Hindustani grammar


, the lingua franca of Northern India and Pakistan, has two standardised registers: Hindi and Urdu. Grammatical differences between the two standards are minor but each uses its own script: Hindi uses Devanagari while Urdu uses an extended form of the Perso-Arabic script, typically in the Nastaʿlīq style.
On this grammar page Hindustani is written in "standard orientalist" transcription as outlined in. Being "primarily a system of transliteration from the Indian scripts, based in turn upon Sanskrit", these are its salient features: subscript dots for retroflex consonants; macrons for etymologically, contrastively long vowels; h for aspirated plosives; and tildes for nasalised vowels.

Phonology

The sounds presented in paranthesis in the tables below signify they are only found in loanwords from either Persian or Sanskrit. More information about phonology of Hindustani can be read on Hindustani phonology and.

Vowels

Hindustani natively possesses a symmetrical ten-vowel system. The vowels , , are always short in length, while the vowels , , , , , , are always considered long, in addition to an eleventh vowel /æː/ which is found in English loanwords.

Vowels ,

occurs as a conditioned allophone of in proximity to, if and only if the is surrounded on both sides by two schwas. and is realised as separate vowel. For example, in kahanā , the is surrounded on both sides by schwa, hence both the schwas will become fronted to short, giving the pronunciation. Syncopation of phonemic middle schwa can further occur to give.

Consonants

Hindustani has a core set of 28 consonants inherited from earlier Indo-Aryan. Supplementing these are two consonants that are internal developments in specific word-medial contexts, and seven consonants originally found in loan words, whose expression is dependent on factors such as status and cultural register.

Allophony of and

and are allophones in Hindustani. These are distinct phonemes in English, but both are allophones of the phoneme in Hindustani, including loanwords of Arabic and Persian origin. More specifically, they are conditional allophones, i.e. rules apply on whether is pronounced as or depending on context. Native Hindi speakers pronounce as in vrat and in pakwān, treating them as a single phoneme and without being aware of the allophonic distinctions, though these are apparent to native English speakers. The rule is that the consonant is pronounced as semivowel in onglide position, i.e. between an onset consonant and a following vowel.
Consonants and vowels are outlined in the table below. Hovering the mouse cursor over them will reveal the appropriate IPA information, while in the rest of the article hovering the mouse cursor over forms will reveal the appropriate English translation.

Morphology

Nouns

Hindustani distinguishes two genders, two noun types, two numbers, and three cases. Nouns may be further divided into two classes based on declension, called type-I and type-II. The basic difference between the two categories is that the former has characteristic terminations in the direct singular while the latter does not.
The table below displays the suffix paradigms. A hyphen symbol denotes change from the original termination to another, whereas a plus sign denotes an ending which should be added. -Ø denotes that no suffix is added to the noun stem.
The next table of noun declensions, mostly adapted from, shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words: laṛkā, kū̃ā, seb, vālid , cāqū, ādmī , mitr, laṛkī, ciṛiyā, kitāb, bhāṣā, and aurat.
Notes for noun declension:
s may be divided into declinable, and indeclinable categories. Declinables are marked, through termination, for the gender, number, case of the nouns they qualify. The set of declinable adjective terminations is similar but greatly simplified in comparison to that of noun terminations —
Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable, and can end in either consonants or vowels. A number of declinables display nasalisation of all terminations. Dir. masc. sg. is the citation form.

Indeclinable adjectives

All adjectives can be used either attributively, predicatively, or substantively. Substantively they are declined as nouns rather than adjectives.
sā is a suffix for adjectives, modifying or lightening their meaning; giving them an "-ish" or "quite" sense. e.g. nīlā "blue" → nīlā-sā "bluish". Its emphasis is rather ambiguous, sometimes enhancing, sometimes toning down, the sense of the adjective.

Comparatives and superlatives

s are made by using "than", "more", and "less". The word for "more" is optional, while "less" is required, so that in the absence of either "more" will be inferred.
HindustaniWord orderMeaning
Gītā Gautam se lambī hai Gita is taller than Gautam.
Gītā Gautam se zyādā lambī hai Gita is taller than Gautam.
Gītā Gautam se aur lambī hai Gita is taller than Gautam.
Gītā Gautam jitnī lambī hai Gita is as tall as Gautam.
Gītā Gautam se kam lambī hai Gita is less tall than Gautam.

In the absence of an object of comparison :
HindustaniWord orderMeaning
baccā zyādā baṛā hai The kid is bigger.
baccā utnā hi lambā hai The kid is just as tall.
baccā kam baṛā hai The kid is less big.

HindustaniWord orderMeaning
zyādā baṛā baccā The bigger kid.
utnā hī baṛā baccā The just as big kid.
kam baṛā baccā The shorter kid.

Superlatives are made through comparisons with "all". Comparisons using "least" are rare; it is more common to use an antonym.
HindustaniWord orderMeaning
kamrā sabse sāf hai The room is the cleanest
kamrā sabse kam sāf hai The room is the least clean
kamrā sabse gandā hai The room is the dirtiest

HindustaniWord orderMeaning
sabse sāf kamrā The cleanest room.
sabse kam sāf kamrā The least clean room
sabse gandā kamrā The dirtiest room.

In Sanskritised and Persianised registers of Hindustani, comparative and superlative adjectival forms using suffixes derived from those languages can be found.

