Parts of Speech and Grammatical Agreement

Introduction

Hindi grammar is not merely a system of labels; it is a system for constructing meanings accurately. In academic, administrative and business communication, a speaker or writer must select suitable nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, postpositions and conjunctions, and must ensure that related words agree appropriately. Errors in gender, number, person, case, tense, aspect or mood can change meaning, reduce clarity and create an unprofessional impression.

Hindi differs significantly from English. It generally follows Subject–Object–Verb order, uses postpositions rather than prepositions, and marks grammatical relationships through both word forms and postpositions. For example, English says “in the office,” whereas Hindi says कार्यालय में (kāryālay mēṃ), literally “office in.” Hindi also has grammatical gender, commonly masculine and feminine, which affects adjectives and verbs.

This chapter develops a practical framework for using the principal parts of speech and applying grammatical agreement in professional Hindi.

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, the learner should be able to:

1. Identify and use nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, postpositions and conjunctions.
2. Distinguish gender, number, person and case in Hindi sentences.
3. Construct sentences with appropriate tense, aspect and mood.
4. Apply agreement between subjects, objects, adjectives and verbs.
5. Analyse and correct common grammatical errors in workplace communication.

1. The Hindi Sentence as a Grammatical System

A basic Hindi sentence often has the following pattern:

Subject + Object/Complement + Verb

रीमा रिपोर्ट पढ़ती है।

Rīmā report paṛhtī hai.

“Reema reads the report.”

The subject रीमा is feminine singular; therefore, the habitual verb पढ़ती agrees with it. The auxiliary है also reflects singular agreement in the present construction.

Hindi word order is flexible because case markers and postpositions clarify relationships. However, the neutral order remains Subject–Object–Verb:

प्रबंधक कर्मचारियों को निर्देश देता है।

“The manager gives instructions to the employees.”

Here, को marks the recipient or affected participant, and देता है is the verb phrase.

2. Parts of Speech

2.1 Nouns (संज्ञा)

A noun names a person, place, object, institution, quality or idea. Examples include:

• Person: प्रबंधक (manager), ग्राहक (customer)
• Place: कार्यालय (office), बाज़ार (market)
• Object: दस्तावेज़ (document), कंप्यूटर (computer)
• Institution: कंपनी (company), बैंक (bank)
• Abstract idea: ईमानदारी (honesty), सफलता (success)

Hindi nouns are classified by gender and number. Gender is grammatical, not necessarily biological. For example, किताब (book) is feminine, while कमरा (room) is masculine.

#### Gender patterns

Many masculine nouns ending in आ change to ए in the plural, while feminine nouns ending in ई often change to इयाँ or remain unchanged depending on the noun and construction.

These are productive patterns, not absolute rules. Borrowed and irregular nouns must be learned individually: आदमी (man) becomes आदमी or आदमियों, and महिला (woman) becomes महिलाएँ or महिलाओं.

#### Number

Hindi distinguishes singular and plural. A noun may also take an oblique form before a postposition:

लड़के आए। (The boys came.)

लड़कों ने काम किया। (The boys did the work.)

In the second sentence, लड़कों is the oblique plural form because the noun is followed by ने.

2.2 Pronouns (सर्वनाम)

Pronouns replace nouns and prevent repetition. Important classes include personal, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, indefinite and reflexive pronouns.

#### Personal pronouns

आप is grammatically plural even when addressing one respected person. Thus, one says आप कैसे हैं? (“How are you?”), not आप कैसे है?

Hindi pronouns change form after postpositions:

• मैं → मुझसे (from/by me), मुझे (to me), मेरा (my)
• तुम → तुमसे, तुम्हें, तुम्हारा
• वह → उससे, उसे, उसका
• हम → हमसे, हमें, हमारा

#### Demonstrative and relative pronouns

यह and वह may function as pronouns or determiners:

यह उपयोगी है। (This is useful.)

