Learn about grammatical gender in the Hindi language
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Intro |
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| Alisha: How can a word be masculine or feminine? |
| Shakti: And how do you determine a noun's gender in Hindi? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Karen Lee is at a flower shop with her friend, Hagar Horovitz, and is looking to buy some flowers. She choses what she wants and says to the clerk, "A rose and a lily." |
| कैरन: एक गुलाब और एक कुमुदिनी। (ek guLaab aur ek kumuDiNii.) |
| Dialogue |
| कैरन: एक गुलाब और एक कुमुदिनी। (ek guLaab aur ek kumuDiNii.) |
| जिग्ना: सिर्फ़ एक गुलाब और एक कुमुदिनी? (Sirf ek guLaab aur ek kumuDiNii?) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| कैरन: एक गुलाब और एक कुमुदिनी। (ek guLaab aur ek kumuDiNii.) |
| Alisha: "A rose and a lily." |
| जिग्ना: सिर्फ़ एक गुलाब और एक कुमुदिनी? (Sirf ek guLaab aur ek kumuDiNii?) |
| Alisha: "Only a rose and a lily?" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: In Hindi, everything, including inanimate objects, has a gender, so all the nouns are either masculine or feminine. It is important to know the gender of the nouns because other words in the sentence, such as verbs, will change depending on the gender of the noun. |
| Shakti: In our dialogue, गुलाब (guLaab), which means "rose" in English, is masculine. But "lily," that is, कुमुदिनी (kumuDiNii), is feminine. |
| Alisha: Knowing the gender of a noun is important because, when constructing a sentence, we need to use the correct verb to conjugate with the respective gender. For instance, in English, we can easily say "The window is broken" without any reference to its gender. But, in Hindi, we need to know the gender of the noun, that is, window, to form a correct sentence. How do you say "The window is broken" in Hindi? |
| Shakti: खिड़की टूट गई है। (khidakii tuut gayii hai.) |
| Alisha: Now, let's see how would you say "The door is broken" in Hindi? |
| Shakti: दरवाज़ा टूट गया है। (Daravaazaa tuut gayaa hai.) |
| Shakti: Notice how the verb in the first sentence, गई (gayii), changes in the second sentence to गया (gayaa). |
| Alisha: This is because, in Hindi, "window" is a feminine noun, whereas "door" is masculine, so the verb changes according to the gender of the noun. Now, how do you know which nouns are masculine and which are feminine? |
| Shakti: There is no hard and fast rule here, but, generally, if the noun ends with an आ (aa), like in "door," or दरवाज़ा (Daravaazaa), the noun is considered to be masculine. If the noun ends with an ई (ii), like in "window," or खिड़की (khidakii), the noun is considered to be feminine. |
| Alisha: These are often referred to as marked nouns in Hindi and these have a typical way of changing from singular to plural. |
| Shakti: Yes, marked masculine nouns, that is, those that end with the आ (aa) sound change to ए (e). For example, लड़का (Ladakaa) or "boy," changes to लड़के (Ladake), "boys." |
| Alisha: What about marked feminine nouns? How do they change from singular to plural? |
| Shakti: A marked feminine noun changes from ई (ii) to इयाँ (iiyaan). For example, लड़की (Ladakii) "girl," changes to लड़कियाँ (Ladakiyaan), "girls." |
| Alisha: How about we take a few more examples and find out which objects are masculine and which are feminine in Hindi. So, tell us, is a "chair" feminine or masculine? |
| Shakti: In Hindi, a "chair" is called कुर्सी (kurSii). |
| Alisha: Remember the rule here? |
| Shakti: If a noun ends with an ई (ii) the noun is considered to be feminine and this rule will apply to the word कुर्सी (kurSii), which ends with an ई (ii). |
| Alisha: This means that "chair" in Hindi is feminine. Now, let's see how it changes from singular to plural. |
| Shakti: The rule is that a marked feminine noun changes from ई (ii) to इयाँ (iiyaan). So, कुर्सी (kurSii) becomes कुर्सियाँ (kurSiyaan). |
| Alisha: Now, let's pick a marked masculine noun. |
| Shakti: कपड़ा (kapadaa), which means "cloth." |
| Alisha: Do you remember the rule here? |
| Shakti: If the noun ends with an आ (aa), it is considered to be masculine. |
| Alisha: So, "cloth" in Hindi is a marked masculine noun. And how does it change from singular to plural? |
| Shakti: कपड़ा (kapadaa) becomes कपड़े (kapade). |
| Alisha: But, there may be exceptions to this rule. |
| Shakti: Yes, indeed. Let's take the word चिड़िया (cidiyaa), which means "bird." This has a clear आ (aa) sound at the end, but it is treated as feminine. |
| Alisha: These are called unmarked feminine nouns. So, how does the noun "bird" change from singular to plural? |
| Shakti: We just add a nasalization at the end to make it plural. So, चिड़िया (cidiyaa) becomes चिड़ियाँ (cidiyaan). |
| Alisha: Let's try this one more time and listen carefully to hear the difference. "Bird" singular is... |
| Shakti: चिड़िया (cidiyaa), |
| Alisha: and "birds" plural is... |
| Shakti: चिड़ियाँ (cidiyaan), |
| Alisha: but this is not always the case. |
| Shakti: No. For example, "language" in Hindi is भाषा (bhaasaa). But, it is considered to be a feminine noun and not masculine. |
| Alisha: When you want to change "language" to "languages," how do you do it? |
| Shakti: We add an एँ (en) sound to it. That is, भाषा (bhaasaa) becomes भाषाएँ (bhaasaaen). |
| Alisha: Here is an interesting thing to remember about languages in Hindi. Since the word "language" is feminine, all languages are treated as feminine in Hindi. |
| Now, let's take an example of an unmarked masculine noun. |
| Shakti: पानी (paaNii) or "water." Although this ends with an ई (ii), it is not considered feminine but masculine. |
| Alisha: But do all nouns end with these two sounds? |
| Shakti: No. Some nouns don't end with a आ (aa) or ई (ii) sound. For example, मेज़ (mez), which means "table," is considered to be an unmarked feminine noun. |
| Alisha: In contrast, "home" in Hindi is considered masculine. |
| Shakti: Yes, in Hindi, "home" is घर (ghar). This is an unmarked masculine noun. |
| Alisha: Now, let's take a look at a few more helpful tips which can help you decide whether a noun or proper noun is feminine or masculine. Just like all languages are feminine nouns in Hindi, all weapons and rivers are treated as feminine nouns. Isn't that so? |
| Shakti: Yes! In addition to this, if you notice any noun which ends with ता (Taa) and आवट (aavat), it will most likely be a feminine noun. Here is an example of a noun ending with ता (Taa) - सफलता (SaphaLaTaa) or "success." Now, let's take an example of a noun ending with आवट (aavat) - सजावट (Sajaavat) or "decoration." |
| Alisha: Hindi also treats these as masculine nouns, irrespective of how they end—countries, metals, planets, stones, days of the week, mountains, and seas. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Interesting, huh? We hope that these tips will help make it easier for you to identify the gender of nouns and form correct sentences! Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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