Numerals

The numeral systems of several of the Indo-Aryan languages, including Hindustani and Nepali, are typical decimal systems, but contracted to the extent that nearly every number 1–99 is irregular. The first four ordinal numbers are also irregular. The suffix -vā̃ marks ordinals beginning at the number five. The ordinals decline in the same way as the declinable adjectives.
EnglishHindustani CardinalsHindustani Ordinals
zerośūnya, sifarśūnyavā̃
oneekpehlā, avval
twododūsrā, dom
threetīntīsrā
fourcārcauthā
fivepā̃cpā̃cvā̃
sixchah/chehchathā
sevensātsātvā̃
eightāṭhāṭhvā̃
ninenaunauvā̃
tendasdasvā̃
hundredsausauvā̃
thousandhazārhazārvā̃

Postpositions

The aforementioned inflectional case system only goes so far on its own, and rather serves as that upon which is built a system of agglutinative suffixes or particles known as postpositions, which parallel English's prepositions. It is their use with a noun or verb that necessitates the noun or verb taking the oblique case, and it is with them that the locus of grammatical function or "case-marking" then lies. There are seven such one-word primary postpositions.

Primary Postpositions


Secondary Postpositions

Some compound postpositions do not have the genitive marker as their primary postposition, such as:
Compound
Postpositions		Explanation
tak mẽlimitative marker "within"

Tertiary Postpositions

Some other compound postpositions with two secondary postpositions can be constructed by adding primary postpositions to some of the compound postpositions shown above.
Compound
Postpositions		MarkerExplanation
ke bāre mẽ"about""regarding/concerning/about something"
ke bād mẽantessive marker; "after "" something is after something"
ke sāth mẽsociative marker; "with ""something is along/together with something else"
ke nīce mẽsubessive marker; "beneath, below ""location of something is below something else"
kī vajah secausal marker, "because of""something happens/ed beacause of something else"
ke pīche sepostelative marker; "from behind""motion/movement from behind something"
ke andar seinessive marker; "inside","motion/movement from inside something"
ke āge se"from infront""motion/movement from infront of something"
ke pās seadelative marker; "from near ""motion/movement near something"
ke nīce sesubessive marker; "beneath, below""motion/movement from below something"
ke ūpar sedelative marker; "from above""motion/movement from above something"
ke ūpar kosublative marker;"motion/movement onto a surface"
kī taraf ko"towards ""motion/movement towards a direction"


Postpositions from English Prepositions

Some compound postpositions in Hindustani are formed by borrowing prepositions of English and using them as secondary postpositions of the compound postpositions. The meaning expressed by the compound postpositions formed using the English prepositions stay the same as their original meaning in English.
Compound
Postpositions		Explanation
ke infront'"infront"
ke behind"behind"
ke above"above"
ke below"below"
ke through"through"
ke against"against"
ke about"above"
ke around"around"
ke regarding"regarding"
ke according"according"

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Hindustani has personal pronouns for the first and second persons, while for the third person demonstratives are used, which can be categorised deictically as proximate and non-proximate. Pronouns distinguish cases of direct, oblique, and dative/accusative. The latter-most, often called a set of "contracted" forms, is in free variation with the oblique case plus dative postposition. Pronouns do not distinguish gender.
Also displayed in the below table are the genitive pronominal forms to show that the 1st and 2nd pronouns have their own distinctive forms of merā, hamārā, terā, tumhārā apart from the regular formula of OBL. + kā; as well as the ergative pronominal forms to show that the postposition ne does not straightforwardly suffix the oblique bases: rather than *mujh-ne and *tujh-ne, direct bases are used giving mãĩ-ne and tū-ne, and for the 3rd person, along with in-ne and un-ne special ergative oblique forms inhõ-ne and unhõ-ne are used. Compound postpositions must be used with the genitive oblique cases. So, *mujh-ke andar and mujh andar are wrong and instead it should be mere andar. The compound postpositions that have the primary postposition -kī in place of -kā must have the genitive oblique case declined to the feminine gender. So, when using the postposition kī taraf – "towards", it should be merī taraf and not merā taraf or mere taraf.
tū, tum, and āp are the three second person pronouns, constituting a threefold scale of sociolinguistic formality: respectively "intimate", "familiar", and "polite". The "intimate" conjugations are grammatically singular while the "familiar" and "polite" conjugations are grammatically plural. When being referred to in the third person however, only those of the "polite" level of formality are grammatically plural. The following table is partly adapted from.
To form pronouns which are not part of the base pronouns list, primary and secodary postpositions are added after the oblique case regular, genitive and genitive pronouns. The pronoun cases formed using the primary postpositions are shown in the table below:
Notes for pronouns:
Emphatic pronouns of Hindustani are formed by combining the exclusive emphatic particle hī or the inclusive emphatic particle bhī and the pronoun in their regular oblique and direct case. Combining the emphatic particles and the pronouns with end with the consonant -h form a new set of emphatic direct case and emphatic oblique case pronouns. The rest of the pronouns can also be combined with the exclusive emphatic particle but they do not form true pronouns, but simply add the emphatic particle as an adposition after them. The Relative and Interrogatory pronouns can only take the inclusive emphatic particle bhī as an adposition and never the exclusive emphatic particle hī.
apnā is a reflexive pronoun: "my/your/etc. ". Using non-reflexive and reflexive together gives emphasis; e.g. merā apnā "my own". xud, āp, and svayam are some others: "my/your/etc.-self". Bases for oblique usage are usually apne or apne āp . The latter alone can also mean "of one's own accord"; āpas mẽ means "among/between oneselves".

Indefinite Pronouns or Quantifiers

koī and kuch are indefinite pronouns/quantifiers. As pronouns, koī is used for animate singular and kuch for animate plural and inanimates. As quantifiers/adjectives koī is used for singular count nouns and kuch for mass nouns and plural count nouns. koī takes the form kisī in the oblique. The form kaī "several" is partially a plural equivalent to koī. kuch can also act as an adverb, qualifying an adjective, meaning "rather". koī preceding a number takes the meaning of "about, approximately". In this usage it does not oblique to kisī.

