Hindustani declension
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Hindi-Urdu, also known as Hindustani, has three noun cases (nominative, oblique, and vocative) [1][2] and five pronoun cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, and oblique). The oblique case in pronouns has three subdivisions: Regular, Ergative, and Genitive. There are eight case-marking postpositions in Hindi and out of those eight the ones which end in the vowel -ā (the semblative and the genitive postpositions) also decline according to number, gender, and case.
Nouns
All the case declension paradigms for nouns are shown below.
Case | Masculine | Feminine | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ending in -ā | ending in -i/ī | ending in -u/ū | ending in -ø | ending in -i/ī | ending in -ā | ending in -ø | ||||||||
Boy | Man | Knife | Tree | Girl | Mother | Train | ||||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
Nominative | लड़का لڑکا laṛkā | लड़के لڑکے laṛke | आदमी آدمی ādmī | आदमी آدمی ādmī | चाक़ू چاقو cāqū | चाक़ू چاقو cāqū | पेड़ پیڑ peṛ | पेड़ پیڑ peṛ | लड़की لڑکی laṛkī | लड़कियाँ لڑکیاں laṛkiyā̃ | माता ماتا mātā | माताएँ ماتایں mātāẽ | ट्रेन ٹرین ṭren | ट्रेनें ٹرینیں ṭrenẽ |
Oblique | लड़के لڑکے laṛke | लड़कों لڑکوں laṛkõ | आदमियों آدمیوں ādmiyõ | चाक़ूओं چاقوؤں cāquõ | पेड़ों پیڑوں peṛõ | लड़कियों لڑکیوں laṛkiyõ | माताओं ماتاؤں mātāõ | ट्रेनों ٹرینوں ṭrenõ | ||||||
Vocative | लड़को لڑکو laṛko | आदमियो آدمیو ādmiyo | चाक़ूओ چاقوؤ cāquo | पेड़ो پیڑو peṛo | लड़कियो لڑکیو laṛkiyo | माताओ ماتاؤ mātāo | ट्रेनो ٹرینو ṭreno |
Some masculine words ending in -ā (like pitā and kartā) retain 'ā' throughout their declension, only adding endings -õ and -o in oblique plural and vocative plural respectively.
Pronouns
The declension of all the pronouns of Hindi-Urdu are mentioned in the table below:
Personal Pronouns
Case | Personal | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person | 2nd person | |||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||||
Intimate | Familiar | Formal | ||||||
Nominative | मैं میں ma͠i | हम ہم ham | तू تو tū | तुम تم tum | आप آپ āp | |||
Dative | मुझे مجھے mujhe | हमें ہمیں hamẽ | तुझे تجھے tujhe | तुम्हें تمہیں/تمھیں tumhẽ | — | |||
Accusative | ||||||||
Oblique | Regular | मुझ مجھ mujh | हम ہم ham | तुझ تجھ tujh | तुम ہم tum | आप آپ āp | ||
Ergative | मैं میں ma͠i | तू تو tū | ||||||
Emphatic | मुझी مجھی mujhī | हमीं ہمیں hamī̃ | तुझी تجھی tujhī | तुम्हीं تمہیں/تمھیں tumhī̃ | — | |||
Genitive | ♂ | मेरे میرے mere | हमारे ہمارے hamāre | तेरे تیرے tere | तुम्हारे تمہارے/تمھارے tumhāre | — | ||
♀ | मेरी میری merī | हमारी ہماری hamārī | तेरी تیری terī | तुम्हारी تمہاری/تمھاری tumhārī |
Demonstrative, Relative, Interrogative Pronouns
Case | 3rd person | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Demonstrative | Relative | Interrogative | |||||||||||||
Proximal | Non-proximal | Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | ||||||||
Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | ||||||||||
Nominative | Written/Read | यह یہ yah | ये یے ye | वह وہ vah | वे وے ve1 | जो جو jo | कौन, क्या کَون، کیا kaun, kyā | ||||||||
Said colloquially | ये یے ye | वो وو vo | |||||||||||||
Dative | इसे اِسے ise | इन्हें اِنہیں/اِنھیں inhẽ | उसे اُسے use | उन्हें اُنہیں/اُنھیں unhẽ | जिसे جسے jise | जिन्हें جنھیں/جنہیں jinhẽ | किसे کیسے kise | किन्हें کنھیں/کنہیں kinhẽ | |||||||
Accusative | |||||||||||||||
Oblique | Regular | इस اِس is | इन اِن in | उस اُس us | उन اُن un | जिस جس jis | जिन جن jin | किस کس kis | किन کن kin | ||||||
Ergative | इन्हों اِنہوں/اِنھوں inhõ | उन्हों اُنہوں/اُنھوں unhõ | जिन्हों جنہوں/جنھوں jinhõ | किन्हों کنہوں/کنھوں kinhõ | |||||||||||
Emphatic | इसी اِسی isī | इन्हीं اِنہیں/اِنھیں inhī̃ | उसी اُسی usī | उन्हीं اُنہیں/اُنھیں unhī̃ | — | — | किसी کسی kisī | किन्हीं کنہیں/کنھیں kinhī̃ |
1 Rarely used in Urdu.
Possessive Pronouns
Pronoun | Masculine | Feminine | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Oblique/Vocative | Nominative | Oblique/Vocative | ||||||||||
Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | Singular | Plural | Formal | ||
1st Person | Singular | मेरा میرا (merā) | मेरे میرے (mere) | मेरी میری (merī) | |||||||||
Plural | हमारा ہمارا (hamārā) | हमारे ہمارے (hamāre) | हमारी ہماری (hamārī) | ||||||||||
2nd Person | Intimate | तेरा تیرا (terā) | तेरे تیرے (tere) | तेरी تیری (terī) | |||||||||
Familiar | तुम्हारा تمہارا/تمھارا (tumhārā) | तुम्हारे تمہارے/تمھارے (tumhāre) | तुम्हारी تمہاری/تمھاری (tumhārī) |
Note: The formal 2nd person pronoun आप آپ (āp) does not have possessive pronoun forms, instead the genitive postposition का کا (kā) is used with the oblique case to form the possessive pronoun.
Postpositions
The case-marking postpositions of Hindi-Urdu are mentioned in the table below on the left, and the declensions of the genitive and semblative postpositions are on the right:
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Verbs
In the table below, ø represents the verbal root and suffixes are added to the verb roots to construct different participles and other verbal forms.
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See also
References
- ^ "Hindi Noun Cases". hindilanguage.info. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
- ^ "Ergative Case-marking in Hindi". researchgate.net. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ^ Tokaj, Jolanta (2016-06-01). "A comparative study of participles, converbs and absolute constructions in Hindi and Medieval Rajasthani". Lingua Posnaniensis. 58: 105–120. doi:10.1515/linpo-2016-0007. hdl:10593/17971.
- ^ a b Subbarao, K.; Arora, Harbir (2009-01-01). "The Conjunctive Participle in Dakkhini Hindi-Urdu: Making the Best of Both Worlds*". 70: 359–386.
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(help) - ^ Montaut, Annie (2018-09-10), "On the nature of the Hindi infinitive: History as an answer to its syntactic behavior?", Trends in Hindi Linguistics, pp. 115–146, ISBN 978-3-11-061079-6, retrieved 2020-07-03
- ^ Campbell, George L. (1995). Compendium of the World's Languages. Great Britain: Routledge. pp. 225–229. ISBN 0-415-11392-X.
- ^ Shapiro, Michael C. (2003). A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd. p. 116. ISBN 81-208-0508-9.