HINDI  SKELETON  GRAMMAR
                                                                                                                        Rupert Snell
                                                                              HINDI URDU FLAGSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
                                                                                                            rupertsnell@mail.utexas.edu
                                        The essential grammatical ‘rule’ and/or paradigm from each main section of Teach Yourself
                                        Hindi (units 1–14) is set out in very briefly here in note form.
                                        1.1             PERSONAL PRONOUNS & THE VERB ‘TO BE’ [hona]      
                                        mE# hUÅ             ma∞ h                     I  am                                           hm hE#                 ham ha∞                 we are
                                        tU hE               tË  hai                    you are                                         tum ho                 tum ho                  you are
                                        yh hE               yah hai                    he/she/it/this is                               åap hE#                åp ha∞                  you are
                                        vh hE               yah hai                    he/she/it/that is                               ye hE#                 ye ha∞                  he/she/these/they are
                                                                                                                                       ve hE#                 ve ha∞                  he/she/those/they are
                                        1.2             QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
                                         Questions that expect a ‘yes/no’ answer are formed by prefixing  ˚ya kyå  to a statement:
                                              vh ram hE ≥                              vah Råm hai.                                    He is Råm.
                                              ˚ya vh ram hE ?                          kyå vah Råm hai?                                Is he Råm?
                                        1.3             NOUNS
                                        Masculine nouns ending in  -å  change to  -e  in the plural:  kamrå  > kamre.  
                                        Other masculine nouns, and råjå, pitå, cåcå, netå,  do not change in the plural.
                                        Feminine nouns ending in  -i  or  -¥  change to  -iy∆   in the plural: be†¥  > be†iy∆.
                                        Other feminine nouns add  -¢   in the plural:  mez  > mez¢.
                                        1.4             ADJECTIVES
                                        Adjectives ending in  -å  change to  -e  in the masculine plural: ba®å > ba®e;
                                        and to  -¥  in the feminine (singular and plural): ba®¥.
                                        Adjectives not ending in  -å  (e.g. såf,   kh      ål¥ ) do not change with number or gender.  
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                                                                       HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR
                           1.5        THE SIMPLE SENTENCE
                           Standard word-order follows the patterns shown:
                               yh mkan Coqa (nhI#) hE ≥               yah makån cho†å (nahÇ) hai.                This house is (not) small.
                               yh Coqa mkan (nhI#) hE ≥               yah cho†å makån (nahÇ) hai.                This is (not) a small house.
                           2.1        INTERROGATIVE WORDS
                           ˚ya                             kyå                             what?
                           kOn                             kaun                            who?
                           kEsa/kEse/kEsI                  kaiså/kaise/kais¥               what kind of?   what like?
                           iktna/iktne/iktnI               kitnå/kitne/kitn¥               how  much, how many?
                           The function of  kyå  here is different from that shown in 1.2 above.
                           2.2     AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH MIXED GENDERS
                           When referring to a mixed group of males and females, adjectives show masculine gender:
                               ye lÂ\kw åOr lÂ\ikyaÅ lµbe hE# ≥  ye la®ke aur la®kiy∆    lambe     ha∞.   These boys and girls are tall.
                           When referring to mixed inanimate objects, adjectives take the gender of the nearest noun:
                               ye jUte åOr cπple# sßtI hE# ≥  ye jËte aur cappal¢   sast¥         ha∞.   These shoes and sandals are cheap.
                           2.3     SOME CONVERSATIONAL FEATURES
                           The Hindi politeness code uses the åp/tum/tË system to express degrees of familiarity (see 2.4).
                           The honorific j¥ can be added to titles and names:  paˆ∂it j¥, Íarmå j¥, Kamlå j¥.
                           The word namaste is an all-purpose greeting and leave-taking; namaskår is a synonym.
                           The word bh¥ ‘also’ comes immediately after the word it emphasises.
                           2.4     MORE ON ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS
                           The ‘honorific’ system of Hindi shows a progression of formality or politeness in the pronoun
                           sequence  tË (intimate)  tum  (familiar)  åp  (formal).  Both tum and åp are grammatically plural.
                           The use of an honorific plural is maintained in the third person also:  thus tum, åp, ve and ye  can
                           all refer either to an individual or to a group.  Adjectives, verbs and masculine nouns agree
                           accordingly; but feminine nouns do not show an honorific plural.
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                                                                HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR
                            ve ih~dußtanI hE# ≥          ve hindustån¥ ha∞.            He/she is Indian / They are Indian.
                            åap kEse hE# ?               åp kaise ha∞?                 How are you?