Adverbial Pronouns

Note: The feminine plural forms are commonly used as singular respect forms and the feminine singular forms often are used interchangeably with the feminine plural forms.

Adverbs

Hindustani has few underived forms. Adverbs may be derived in ways such as the following —

Overview

The Hindustani verbal system is largely structured around a combination of aspect and tense/mood. Like the nominal system, the Hindustani verb involves successive layers of elements to the right of the lexical base.
Hindustani has 3 aspects: perfective, habitual, and continuous, each having overt morphological correlates. These are participle forms, inflecting for gender and number by way of a vowel termination, like adjectives. The perfective, though displaying a "number of irregularities and morphophonemic adjustments", is the simplest, being just the verb stem followed by the agreement vowel. The habitual forms from the imperfective participle; verb stem, plus -t-, then vowel. The continuous forms periphrastically through compounding with the perfective of rahnā "to stay".
Derived from honā "to be" are five copula forms: present, past, subjunctive, presumptive, contrafactual. Used both in basic predicative/existential sentences and as verbal auxiliaries to aspectual forms, these constitute the basis of tense and mood.
Non-aspectual forms include the infinitive, the imperative, and the conjunctive. Mentioned morphological conditions such the subjunctive, "presumptive", etc. are applicable to both copula roots for auxiliary usage with aspectual forms and to non-copula roots directly for often unspecified finite forms.
Finite verbal agreement is with the nominative subject, except in the transitive perfective, where it is with the direct object, with the erstwhile subject taking the ergative construction -ne. The perfective aspect thus displays split ergativity.
Tabled below on the left are the paradigms for adjectival concord, here only slightly different from that introduced previously: the f. pl. can nasalise under certain conditions. To the right are the paradigms for personal concord, used by the subjunctive.

Verb Inflection

The inflection of standard Hindustani verbs includes:
  • three persons: first, second and third.
  • two numbers: singular and plural.
  • five moods: indicative, contrafactual, presumptive, subjunctive and imperative.
  • two voices: active and passive. The passive voice uses the compound postposition ke dvārā or by converting the verb into a compund verb using the auxiliary verb jānā.
  • two tenses without auxiliary verbs.

    Copula in Hindustani

Modern Hindustani has the present indicative forms of the verb honā and it is the only verb in Hindi to have the simple indicative forms in the present tense.
  • The Imperfect Past forms also do not exist for any other verb except honā. Hindustani uses Present Habitual forms which roughly compensates for the loss of Present Simple Indicative forms, in the contexts where the habitual aspect cannot compensate for the present simple tense, the future simple is used. For example, "the train leaves at 11 am" will be translated as "tren gyārah baje niklegī". The present simple tense of English when it doesn't refer to a habitual action translates to the future tense of Hindustani.
  • For all the verbs except honā, there are no separate forms for the present and the future subjunctive and all the other verbs have a common future/present subjunctive form.
The verb honā can be translated as «to be», «to exist», «to happen» and «to have». The verbs in Hindi are gendered and numbered in general they agree with either the object or the subject of the sentence depending on the whether the sentence uses dative construction or not.
Notes
  • All conjugations in the indicative mood except the future tense can be used as a copula.
  • The conditional mood also duals as the habitual participle.
  • There are two types of imperatives in Hindustani, the present imperative and the future imperative. The present imperative is used to give immediate commands and the deferred imperative is used to give deferred commands.