यह रिपोर्ट उपयोगी है। (This report is useful.)

The paired construction जो…वह means “who/which…that,” and जैसा…वैसा means “as…so”:

जो कर्मचारी समय पर आता है, वह विश्वसनीय होता है।

“The employee who arrives on time is reliable.”

#### Reflexive pronoun

अपना, अपनी and अपने refer back to the subject of the clause:

रवि अपनी रिपोर्ट भेजता है।

“Ravi sends his own report.”

रवि उसकी रिपोर्ट भेजता है means “Ravi sends his/her report,” where the report belongs to another person. This distinction is important in formal writing.

2.3 Adjectives (विशेषण)

An adjective qualifies a noun. Hindi adjectives are either variable or invariable.

Variable adjectives, especially those ending in आ, agree with the noun in gender and number:

• अच्छा प्रबंधक (a good male manager)
• अच्छी प्रबंधक? This is normally avoided because प्रबंधक commonly refers to a male or gender-neutral professional; a feminine noun such as प्रबंधिका takes अच्छी: अच्छी प्रबंधिका.
• अच्छे प्रबंधक (good managers)
• अच्छा निर्णय (good decision)
• अच्छे निर्णय (good decisions)

In oblique contexts, masculine plural or masculine singular nouns often require अच्छे:

अच्छे प्रबंधक से बात करें।

“Speak to a good manager.”

Invariable adjectives do not change:

महत्वपूर्ण रिपोर्ट, महत्वपूर्ण रिपोर्टें, महत्वपूर्ण निर्णय.

Other common invariable adjectives include सुंदर, गंभीर, आधुनिक and आवश्यक.

Adjectives can be attributive, occurring before a noun, or predicative, occurring with होना:

रिपोर्ट लंबी है।

“The report is long.”

When an adjective is used predicatively, it generally agrees with the subject: रिपोर्ट लंबी है; दस्तावेज़ लंबा है; रिपोर्टें लंबी हैं.

2.4 Verbs (क्रिया)

A verb expresses an action, event, state or process. Hindi verb phrases consist of a verb stem, aspectual or tense forms, and often an auxiliary.

The infinitive commonly ends in ना: करना (to do), पढ़ना (to read), भेजना (to send), होना (to be). The infinitive stem is obtained by removing ना: कर-, पढ़-, भेज-, हो-.

Hindi verbs encode person, number, gender, tense, aspect and mood, although not every form expresses all categories equally.

#### Transitive and intransitive verbs

An intransitive verb does not normally take a direct object:

कर्मचारी आया। (The employee came.)

A transitive verb takes an object:

कर्मचारी ने रिपोर्ट पढ़ी। (The employee read the report.)

The distinction becomes important for past-tense agreement.

2.5 Adverbs (क्रियाविशेषण)

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or entire clauses. They express manner, time, place, frequency, degree or viewpoint.

• Manner: धीरे (slowly), सावधानी से (carefully)
• Time: आज (today), कल (yesterday/tomorrow), तुरंत (immediately)
• Place: यहाँ (here), वहाँ (there)
• Frequency: हमेशा (always), कभी-कभी (sometimes)
• Degree: बहुत (very), अधिक (more), लगभग (approximately)

Adverbs generally do not agree with gender or number:

वह जल्दी आया।

वह जल्दी आई।

The adverb जल्दी remains unchanged; the verb changes according to the subject.

Adverbial phrases often use से:

कृपया दस्तावेज़ ध्यान से पढ़ें।

“Please read the document carefully.”

2.6 Postpositions (परसर्ग)

Hindi uses postpositions after nouns and pronouns. The noun preceding a postposition normally appears in the oblique form.

The possessive postposition agrees with the possessed noun, not the possessor:

राहुल की रिपोर्ट (Rahul’s report)

राहुल का विभाग (Rahul’s department)

राहुल के दस्तावेज़ (Rahul’s documents)

The possessor remains the same; का, की or के reflects the gender and number of the item possessed.

