How Nouns Impact Adjectives in Hindi

Whether you’re taking a Hindi class in-person, online or just want to understand the basics of Hindi more, one thing you will surely need to understand is how nouns impact adjectives in Hindi.

First let’s make sure we know what a noun is. A noun is: a person, place, thing, animal or an idea. So nouns are pretty much all around us.

In Hindi every single noun is assigned into a category. There are two categories: male and female. The male category is called pul and the female category is called stri.

Again, every single noun is assigned to 1 category and 1 category only.

Examples of Nouns
and Their Category

How did I know the category for each of these nouns? Well I’m a Hindi teacher so I better know. But seriously, how can you tell which category each noun goes in?

Rule 1: If the Hindi word ends with “a” sound then it is a pul (male) noun.

Rule 2: If the Hindi word ends with “ee” sound then it is a stri (female) noun.

Rule 3: If the Hindi word does not end with “a” nor “ee” sound then it is a pul (male) noun.

These rules work for the most part. NOT all the time.

Here’s an example of when the rules do not apply: aadmi means man. By looking at the word you’d think it’s a stri word, but nope it literally means man, so it’s a pul word.

Here’s another one. Haathi is elephant. Again, you’d think it’s a stri word, but it’s pul. And the same goes for paani (water). Another one where you’d think it’s stri but actually it’s pul.

So again, these rules work for the most part. As for the exceptions to the rules we just have to learn and memorize as we encounter them.

Now that we understand nouns let’s look at how nouns impact adjectives in Hindi.

Hindi Noun Rules Video

If you’re still unclear on the noun rules, watch this video.

The Noun Category
Impacts the Adjective

When we say how nouns impact adjectives, what we really mean is how the noun category impacts the adjective.

And before we get into that let’s review what an adjective is. An adjective is a word that describes a noun. That means a word or words that communicate information about the noun. And how do we do that? We use the 5 senses to describe nouns.

Adjectives in Hindi

There are two categories of adjectives: the ones that end with the “a” sound and those that do not.

You can see examples of adjectives that end with “a” below, such as bada, chota, and lamba.

Here are examples of adjectives that do not end with “a”.

The adjectives that end with “a” inflect. That means their ending changes as you can see below. Here the nouns are bacha, bachee, and bachay.

All adjectives that end with “a” have 3 inflections:

• a (singular pul nouns)
• ee (singular and plural stri nouns)
• ay (plural pul nouns + mixed gender plural + respectful form)

Adjectives That Do
Not End With “a”

The adjectives that do not end with “a” do not inflect. The noun category has no bearing on the adjective. The adjective does not inflect regardless of the noun.

Practice Video: Nouns + Small

Summary and Conclusion

How you know how nouns impact adjectives in Hindi. This is pretty important to be able to speak Hindi. We covered:

• what is a noun?
• noun categories in Hindi
• how to ID the noun category
• what is an adjective?
• adjective categories in Hindi
• which adjectives do not inflect
• what adjective inflections are
• how to inflect an adjective based on the noun(s)

I hope this less about nouns and adjectives has increased your understanding of Hindi!

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Have you ever watched a Bollywood movie and everyone else was laughing and…you didn’t understand the joke? Or maybe your grandparents speak to you in Hindi…and your response is a sweet smile and “theek hain” to everything?

That was me too.

Growing up in Orange County, California, I understood Hindi long before I confidently spoke it. But over time, I became curious. Friday nights became “Hindi movie nights” with my mom — parathas, Bollywood movies, and LOTS of questions.

Eventually, I started speaking more Hindi at home.

One of my favorite memories was visiting family in Delhi when my Chachi said: Tumhari Hindi bahut achi hai.

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When I’m not teaching Hindi, I’m usually exercising, cooking vegan meals, or planning my next trip. I look forward to seeing you in class!