    Compound Tenses

Periphrastic Hindustani verb forms consist of two elements. The first of these two elements is the aspect marker. The second element is the common tense-mood marker.
Mood & Aspects
Hindustani has three aspects, Habitual aspect, Perfective Aspect and the Progressive Aspect. To construct the progressive aspect and forms, Hindustani makes use of the progressive participle rahā which is derived from the verb rehnā. Unike English and many other Indo-European languages, Hindustani does differentiate between Continuous and the Progressive aspects. So, for e.g. the sentence "mãĩ shirt pehen rahā hū̃" will always translate as "I am of wearing a shirt." and it can never be used to mean "I am wearing a shirt.". In English, however, "I am wearing a shirt." can be used to mean both the idea of progressive action and a continuous action. To convey the continuous state of an action the adjectival partciple is used in HIndustani which is constructed by adding the preterite partciple of verb being followed by the preterite partciple of the copula. So, "I am wearing a shirt." translates in to Hindustani as "mãĩ shirt pehnā huā hū̃."
All the personal forms of the copula of Hindustani in all the aspect and moods are given in the table below:
Notes
  • Habitual Aspect in Hindustani cannot be put into any future moods. However, imperfect progressive forms can be used to form the future forms for habitual aspect do exist as they refer to the future with reference to the present as a progressing state.
  • The progressive aspect refers to an action that either is happening at the moment or a general action that continues happening. For example, "vo ye kitāb paṛh rahā hai " "He is reading a book." and "vo ye kitāb paṛh rahā hai " "He is reading a book ". However, there is also a continuous aspect in Hindustani which unlike the progressive aspect, conveys only a continuous action instead of a progressive action.
Imperfective Aspect Compound Forms
Along with the progressive aspect, the imperfect aspect can also have progressive forms, namely, the habitual progressive, habitual continuous and the perfective progressive.
Note:
  • The perfective progressive refers to an already ongoing continued action. For example, "khaṛā huā rahā hai" , "baiṭhā rahā hai" . Not all verbs can be put into a preterite continuous aspect.
  • The progressive habitual refers to a state that has started some time in the past and continues to some point at the past, the present or some point in the future. "bādal garajte rahe the us din"
  • The habitual continuous refers to an action that happens habitually and continuously. "vo girtā rehtā hai"
    Adjectival Participle
Although there is no continuous aspect in Hindustani, however such forms which convey solely continuity of an action or a state can be constructed by converting the verbs into compound verbs which express continued state. The process is shown below:
  1. baiṭhnā → baiṭhā honā → baiṭhā huā → baiṭhā huā honā
  2. khaṛā honā → khaṛā huā → khaṛā huā honā
  3. marnā → marā honā → marā huā → marā huā honā
  4. honā → huā honā → huā huā → huā huā honā
  5. karnā → kiyā honā → kiyā huā → kiyā huā honā
The adjectival forms, for example, "kiyā huā" means "done", "chalā huā" means "walked", "marā huā" means "dead". Using them with nouns such as "kiyā huā kām" translates as "the done work", "chalā huā baccā" translates as "the walked boy", "marā huā phūl" translates as "the dead flower". Adding the copula after the adjectival forms would convert the adjectival to its continued action form verb.
When this adjective construction is used used with the copula following it, the whole structure together conveys the continuity of the adjectival state. For example, "marā huā hai" would convey that "he is dead", "khaṛā huā hai" translates as "he is standing", " pehnā huā hai" would convey "he is wearing ", "ṭãgā huā hai" would translate as "it is hanging."
Notes:
  • The verbs above which translate to English using the copula "to be" shows that the state of action is continued to the present while when the verbs which translate with the copula "to have" in English convey that the action is done and the continued state of having being done the action is conveyed.
  • The verbs above which translate to English using the copula "to be" in their non-continued action form, convey the same meaning as their continued action form of verbs, however, the verbs which translate with the copula "to have" in English do not convey a continued action in their non-continued action form. So, khaṛā hai and khaṛā huā hai both translate to "he/it is standing" and baiṭhā hai and baiṭhā huā hai both translate to "he/it is sitting". And, huā hai translates to "it has happened" but the closest translation to huā huā hai''' is "it has already happened"

Verb Forms

A summary of all verb forms is given in the tables below. The sample verb is intransitive dauṛnā "to run", and the sample inflection is 3rd. masc. sg. where applicable.
Notes
  • Much of the above chart information derives from.
  • The future tense is formed by adding the suffix gā to the subjunctive, which is a contraction of gaā. The future suffix, conjunctive participle, and suffix vālā are treated as bound morphemes in written Hindi, but as separate words in written Urdu.
  • The present copula seems not to follow along the lines of the regular P system of terminations; while the subjunctive copula is thoroughly irregular. So here are all of their forms.
  • For the 1. subj. sg. copula and list hū̃ while lists hoū̃.
  • lists the polite imperative ending as -iye, while lists it as -ie but -iye after ā, o, ū.
  • The euphonic glide y is inserted in perfective participles between prohibited vowel clusters. It is historically the remnant of the old perfective marker. The clusters are a + ā, ā + ā, o + ā, and ī + ā, resulting in āyā, ayā, oyā, iyā. e.g. khāyā/khāye/khāī/khāī̃.
  • In addition, the combinations ī + ī and i + ī give ī. e.g. piyā/piye/pī/pī̃.
  • As stated, agreement in the transitive perfective is with the direct object, with the erstwhile subject taking the ergative postposition ne. If however the direct object takes the postposition ko, or if no direct object is expressed, then agreement neutralises to default m. sg. -ā.
  • Is this regard, there are a small number of verbs that while perhaps logically transitive still do not take ne and continue to agree with the subject, in the perfective. e.g. lānā "to bring", bhūlnā "to forget", milnā "to meet", etc.
  • Besides supplying the copulas, honā "to be" can be used aspectually: huā "happened, became"; hotā "happens, becomes, is"; ho rahā "happening, being".
  • -ke can be used as a colloquial alternative to -kar for the conjunctive participle of any verb.
  • Hindustani displays a very small number of irregular forms, spelled out in the cells below.
  • The irregular forms are underlined. in the above table.
  • There are two subjunctive stems for the verb honā, one being regular and the other being irregular. The regular set is the future subjunctive forms and the regular ones are the as the present subjunctive forms. honā is the only verb in Hindi to have distinct forms for the future and the present subjunctive, for all other forms there is one common subjunctive form which is used as both the present and the future subjunctive.
  • However, it is jā- that is used as the perfective stem in the rare instance of an intransitive verb like jānā being expressed passively, such as in a passivized imperative/subjunctive construction: ghar jāyā jāe? "Shall go home?".