2.7 Conjunctions (समुच्चयबोधक)

Conjunctions link words, phrases or clauses.

• Coordinating: और (and), लेकिन/परंतु (but), या (or)
• Causal: क्योंकि (because), इसलिए (therefore)
• Conditional: यदि/अगर…तो (if…then)
• Correlative: न केवल…बल्कि (not only…but also), या तो…या (either…or)
• Subordinating: जब…तब (when…then), ताकि (so that), जबकि (whereas)

Examples:

कंपनी ने प्रशिक्षण दिया और कर्मचारियों का प्रदर्शन सुधरा।

“The company provided training and employee performance improved.”

यदि आप समय पर आवेदन करेंगे, तो प्रक्रिया शीघ्र पूरी होगी।

“If you apply on time, the process will be completed quickly.”

Conjunctions help establish logical relations essential to reports and business proposals.

3. Grammatical Agreement

Agreement means that one word adopts a form associated with another word. Hindi agreement is primarily governed by gender, number, person and grammatical construction.

3.1 Gender agreement

In present-tense copular sentences, adjectives agree with the subject:

यह नीति स्पष्ट है। (This policy is clear.)

ये नीतियाँ स्पष्ट हैं। (These policies are clear.)

With a masculine singular subject, an आ adjective generally ends in आ; with feminine singular, ई; with masculine plural, ए; and with feminine plural, ई:

नया नियम, नई नीति, नए नियम, नई नीतियाँ.

3.2 Number agreement

Plural subjects generally require plural verbs and auxiliaries:

कर्मचारी काम करता है।

कर्मचारी काम करते हैं।

The noun कर्मचारी has the same written form in singular and plural in some contexts; the verb helps identify number.

3.3 Person and honorific agreement

मैं commonly takes हूँ in the present:

मैं तैयार हूँ।

हम and आप take हैं:

हम तैयार हैं। आप तैयार हैं।

तुम take हो:

तुम तैयार हो।

Third-person singular takes है and plural takes हैं:

वह तैयार है। वे तैयार हैं।

Respectful reference to one person also takes plural agreement: श्रीमती शर्मा बैठक में हैं।

4. Tense, Aspect and Mood

Tense locates an event in time; aspect describes whether an event is completed, ongoing or habitual; mood expresses the speaker’s attitude, such as command, possibility, obligation or condition.

4.1 Present habitual

The habitual participle uses the verb stem plus ता, ती or ते, followed by the appropriate form of होना:

• मैं पढ़ता/पढ़ती हूँ।
• वह पढ़ता है / वह पढ़ती है।
• वे पढ़ते हैं.

The form agrees with the subject in ordinary intransitive and non-perfective constructions.

4.2 Present progressive

The progressive uses रहा, रही or रहे with the auxiliary:

• वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ रहा है।
• वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ रही है।
• कर्मचारी रिपोर्ट पढ़ रहे हैं।

This construction presents an action as ongoing.

4.3 Perfective or simple past

The perfective participle commonly ends in आ, ई or ए:

• उसने पत्र लिखा।
• उसने रिपोर्ट लिखी।
• उसने पत्र लिखे।

With a transitive verb in the perfective, ने marks the agent. The verb usually agrees with the direct object if that object is not marked by को. Thus, रिपोर्ट feminine singular causes लिखी, whereas पत्र masculine singular causes लिखा.

If the object is marked with को, the verb commonly takes a default masculine singular form:

सीमा ने रिपोर्ट को पढ़ा।

In natural usage, को is often omitted with an indefinite or ordinary direct object, so सीमा ने रिपोर्ट पढ़ी is more usual.

Intransitive perfective verbs agree with the subject:

सीमा आई। कर्मचारी आए।

4.4 Future

Future forms express expected or planned events:

• मैं करूँगा/करूँगी।
• वह करेगा/करेगी।
• वे करेंगे.

