Hindi declension

Hindi 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. The vocative case is an obsolete case and its rarely used colloquially, its function is taken by the oblique case.

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 laɽkā	लड़के laɽke	आदमी ādmī	आदमी ādmī	चाकू chakū	चाकू chakū	पेड़ peɽ	पेड़ peɽ	लड़की laɽkī	लड़कियाँ laɽkiyā̃	माता mātā	माताएँ mātāẽ	ट्रेन ʈren	ट्रेनें ʈrenẽ
Oblique	लड़के laɽke	लड़कों laɽkõ		आदमियों ādmiyõ		चाकुओं chākuõ		पेड़ों peɽõ		लड़कियों laɽkiyõ		माताओं mātāõ		ट्रेनों ʈrenõ
Vocative	लड़के laɽke	लड़को laɽko		आदमियो ādmiyo		चाकुओ chākuo		पेड़ो peɽo		लड़कियो laɽkiyo		माताओ mātāo		ट्रेनो ʈreno

Pronouns[]

The declension of all the pronouns of Hindi are mentioned in the table below:

Personal Pronouns[]

Case			Personal
			1st person		2nd person
			Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
			Singular	Plural	Intimate	Familiar	Formal
Nominative			मैं mɛ̃	हम ham	तू tū	तुम tum	आप āp
Dative			मुझे mujhe	हमें hamẽ	तुझे tujhe	तुम्हें tumhẽ	—
Accusative			मुझे mujhe	हमें hamẽ	तुझे tujhe	तुम्हें tumhẽ	—
Oblique	Regular		मुझ mujh	हम ham	तुझ tujh	तुम tum	आप āp
	Ergative		मैं mãĩ	हम ham	तू tū	तुम tum	आप āp
	Emphatic		मुझी mujhī	हमीं hamī̃	तुझी tujhī	तुम्हीं tumhī̃	—
	Genitive	♂	मेरे mere	हमारे hamāre	तेरे tere	तुम्हारे tumhāre	—
	Genitive	♀	मेरी merī	हमारी hamārī	तेरी terī	तुम्हारी tumhārī	—

Demonstrative, Relative, Interrogative Pronouns[]

Case		Demonstrative						Relative			Interrogative
		3rd person
		Proximal			Non-proximal			Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal
		Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal
Nominative		यह yah	ये ye		वह vah	वे ve		जो jo			कौन, क्या kaun, kyā
Nominative		ये ye			वो vo			जो jo			कौन, क्या kaun, kyā
Dative		इसे ise	इन्हें inhẽ		उसे use	उन्हें unhẽ		जिसे jise	जिन्हें jinhẽ		किसे kise	किन्हें kinhẽ
Accusative		इसे ise	इन्हें inhẽ		उसे use	उन्हें unhẽ		जिसे jise	जिन्हें jinhẽ		किसे kise	किन्हें kinhẽ
Oblique	Regular	इस is	इन in		उस us	उन un		जिस jis	जिन jin		किस kis	किन kin
	Ergative	इस is	इन्हों inhõ		उस us	उन्हों unhõ		जिस jis	जिन्हों jinhõ		किस kis	किन्हों kinhõ
	Emphatic	इसी isī	इन्हीं inhī̃		उसी usī	उन्हीं unhī̃		—	—		किसी kisī	किन्हीं kinhī̃

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 (merā)	मेरे (mere)					मेरी (merī)
1st Person	Plural	हमारा (hamārā)	हमारे (hamāre)					हमारी (hamārī)
2nd Person	Intimate	तेरा (terā)	तेरे (tere)					तेरी (terī)
2nd Person	Familiar	तुम्हारा (tumhārā)	तुम्हारे (tumhāre)					तुम्हारी (tumhārī)

Note: The formal 2nd person pronoun आप (āp) does not have possessive pronoun forms, instead the genitive postposition का (kā) is used with the oblique case to form the possessive pronoun.