    Set of Related Verbs

Transitives are morphologically contrastive in Hindustani, leading to the existence of related verb sets divisible along such lines. While the derivation of such forms shows patterns, they do reach a level of variegation so as to make it somewhat difficult to outline all-encompassing rules. Furthermore, some sets may have as many as four to five distinct members; also, the meaning of certain members of given sets may be idiosyncratic. There are five verb forms that a verb in Hindustani can have —
  1. Self Action Form - conveys that the action by the verb was unintentional or happened automatically. It is always intransitive.
  2. Direct Action Form - conveys that the action of the verb was done by the subject of the sentence.
  3. Indirect Action Form - conveys that the subject of the verb made the direct object of the sentence do the action of the verb.
  4. Reflexive Action Form - conveys that the subject of the sentence was the receiver of the action of the verb done by the direct object of the sentence.
  5. Causative Form - conveys that the subject of the sentence is the cause for the end result of the action of the verb.
The Indirect Action form and the Reflexive Action Form are always the same. Also, for many verbs the Direct Transitive is same as the Indirect & Reflexive Action form. Hence, there are either three or four unique verb action forms forms in total depending on the verb.
Starting from self-action or the direct transitive verb stems further transitive/causative stems are produced according to these following assorted rules —
1Root Vowel Change:
  • a → ā
  • u / ū → o
  • i / ī → e.
Sometimes accompanied by root final consonant change:
  • k → c
  • →
  • l → Ø.
2Suffixation of -ā. Often accompanied by:
  • Root vowel change: ū/o → u, e/ai/ā/ī → i.
  • Insertion of semivowel l between such vowel-terminating stems.
    • 3Suffixation of -vā for a "causative".
    The majority of the following are sets culled from and. The lack of self action forms for the verb sets for khānā and kehnā implies that there is no such single-word form for such verbs, however, the equivalent self action forms can be constructed making use of double stemmed compound verbs. Self Action form for khānā ' is xā liyā jānā, and for kehnā ' is either keh liyā jānā or keh diyā jānā, for sīkhnā is sīkh liyā jānā. The word liyā means the action was done for the benefit of the subject of the sentence, while the word diyā signifies that the action was done for the benefit of the object of the sentence.
    • In the causative model of "to cause to be Xed", the agent takes the postposition se. Thus Y se Z banvānā "to cause Z to be made by Y" = "to cause Y to make Z" = "to have Z made by Y" = "to have Y make Z", etc.

      Compound Verbs and Verbal Aspects

    s, a highly visible feature of Hindi–Urdu grammar, consist of a verbal stem plus an auxiliary verb. The auxiliary loses its own independent meaning and instead "lends a certain shade of meaning" to the main or stem verb, which "comprises the lexical core of the compound". While almost any verb can act as a main verb, there is a limited set of productive auxiliaries. Shown below are prominent such auxiliaries, with their independent meaning first outlined, followed by their semantic contribution as auxiliaries. Finally, having to do with the manner of an occurrence, compounds verbs are mostly used with completed actions and imperatives, and much less with negatives, conjunctives, and contexts continuous or speculative. This is because non-occurrences cannot be described to have occurred in a particular manner. The auxiliaries when combined with the main verb changes the aspect of the main verb it modifies. Auxiliary verbs such as jānā "to go", ānā "to come", cuknā when combined with the main verb give the formed compound verb a perfective aspect, while retaining the original meaning of the main verb.
    Auxiliary VerbExplanationMain VerbCompound Verbs
    jānā "to go"Shows perfective aspect of the main verb which means gives
    a sense of completeness of the action, finality, or change of state.    		1. ānā "to come"
    2. khānā "to eat"
    3. marnā "to die"
    4. pīnā "to drink"
    5. baiṭhnā "to sit"
    6. honā "to happen"    		1. ā jānā "to arrive" " to have come"
    2.     khā jānā "to eat up "
    3.     mar jānā "to be dead"
    4.     pī jānā "to drink up " "to gulp"
    5.     baiṭh jānā "to sit down" "to have sit down"
    6. honā jānā     "to have happened " "to have finished happening"
    lenā "to take"suggests that the action is completed and the benefit of the action flows
    towards the doer. This auxiliary verb can also to used to soften down
    the tone of imperatives and usually is used to give sugesstions.    		1. paṛhnā
    2. karnā
    3. calnā
    4. mārnā    		1. "to read "
    2.     kar lenā "to do " "to have finished doing something"
    3.     cal lenā     "to have walked"
    4.     mār lenā     "to kill "
    denā "to give"suggests that the action was completde and the benefit of the action flows
    away from the doer.    		1. paṛhnā
    2. mārnā
    3. karnā    		1. "to read " "to read out"
    2. mār denā "to kill", "to kill off", "to murder"
    3.     kār denā     "to do "
    ānā "to come"Shows perfective aspect of the main verb which means gives
    a sense of completeness of the action, finality, or change of state.
    The meaning conveyed is the doer went somewhere to do something
    and came back after completing the action.    		1. karnā1. kar ānā "to finish ", "to do ";
    cuknā "to have completed somthing"Shows sense of completness of an action in the past, that the action
    was already done/finished/completed by the doer sometime in the past.
    Note: this verb cuknā doesn't have any translatable meaning when used
    by itself. It just adds meaning to other verbs.    		1. marnā
    2. jītnā    		1. mar cuknā "to have already died"
    2.     jīt cuknā "to have already won"

    The first three auxiliaries in the above table are the most common of auxiliaries, and the "least marked", or "lexically nearly colourless". The nuance conveyed by an auxiliary can often be very subtle, and need not always be expressed with different words in English translation. lenā and denā, transitive verbs, occur with transitives, while intransitive jānā occurs mostly with intransitives; a compound of a transitive and jānā will be grammatically intransitive as jānā is.
    Explanation
    "to throw, pour"Indicates an action done vigorously, decisively, violently or recklessly;
    it is an intensifier, showing intensity, urgency, completeness, or violence.    		1. mārnā "to hit/ kill" → "to kill "
    2. pīnā "to drink" → "to drink ".
    "to sit"Implies an action done foolishly or stubbornly; shows speaker disapproval
    or an impulsive or involuntary action.    		1. kehnā "to say" → "to say something "
    2. karnā "to do" → "to do "
    3. "to fight" → "to quarrel ".
    "to sudenly fall" "to lie flat"Connotes involuntary, sudden, or unavoidable occurrence;1. uṭhnā "to get up" → uṭh "to suddenly get up"
    "to rise"Functions like an intensifier; suggests inception of action or feeling,
    with its independent/literal meaning sometimes showing through
    in a sense of upward movement.    		1. jalnā "to burn" → "to burst into flames"
    2.     nacnā "to dance" → "to break into dance".
    "to be able to"A modal verb that indicates the capability of performing an action.1. karnā "to do" → kar saknā "to be able to do"
    2.     dekhnā "to see" → dekh sakhnā "to be able to see"
    rakhnā "to keep, maintain"Implies a firmness of action, or one with possibly long-lasting results or implications;
    occurs with lenā and denā, meaning "to give/take ",
    and with other appropriate verbs, showing an action performed beforehand.
    It usually works almost the same as     cuknā the main difference being the nuance conveyed
    by rakhnā is that the action has either "continued effect till the present time" or "is more
    recent than the same action conveyed using the     cuknā.". cuknā signifies distant past.    		1. dekhnā "to see" → dekh rakhnā "to have already seen."
    rahnā "to remain/stay"The continuous aspect marker rahā apparently originated as a compound verb with rahnā :
    thus     mãĩ bol rahā hū̃ = "I have remained speaking" → "I have continued speaking" → "I am speaking".
    However, it has lost the ability to take any form other than the imperfective, and is thus considered
    to have become grammaticalized.