The future reflects person, number and, in many forms, gender. Formal communication should distinguish definite commitments from predictions.

4.5 Imperative, possibility and obligation

The imperative expresses commands or requests:

बैठिए। (Please sit.)

कृपया रिपोर्ट भेजें। (Please send the report.)

The subjunctive or potential use of forms such as हो, करे and जाए can express possibility or desire:

शायद बैठक कल हो। (Perhaps the meeting will be tomorrow.)

Obligation is commonly expressed with चाहिए or पड़ेगा:

आपको आवेदन जमा करना चाहिए।

“You should submit the application.”

हमें समय पर पहुँचना पड़ेगा।

“We will have to arrive on time.”

5. Case, Ergative Constructions and Agreement

Hindi does not have a case system identical to Latin or Sanskrit, but postpositions and pronoun forms mark grammatical relations. The major practical relations are subject, object, recipient, instrument, source, location and possession.

The marker ने is associated mainly with perfective transitive clauses:

प्रबंधक ने योजना बनाई।

The marker ने does not itself mean “by” in every context; it signals the agentive construction in particular past-tense environments.

The marker को has several uses:

1. Recipient: ग्राहक को उत्तर दें।
2. Definite or specific object: रिपोर्ट को सुरक्षित रखें।
3. Experiencer: मुझे विश्वास है।
4. Obligation: मुझे जाना है।

Because grammatical roles are marked differently, translating word for word from English often produces errors.

6. Worked Analysis and Correction

Consider the sentence:

गलत: कंपनी की नया नीतियाँ कर्मचारियों को बहुत प्रभावित करता है।

This sentence contains three agreement problems. कंपनी की is correct because नीति is feminine, but नया should be नई because नीतियाँ is feminine. नीतियाँ is plural, so the adjective must be नई and the verb should be प्रभावित करती हैं if नीतियाँ is the subject. A corrected form is:

कंपनी की नई नीतियाँ कर्मचारियों को बहुत प्रभावित करती हैं।

“The company’s new policies greatly affect the employees.”

Analysis:

• कंपनी की: possessive agrees with नीति/नीतियाँ.
• नई: feminine adjective agreeing with नीतियाँ.
• कर्मचारियों को: oblique plural plus recipient/affected-person marker.
• प्रभावित करती हैं: feminine plural verb phrase agreeing with नीतियाँ.
• बहुत: invariable adverb modifying प्रभावित करती हैं.

A second example illustrates perfective agreement:

सीमा ने नई रिपोर्ट तैयार की।

सीमा ने नए दस्तावेज़ तैयार किए।

In both sentences, सीमा is marked by ने. The first verb agrees with feminine singular रिपोर्ट; the second agrees with masculine plural दस्तावेज़.

7. Applied Case: A Bilingual Business Notice

Background

An illustrative case concerns a human-resources department preparing a Hindi notice about mandatory compliance training.

Problem

The first draft contains the following text:

सभी कर्मचारी को कल प्रशिक्षण में उपस्थित होना है। नई नियम बहुत महत्वपूर्ण है और प्रबंधक कर्मचारियों से पालन करवाएगा।

The draft is understandable but grammatically inconsistent and stylistically weak.

Analysis

कर्मचारी is plural in meaning, so सभी कर्मचारियों को is preferable because the postposition requires the oblique plural form. The phrase नई नियम is incorrect because नियम is masculine; it should be नए नियम. Since नियम is plural, the copula should be हैं. The phrase पालन करवाएगा is possible, but a more transparent formal expression is नियमों का पालन सुनिश्चित करेगा.

Revised notice

सभी कर्मचारियों को कल प्रशिक्षण में उपस्थित होना है। नए नियम बहुत महत्वपूर्ण हैं और प्रबंधक नियमों का पालन सुनिश्चित करेगा।

“​​All employees must attend the training tomorrow. The new rules are very important, and the manager will ensure compliance with the rules.”

