Nouns & gender
Two genders, and — unlike the Romance languages — the verb agrees with them too. You cannot say "I can cook" in Hindi without revealing whether you are a man or a woman.
Guessing the gender
- -ा (-aa) → usually masculine: लड़का laṛkaa boy, कमरा kamraa room, पैसा paisaa money
- -ी (-ii) → usually feminine: लड़की laṛkii girl, कुर्सी kursii chair, रोटी roṭii bread
- -आई, -आवट, -इया → feminine: लड़ाई, बनावट, डिबिया
Everything else has to be learnt. पानी paanii "water" ends in -ii and is masculine. दही dahii "yoghurt" is masculine in Delhi and feminine further east.
Plurals
| masculine | feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| singular | लड़का | लड़की |
| plural | लड़के | लड़कियाँ |
Masculine nouns not ending in -ा do not change at all: एक आदमी one man, दो आदमी two men.
The oblique — the thing that actually matters
Any noun followed by a postposition changes shape. This is not optional and it happens constantly.
| direct | oblique | |
|---|---|---|
| masc. sg. | लड़का | लड़के |
| masc. pl. | लड़के | लड़कों |
| fem. pl. | लड़कियाँ | लड़कियों |
लड़का — the boy. लड़के को — to the boy. लड़कों के लिए — for the boys.
Feminine singulars do not change. Everything else does, and forgetting it is the single commonest learner error.
Counters
Hindi does not need them, unlike Japanese or Chinese: तीन किताबें — three books, straight out. But numbers above a hundred change base: लाख laakh is 100,000 and करोड़ karoṛ is 10,000,000, written 1,00,000 and 1,00,00,000.
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