    Finally, having to do with the manner of an occurrence, compounds verbs are mostly used with completed actions and imperatives, and much less with negatives, conjunctives, and contexts continuous or speculative. This is because non-occurrences cannot be described to have occurred in a particular manner.

    Conjuncts

    Another notable aspect of Hindi–Urdu grammar is that of "conjunct verbs", composed of a noun or adjective paired up with a general verbaliser, most commonly transitive karnā "to do" or intransitive honā "to be", "to happen", functioning in the place of what in English would be single unified verb. All conjunct verbs formed using karnā are transitive verbs and all conjunct verbs formed using the verb honā are intransitive verbs.
    In the case of an adjective as the non-verbal element, it is often helps to think of karnā "to do" as supplementarily having the senses of "to cause to be", "to make", "to render", etc.
    AdjectiveConjunctLiteralMeaning
    sāf "clean"sāf karnāto do cleanto clean
    niyukt/muqarrar "appointed"niyukt/muqarrar karnāto do appointedto appoint
    band "closed"band honāto be closedto close
    xatam "finished"xatam honāto be finishedto finish

    In the case of a noun as the non-verbal element, it is treated syntactically as the verb's object, and the semantic patient of the conjunct verbal expression is often expressed/marked syntactically as a genitive adjunct of the noun.
    NounConjunctConjunct + patientLiteralMeaning
    intezār "wait"intezār karnākisī kā intezār karnāto do somebody's waitto wait for somebody
    istemāl "use"istemāl karnāfon kā istemāl karnāto do a phone's useto use a phone
    bāt "talk"bāt karnāsamīr kī bāt karnāto do Sameer's talkto talk about Sameer
    gālī "cuss/bad word"gālī khānāsanam kī gālī khānāto eat a lover's curseto be cursed out by one's lover
    tasvīr "picture"tasvīr khīñcnā/khicvānāIbrāhīm kī tasvīr khīñcnā/khicvānā to pull Ibrahim's pictureto take Ibrahim's picture

    With English it is the verb stems themselves that are used. All English loan words are used by forming compound verbs in Hindi by using either honā or karnā.
    English VerbHindi Verb StemConjunctsMeaning
    checkcêkcêk honāto be/get checked
    checkcêkcêk karnāto check
    boreborbor honāto be/get bored
    boreborbor karnāto bore
    applyaplāiaplāi honāto be/get applied
    applyaplāiaplāi karnāto apply

    Passive

    The passive construction is periphrastic. It is formed from the perfective participle by addition of the auxiliary jānā "to go"; i.e. likhnā "to write" → likhā jānā "to be written". The agent is marked by the postposition se. Furthermore, both intransitive and transitive verbs may be grammatically passivized to show physical/psychological incapacity, usually in negative sentences. Lastly, intransitives often have a passive sense, or convey unintentional action.

    Syntax

    Word Order

    Default word order of Hindustani is SOV. However, it is neither purely left-branching nor right-branching, and phenomena of both types can be found. The order of constituents in sentences as a whole lacks governing "hard and fast rules", and frequent deviations can be found from normative word position, describable in terms of a small number of rules, accounting for facts beyond the pale of the label of "SOV".
    • Subject precedes the direct object of the sentence if both the dative and the accusative case marks the objects of a sentence. Prescriptively, the relative position is fixed in order to make it unambiguous which is the direct object and which is the in-direct object in the sentence as both the dative case and the accusative case is the same in Hindustani and are marked by the same postposition -ko.
    • Attributive adjectives precede the noun they qualify by default, but can also be placed after the noun, doing that usually makes the sentence sound either more poetic or gives as stronger emphasises on the attribute that the adjective describes.
    • Adverbs precede the adjectives they qualify.
    • Negative markers and interrogatives precede the verb by default but can also appear after it, however the position for negation can be more flexible and the negation can occur before or after the auxiliary verbs too if the sentence has an auxiliary verb. Whenever the negation comes after the verbs instead of before the verb, it always emphasises the negation. The negation can never come before a noun.
    • kyā as the yes-no question marker occurs at the beginning or the end of a clause as its default position but it usually can be put anywhere in the sentence where it cannot be interpreted as the its original meaning "what".
    Hindustani is a free word order language, in the sense that word order does not usually signal grammatical functions in the language. In the example below, it is shown that all word orders make sense for simple sentences, which do not have adjectives, negations and adverbs. As a general rule, whatever information comes first in the sentence gets emphasised and the information which appears at the end of a sentence gets emphasised the least.
    As long as both dative and the accusative case are not used in the sentence, the word order flexibility remains. For example, in the table below the locative and the accusative case is used in the same sentence, the word order is flexible because the markers for the locative and the accusative cases are different but in Hindustani, the marker for the accusative and the dative case are the same, which is ko for nouns and the oblique case pronouns or they have their own unique pronoun forms which are the same for dative and the accusative case.