Outcome

The revised notice improves gender, number, case marking, agreement and professional clarity. It also avoids an unnecessarily complex causative construction.

Learning points

1. Check the oblique form before a postposition.
2. Make possessive postpositions agree with the possessed noun.
3. Match adjectives and verbs with the relevant noun.
4. Distinguish literal translation from natural professional Hindi.
5. Use concise constructions in organizational notices.

8. Common Errors and Best Practices

Common errors

• Using है with plural subjects: कर्मचारी उपस्थित है instead of कर्मचारी उपस्थित हैं.
• Confusing possessive agreement: कंपनी का नीति instead of कंपनी की नीति.
• Omitting ने in a clear perfective transitive clause: सीमा रिपोर्ट लिखी instead of सीमा ने रिपोर्ट लिखी.
• Treating आप as singular: आप कैसे है instead of आप कैसे हैं.
• Using a direct form before a postposition: लड़का को instead of लड़के को.
• Confusing अपना and उसका.
• Failing to distinguish habitual and progressive aspect: वह काम करता है means “he works,” whereas वह काम कर रहा है means “he is working.”

Best practices

1. Identify the head noun of every noun phrase.
2. Mark gender and number before selecting an adjective or verb.
3. Determine whether a noun is direct or oblique.
4. Check whether a past-tense verb is transitive and perfective.
5. Treat respectful forms such as आप and श्रीमान्/श्रीमती as plural for agreement.
6. Read formal documents aloud; agreement errors become easier to hear.
7. Use digital spell-checking tools cautiously. Automated tools may identify spelling but often miss semantic agreement and register.
8. Have important public or contractual communications reviewed by a proficient Hindi editor.

9. Professional and Contemporary Relevance

Correct Hindi is valuable in customer service, banking, public administration, sales, human resources and entrepreneurship. Government portals, mobile applications and AI-enabled translation systems increasingly generate Hindi content. However, automated systems may confuse gender, honorifics, postpositions and context-sensitive forms. Human review remains necessary where legal, financial, medical or reputational consequences are significant.

Inclusive professional communication also requires sensitivity to respectful address and occupational terminology. Where gender-neutral wording is desired, writers can use plural or role-based expressions such as टीम के सदस्य, कर्मचारीगण or प्रबंधन दल, provided the context remains natural and not artificially Sanskritised.

Chapter Summary

Hindi uses nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, postpositions and conjunctions to build meaningful sentences. Nouns and pronouns may vary according to gender, number, person and case. Adjectives may agree with the nouns they qualify, while adverbs generally remain invariable. Hindi places postpositions after nouns and normally requires oblique noun forms before them. Conjunctions express addition, contrast, cause, condition and subordination.

Agreement is central to accurate Hindi. Subjects, adjectives, auxiliaries and verbs may reflect gender, number and person. The respectful pronoun आप takes plural agreement. In perfective transitive clauses, ने marks the agent and the verb commonly agrees with an unmarked direct object. Tense locates an event, aspect presents it as habitual, progressive or completed, and mood expresses command, possibility, desire or obligation. Applying these principles enables clear, precise and professional Hindi communication.

Key Terms

Noun: A word naming a person, place, object, institution, quality or idea.

Pronoun: A word used in place of a noun.

Adjective: A word that qualifies or describes a noun.

Verb: A word expressing an action, event, state or process.

Adverb: A word or phrase modifying a verb, adjective or clause.

Postposition: A grammatical marker placed after a noun or pronoun.

Conjunction: A word linking words, phrases or clauses.

Gender: A grammatical classification, commonly masculine or feminine in Hindi.

Number: The distinction between singular and plural.

Person: The distinction among first, second and third participants.

Case: The grammatical relationship of a noun or pronoun to other sentence elements.

Oblique form: A noun or pronoun form used commonly before a postposition.

