each triggers different verb agreement forms. Choosing the wrong one is a major social signal.
Sources for Hindi
The grammatical descriptions on this page are informed by the following published reference and descriptive grammars. Grammatical facts themselves are not subject to copyright; the scholars who documented them deserve attribution.
- Kachru, Yamuna (2006). Hindi. Amsterdam: John Benjamins (London Oriental and African Language Library 12).
- Shapiro, Michael C. (2003). Hindi. In G. Cardona & D. Jain (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages, pp. 250–285. London: Routledge.
- McGregor, R. S. (1995). Outline of Hindi Grammar, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press.
- Snell, Rupert & Weightman, Simon (2003). Teach Yourself Hindi, 4th ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
- Mohanan, Tara (1994). Argument Structure in Hindi. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.