    Usage of Dative/Accusative Noun + Accusative/Dative Pronoun
    When noun and pronoun are used together in a sentence and one is in accusative case while the other is in the dative case, there is no way to differentiate which one is which just by looking at the sentence. Usually in such cases, owing to the default word order of Hindi which noun/pronoun comes earlier in the sentence becomes the subject of the sentence and what comes later becomes the object of the sentence.


    Usage of Dative Noun + Accusative Noun
    Nouns in Hindi are put in the dative or accusative case first having the noun in the oblique case and then by adding the postposition ko after it. However, when two nouns are used in a sentence in which one of them is in the accusative case and the other in the dative case, the sentence becomes ambiguous and stops making sense, so, to make sense of the sentence, one of the noun is put into the nominative case and the other one is left as it is. The noun which is put into the nominative case becomes the direct object of the sentence and the other one becomes the indirect object of the sentence.
    When both the nouns use the ko marker, generally, all permutations in which the nouns with the same case marker are adjacent to one another become ambiguous and convey no sense.
    SentenceNoteTranslation
    **sā̃p-ko sapere-ko dowith proper intonation it makes sensegive the snake to the snake-charmer.
    sā̃p-ko do sapere-kogive the snake to the snake-charmer.
    *sãpere-ko sā̃p-ko dodoesn't make sense-
    sãpere-ko do sā̃p-kogive the snake-charmer to the snake.
    **do sãpere-ko sā̃p-kodoesn't make sense-
    **do sā̃p-ko sapere-kowith proper intonation it makes sensegive the snake to the snake-charmer

    The ko marker in front of the word sā̃p has been removed, leaving it in the nominative case. Now, it acts as the indirect object of the sentence and sãpera becomes the direct object of the sentence. The English translation becomes "Give the snake-charmer a snake." and when the opposite is done, the English translation of the sentence becomes "Give the snake a snake-charmer."
    SentenceTranslationSentenceTranslation
    sā̃p sãpere-ko doGive the snake-charmer a snakesā̃p-ko sãpere doGive the snake a snake-charmer
    sā̃p do sãpere-koGive the snake-charmer a snakesā̃p-ko do sãpereGive the snake a snake-charmer
    sãpere-ko sā̃p doGive the snake-charmer a snakesãpere sā̃p-ko doGive the snake a snake-charmer
    sãpere-ko do sā̃pGive the snake-charmer a snakesãpere do sā̃p-koGive the snake a snake-charmer
    do sãpere-ko sā̃pGive the snake-charmer a snakedo sãpere sā̃p-koGive the snake a snake-charmer
    do sā̃p sãpere-koGive the snake-charmer a snakedo sā̃p-ko sãpereGive the snake a snake-charmer



    Usage of Dative Pronoun + Accusative Pronoun
    When two pronouns are used in a sentence, all the sentences remain grammatically valid but the ambiguity of precisely telling the subject and the object of the sentence remains. However, just as we did above, converting one the pronoun into nominative case does not work for all pronouns but only for the 3rd person pronouns and doing that for any other pronoun will leave the sentence ungrammatical and without sense. The reason that this works only for the 3rd person pronoun because these are not really the "regular" 3rd person pronouns but are instead the demonstrative pronouns. Hindustani lacks the regular 3rd person pronouns and hence compensates for them by using the demonstrative pronouns.
    So, the ambiguity cannot completely be removed in this case here, unless of course it is interpreted that what comes first becomes the subject of the sentence. The English translation becomes either "Give me to that/him/her/it." or "Give me that/him/her/it." depending on which pronoun appears first in the sentence.

    Possession

    Unlike English and many other Indo-European languages, Hindustani doesn't have a verb which directly transate to "to have" of English. Possession is reflected in Hindustani by the genitive marker kā or the postposition ke pās and the verb honā. Possible objects of possession fall into the following three main categories in Hindustani,
    1. Fundamental possessions: These are possessions that are of permanent nature, which one has not obtained but got naturally and cannot be owned. These include, family relations, body parts, etc.
    2. Non-Fundamental possessions: These are possessions that one has obtained or can be owned. These include possession of any object, living beings, etc.
    3. Proximal possessions: These are possessions that show that someone or something has something near themselves.
    • For indicating fundamental possessions, kā appears after the subject of the possession. With personal pronouns, this requires the use of the possessive pronoun.
    • For indicating non-fundamental possessions, the compound postposition ke pās is used. However, this postposition cannot ever be translated as "near", showing proximity.
    • For indicating proximity of the object to the subject, the double compound postposition ke pās mẽ is used. It translates as "nearby".
    SentenceLiteralTranslationExplanation
    1merī mā̃ hai I have a mother.means that your mother is still alive, and hence in a fundamental way you still possess her, as in, the relationship "she is your mother" is true.
    2uskī do ā̃khẽ haĩ He/She has two eyes.means that a person fundamentally/naturally has two eyes. The person was born like that.
    3mere do bacce haĩ I have two children.means you are the parent of two kids. The relationship is permenant.
    4merī nazar acchī nahī̃ hai My vision is not good.as vision is a fundamental property of a person and hence it cannot be owned and so the fundamental possesion is used.