Agreement: The matching of grammatical forms across related words.

Tense: The grammatical location of an event in time.

Aspect: The presentation of an event as habitual, progressive or completed.

Mood: The expression of command, possibility, obligation, desire or condition.

Ergative construction: A construction in which ने marks the agent of many perfective transitive clauses.

Honorific: A respectful grammatical form, such as आप, taking plural agreement.

Review Questions

5 Short Answer Questions

1. What is a postposition? Give two Hindi examples.
2. Distinguish between a variable and an invariable adjective.
3. Why does आप take the auxiliary हैं?
4. What is the difference between habitual and progressive aspect?
5. State two functions of the postposition को.

5 Long Answer Questions

1. Explain the major parts of speech in Hindi and illustrate each with examples.
2. Describe gender and number agreement in Hindi noun phrases and sentences.
3. Explain the use of ने in perfective transitive constructions.
4. Discuss how pronouns change after postpositions, using suitable examples.
5. Explain tense, aspect and mood and show how they support professional communication.

3 Analytical / Application Questions

1. Correct and explain the errors in: कंपनी का नई योजनाएँ बहुत लाभदायक है।
2. Compare the meaning and grammatical structure of सीमा ने रिपोर्ट लिखी and सीमा रिपोर्ट लिखती है.
3. Draft a three-sentence Hindi workplace notice using a postposition, a conjunction, a respectful pronoun and at least one plural agreement form.

Multiple Choice Questions with Answers

Question 1

Which form correctly completes the sentence: कंपनी की ___ नीति प्रभावी है?

A. नया

B. नई

C. नए

D. नईयाँ

Correct Answer: B. नई

Question 2

Which sentence uses the respectful pronoun आप correctly?

A. आप कैसे है?

B. आप कैसे हो?

C. आप कैसे हैं?

D. आप कैसी हूँ?

Correct Answer: C. आप कैसे हैं?

Question 3

What is the primary function of ने in सीमा ने रिपोर्ट लिखी?

A. It marks location

B. It marks the agent in a perfective transitive clause

C. It marks possession

D. It marks comparison

Correct Answer: B. It marks the agent in a perfective transitive clause

Question 4

Which sentence contains a progressive aspect construction?

A. वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ता है।

B. वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ेगा।

C. वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ रहा है।

D. वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ चुका।

Correct Answer: C. वह रिपोर्ट पढ़ रहा है।

Question 5

Which is the correct possessive phrase for “the company’s policy”?

A. कंपनी का नीति

B. कंपनी के नीति

C. कंपनी की नीति

D. कंपनी ने नीति

Correct Answer: C. कंपनी की नीति

Question 6

Which word is an adverb in the sentence कृपया दस्तावेज़ ध्यान से पढ़ें?

A. दस्तावेज़

B. ध्यान से

C. पढ़ें

D. कृपया

Correct Answer: B. ध्यान से

Question 7

Which sentence has correct plural agreement?

A. नए नियम महत्वपूर्ण है।

B. नई नियम महत्वपूर्ण हैं।

C. नए नियम महत्वपूर्ण हैं।

D. नया नियम महत्वपूर्ण हैं।

Correct Answer: C. नए नियम महत्वपूर्ण हैं।

Question 8

Which postposition most commonly marks a recipient?

A. में

B. को

C. पर

D. तक

Correct Answer: B. को

Question 9

What does वह काम कर रहा है normally express?

A. A habitual action

B. A completed action

C. An ongoing action

D. A conditional action

Correct Answer: C. An ongoing action

Question 10

Which sentence correctly uses अपना to refer back to the subject?

A. रवि अपनी रिपोर्ट भेजता है।

B. रवि उसका रिपोर्ट भेजता है।

C. रवि अपने रिपोर्ट भेजता है।

D. रवि अपनी रिपोर्ट भेजते हैं।

Correct Answer: A. रवि अपनी रिपोर्ट भेजता है।