                            tum åçCe beqe ho ≥           tum acche be†e ho.            You are a good son /   good sons.
                            ve lMbI mihla kOn hE# ?      ve lamb¥ mahilå kaun ha∞?     Who is that tall lady?
                         3.1    SIMPLE POSTPOSITIONS
                         Postpositions are equivalent to English prepositions:   m¢  ‘in’,   par  ‘on’,  tak ‘up to’,  se
                         ‘by/with/from’, ko  ‘to/at’.  But being postpositions, they follow the words they govern.
                         3.2    NOUNS WITH POSTPOSITIONS
                         A noun changes from direct to oblique case when governed by a postposition.
                         Masculine nouns ending in  -å  change to  -e  in the oblique singular, and to  -õ  in the oblique
                         plural: kamrå > kamre m¢,  kamrõ m¢.
                         Other masculine nouns, and all feminine nouns, are unchanged in the oblique singular, but have
                         -õ  in the oblique plural:  makån > makån m¢, makånõ m¢.
                         Nouns ending  Ë  shorten this to  u  in the oblique plural:  hindË  >  hinduõ.
                         Nouns ending  ¥  change this to  iy  in the oblique plural:   ådm¥  >  ådmiyõ.
                         3.3    ADJECTIVES IN THE OBLIQUE CASE
                         The grammatical case (i.e. direct or oblique) of an adjective agrees with the noun it qualifies. But
                         the only adjectives to show this change are masculine adjectives in -å;  these change to  -e  in the
                         oblique, whether singular or plural:  ba®å > ba®e.
                         3.4    PRONOUNS IN THE OBLIQUE CASE
                         Pronouns also have oblique forms:    yah > is;         vah > us;         ye > in;         ve > un.
                         yh bÂ\a mkan  yah ba®å makån   this big house    >   ^s bÂ\e mkan me#  is ba®e makån m¢   in this big house
                         ve bUÂ|e log  ve bË®he log   those old people    >   ¨n bUÂ|e logo# ko un bË®he logõ ko   to those old people
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                                                            HINDI SKELETON GRAMMAR
                       4.1    ‘WAS’ & ‘WERE’
                       The past tense of the verb hona honå ‘to be’:
                       masculine singular         Ta       thå               masculine plural          Te       the
                       feminine singular          TI       th¥               feminine plural           TI#      thÇ
                       4.2    to to;  ‘SO’,  ‘AS FOR’
                       Firstly, to is a conjunction meaning ‘so’: to åap åÅÄe¿j hE# ?  to åp ãgrez ha∞?  ‘So you’re English?’
                       In a second meaning, to highlights one thing as contrasted with an implied alternative:
                          kmra to QIk hE ≥        kamrå to †h¥k hai.         The room’s OK   [but the food’s terrible].
                          kmra QIk to hE ≥        kamrå †h¥k to hai.         The room’s OK   [but it’s not that great].
                       4.3    COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
                       Comparisons are made by using ordinary adjectives (there are no ‘-er, -est’ forms), together with
                       the postposition  se  se  ‘than’.
                       The object of comparison takes se se :
                          ram sIta se lMba hE ≥            Råm S¥tå se lambå hai.    Råm is taller than Sitå.
                          sIta ram se CoqI hE ≥            S¥tå Råm se cho†¥ hai.    Sita is smaller (shorter) than Råm.
                       Superlatives are expressed with  sabse:
                          ram sbse lMba hE ≥               Råm sabse lambå hai.      Råm is (the) tallest.
                       Other expressions:    aur (or zyådå) ‘more’,    kam ‘less’:      
                          yh iktab åOr/¿∆yada mhÅgI hE ≥   Yah kitåb aur/zyådå mahãg¥ hai.   This book is more expensive.
                          yh iktab km mhÅgI hE ≥   Yah kitåb kam mahãg¥ hai.         This book is less expensive.
                       4.4    SOME CONSTRUCTIONS WITH   ko  ko
                       Whereas English has the ‘self’ as subject in sentences such as ‘I like Hindi’, ‘I have a cold’, in
                       Hindi the ‘thing possessed or experienced’ often becomes the grammatical subject, and the
                       ‘experiencer’ takes ko ko:
                         ¨sko ¿jukam hE ≥         usko zukåm hai               ‘To him/her a cold is’       =   He/she has a cold.
                         hmko malUm hE ≥          hamko målËm hai              ‘To us it is known’          =   We know.
                         muJko ih~dI psMd hE ≥ mujhko hind¥ pasand hai         ‘To me Hindi is pleasing’    =   I  like Hindi.
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