    Note: The verb honā can be translated as "to be", "to have/possess", "to exist" or "to happen" depending on the context. The third person singular and plural conjugations can be translated as "there is" and "there are" respectively.
    SentenceLiteralTranslationExplanation
    1.mere pās mā̃ hai I have a mother.means the same as the non-fundamental possesion, but with the nuance that you and your mother are physically together or close.
    2.uske pās do ā̃khẽ haĩ He/She has two eyes.means the same as the non-fundamental possesion, but also has an additional meaning of possession of someone else's eye.
    3.mere pās do bacce haĩ I have two kids.means that you have kids of some other person, usually used in situations of school, kidnapping, etc.
    4.mere pās ek idea hai I have an idea.means that you possess an idea. An idea occurred to you.

    Note: Sometimes when talking about physical objects both the fundamental and non-fundamental possessions are used interchangeably when the meaning conveyed in both cases doesn't lead to confusion. For example, mere do kutte haĩ and mere pās do kutte haĩ are often used interchangeably when referring to pet dogs, with the sentence with the fundamental possession showing or having more emotional attachment. The reason these both are used interchangeably because it is a priori understood that the dogs in the context must be pet dogs. Same happens with the second example above on both the tables conveying the possession of eyes; it is understood that the eyes in the context are one's own. In the contexts where such a priori information is not immediately understood, these two types of possessions cannot be used interchangeably.
    SentenceLiteralTranslation
    1.mere pās mẽ mā̃ hai "Mother is near me." or, "I have mother near me."
    2.uske pās mẽ do kutte haĩ "There are two dogs near him/her." or, "He/She/It has two dogs near him/her/it."
    3.mere pās mẽ do bacce haĩ "I have two kids near me."
    4.mere pās mẽ ek ghar hai "I have a house near me."

    Relativisation

    Rather than using relative clauses after nouns, as in English, Hindustani uses correlative clauses. In Hindustani, a correlative clause can go before or after the entire clause, the adjective, the noun, the pronoun or the verb it relativises.
    SentenceSentence StructureTranslationNote
    1.jo laṛkī khaṛī hai vo lambī hai..REL .F.SG .PTCP.F.SG .PRS.3P.SG. .DEM .F.SG .PRS.3P.SG.The girl who is standing, she is tall.pre-noun relative clause
    2.bacca jo cillātā hai bura hai..MASC.SG. .REL .PTCP.M.SG .PRS.3P.SG .ADJ.MASC.SING .PRS.3P.SG kid who shouts is bad.post-noun relative clause
    3.vo khātā hai jo vo khātā hai..DEM .PTCP.M.SG .PRS.3P.SG .REL .DEM .PTCP.M.SG .PRS.3P.SGHe eats what he eats.post-verb relative clause
    4. karo jo karnā hai ..DIR .IMP.2P.SG .REL .INF .PRS.3P.SG .DATDo what want/have to do.pre-verb relative clause
    5.jo karo sahī karo..REL .IMP.2P.SG .ADJ .IMP.2P.SGDo correctly what you do.pre-verb relative clause
    6.acchī̃ nahī̃ haī̃ vo jo gātī̃ haī̃..ADJ.FEM.PLU .IND .PRS.3P.PLU .DIR.FEM. .REL .PTCP.FEM.PLU .PRS.3P.PLUThose who sing are not good.post-pronoun relative clause
    7.jo tum karoge sahī karoge..REL .DIR .FUT.MASC.SG .ADJ .FUT.MASC.SGWhat you'll do, you'll do correct.pre-pronoun relative clause
    8.acchī jo haī vo vo laṛkī haī..ADJ.FEM.SG .REL .PRS.3P.SG .REL .DEM .DIR.SG. .PRS.3P.SG. girl who is good is her.post-adjective relative clause
    9.jo acchī haī vo vo laṛkī haī..REL .ADJ.FEM.SG .PRS.3P.SG .REL .DEM .DIR.SG. .PRS.3P.SG. girl who is good is her.pre-adjective relative clause

    Note:
    1. The relative pronoun jo can be used as both relative "what" and relative "who".
    Pre-adjective relative clauses often have two relative pronouns whenever the adjective is used relative to a noun, the first relative pronoun is the actual relative pronoun jo and the second is the demonstrative pronoun vo which doubles as the secondary relative pronoun. The sentence jo acchī haī vo laṛkī haī. also is grammatically correct but means " who is good is girl." and "jo acchī haī vo vo laṛkī haī." means "the girl who is good is that girl."

    Case-marking and verb agreement

    Hindustani has tripartite case-marking, which means that the subject in intransitive clauses, and the agent and the object in transitive clauses each can be marked by a distinct case form. The full set of case distinctions is however only realized in certain clause types.
    In intransitive clauses, the subject is in direct case. The verb displays agreement with the subject: depending on aspect and mood, the verb agrees in gender and number, and/or person and number.
    In transitive clauses, there are three patterns:
    ;1. Perfective clauses with animate/definite object
    Fully distinctive case marking is found in perfective clauses with animate and/or definite objects. Here, the agent takes the ergative case marker ne, while the object takes the accusative case marker ko. The verb does not agree with either of the core arguments, but is marked per default as third person masculine singular.
    ;2. Perfective clauses with inanimate/indefinite object
    In perfective clauses with an indefinite object, the agent keeps the ergative case marker, but the object is in direct case. The verb agrees with the object: the perfective form calāyī hai is marked for feminine gender, agreeing with the gender of the object gāṛī.
    ;3. Non-perfective clauses
    In all other clause types, the agent is in direct case and triggers agreement on the verb. The object is either in direct case or accusative case, depending on animacy/definiteness
    The following table summarises the three case-marking and agreement types.

    See Also

    OWIKI.org. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.