Parts of Speech in Hindi Language

One of my favorite starters in a language class is to ask students to imagine a world without any language or any form of expression. The objective is to remind the students and myself about how important language is. In every language, grammar plays a very important role. It organizes the language. It gives the rules of the language. Grammar in Hindi is known as vyakran. In this article, we learn the different parts of speech in the Hindi language. The meanings of the Hindi words are given in English in parentheses right after the Hindi word. Where applicable, the Hindi script is also given.

Parts of speech in Hindi grammar correspond with that of English. In Hindi, too, there are eight parts of speech. The eight parts of speech are sangya (noun), sarvnam (pronoun), vesheshan (adjective), kriya (verb), kriya visheshan (adverb), sambandhbhodak (preposition), yojak (conjunction), and ghotak (interjection). Let us analyze the parts of speech one by one.

Nouns are known as sangya (संज्ञा) in Hindi. Just like nouns in English, sangya also name people, places, things, and ideas. For example:

• Kamla (कमला) - name of a lady
• Delhi (दिल्ली) - the capital city of India
• Mithas (मिठास) - sweetness
• Ganit (गणित) - mathematics

The following sentences contain examples of sangya (nouns):

• Kamla ek bahut sundar aurat hai. (कमला एक बहुत सुन्दर औरत है) - Kamla is a beautiful lady.
• Dilli Bharat ki uttar disha mein hai. (दिल्ली भारत की उत्तर दिशा मे है) - Delhi is in the northern part of India.

Pronouns are known as sarvnam (सर्वनाम) in Hindi. Like in English, sarvnam are words used in place of nouns. For example:

• veh (वह) - he or she (This Hindi pronoun is used for third person subject pronouns of singular numbers for both the genders.)
• voh (वो) - they
• hum (हम) - we
• tum (तुम ) - you
• main (मैं) - I
• thumhara (तुम्हारा ) - your, yours
  

The following sentences contain examples of sarvnam (pronouns):

• Hum log aaj kam kar rahe hai. (हम लोग आज काम कर रहे है) - We are working today.
• Main tumhare pitaji ko janta hun. (मैं तुम्हारे पिताजी को जानता हुँ) - I am known to your father.

Adjectives are known as vesheshan (विशेक्षण) in Hindi. Just like adjectives in English, vesheshan also give additional information about the sangya (noun) or the sarvnam (pronoun). For example:

• chatur (चत्तुर) - clever
• kala (काला) - black
• lamba (लम्बा) - tall
• chotta (छोटा) - small, young

The following sentences contain examples of vesheshan (adjectives):

• Kamla ek chatur ladki hai. (कमला एक चतुर लड़की है) - Kamla is a clever girl.
• Rajesh lamba ladka hai. राजेश लम्बा लड़का है) - Rajesh is a tall boy.

The verb, specifically the action verb, is known as kriya (क्रिया) in the Hindi language. For example:

• khata hai (खाता है) - eats
• peeta hai (पीता है) - drinks
• jata hai (जाता है) - goes
• khel ( खेल ) - play

Note that the verbs given in the example are for singular masculine subjects. For feminine gender and singular number, the verbs are conjugated as khati hai (खाती है), peeti hai (पीती है), and jati hai (जाती है). The plurals of the verbs for both the genders are khate hai (खाते है), jate hai (जाते है), and peete hai (पीते है).

The following sentences contain examples of kriya (verbs):

• Rajesh aam bahut khata hai. (राजेश आम बहुत खाता है) Rajesh eats a lot of mangoes.
• Sameer har din school jata hai. (समीर हर दिन स्कूल जाता है) Sameer goes to school everyday.

Kriya vesheshan (क्रिया विशेक्षण) in Hindi does the same work as that is done by adverbs in English. These words give additional information about the verb, adjectives, and other adverbs in a sentence. For example:

• dheere (धीरे) - slowly
• jaldi (जल्दी) - fast

The following sentences contain examples of kriya vesheshan (adverbs):

• Sunita dheere chalti hai. (सुनीता धीरे चलती है) - Sunita walks slowly.
• Bache jaldi kaam khatm karne ki koshish kar rahe the. (बच्चे जल्दी काम ख्त्म करने की कोशिश कर रहे थे) The children were trying to finish their work fast.