Postpositions[]

The case-marking postpositions of Hindi are mentioned in the table below on the left, and the declensions of the genitive and semblative postpositions are on the right:

Case-markers
Case	Case Marker	Example	English	Example	English
Ergative	ने ne	लड़के ने laɽke ne	boy	उन्होंने unhõne	they
Accusative	को ko	लड़के को laɽke ko	the boy	उनको unko	them
Dative	को ko	लड़के को laɽke ko	to the boy	उनको unko	to them
Instrumental	से se	लड़के से laɽke se	with the boy	उनसे unse	with them
Ablative	से se	लड़के से laɽke se	from the boy	उनसे unse	from them
Genitive	का kā	लड़के का laɽke kā	boy's	उनका unkā	their(s)
Inessive	में mẽ	लड़के में laɽke mẽ	in the boy	उनमें unmẽ	in them
Adessive	पे/पर pe/par	लड़के पे laɽke pe	on the boy	उनपे unpe	on them
Terminative	तक tak	लड़के तक laɽke tak	till the boy	उनतक untak	till them
Semblative	सा sā	लड़के सा laɽke sā	boyish	उनसा unsā	like them

Case	Genitive Postposition						Semblative Postposition
	Masculine			Feminine			Masculine			Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal	Singular	Plural	Formal
Nominative	का kā	के ke		की kī			सा sā	से se		सी sī
Oblique	के ke						से se
Vocative	के ke						से se

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.

Participles				Example bolnā / बोलना / to say
ASPECTUAL PARTICIPLES^[3]^[4]
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Habitual	♂	ɸ-tā	ɸ-tē	बोलता boltā	बोलते boltē
Habitual	♀	ɸ-tī	ɸ-tīm̥	बोलती boltī	बोलतीं boltīm̥
Habitual Adjectival	♂	ɸ-tā huā	ɸ-tē huē	बोलता हुआ boltā huā	बोलते हुए boltē
Habitual Adjectival	♀	ɸ-tī huī	ɸ-tī huīm̥	बोलती हुई boltī huī	बोलती हुईं boltī huīm̥
Perfective	♂	ɸ-(y)ā	ɸ-(y)ē	बोला bolā	बोले bolē
Perfective	♀	ɸ-(y)ī	ɸ-(y)īm̥	बोली bolī	बोलीं bolīm̥
Perfective Adjectival	♂	ɸ-(y)ā huā	ɸ-(y)ē huē	बोला हुआ bolā huā	बोले हुए bolē huē
Perfective Adjectival	♀	ɸ-(y)ī huī	ɸ-(y)ī huīm̥	बोली हुई bolī huī	बोली हुईं bolīm̥ huīm̥

Participles				Example bolnā / बोलना / to say
NON-ASPECTUAL PARTICIPLES ^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Infinitive	♂	ɸ-nā	ɸ-nē	बोलना bolnā		बोलने bolnē
Infinitive	♀	ɸ-nī	ɸ-nīm̥	बोलनी bolnī		बोलनीं bolnīm̥
Prospective & Agentive	♂	ɸ-nēvālā	ɸ-nēvālē	बोलनेवाला bolnēvālā		बोलनेवाले bolnēvālē
Prospective & Agentive	♀	ɸ-nēvālī	ɸ-nēvālīm̥	बोलनेवाली bolnēvālī		बोलनेवालीं bolnēvālīm̥
Oblique Infinitive		ɸ-nē		बोलने bolnē
Conjunctive		ɸ-kē, ɸ-kar		बोलके, बोलकर bolkē, bolkar
Progressive		ɸ-tē-ɸ-tē		बोलते-बोलते boltē-boltē

References[]

^ "Hindi Noun Cases". hindilanguage.info. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2020-09-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "(PDF) 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. doi:10.1515/linpo-2016-0007.
^ ^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. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (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.

[1] "Hindi Noun Cases". hindilanguage.info. 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2020-09-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[researchgate-2] "(PDF) Ergative Case-marking in Hindi". researchgate.net. Retrieved 2020-11-10.

[3] Tokaj, Jolanta (2016-06-01). "A comparative study of participles, converbs and absolute constructions in Hindi and Medieval Rajasthani". Lingua Posnaniensis. 58. doi:10.1515/linpo-2016-0007.

[:4-4] Subbarao, K.; Arora, Harbir (2009-01-01). "The Conjunctive Participle in Dakkhini Hindi-Urdu: Making the Best of Both Worlds*". 70: 359–386. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[5] 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

[:3-6] Campbell, George L. (1995). Compendium of the World's Languages. Great Britain: Routledge. pp. 225–229. ISBN 0-415-11392-X.

[7] Shapiro, Michael C. (2003). A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd. p. 116. ISBN 81-208-0508-9.

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