Learning Hindi Grammar-Prepositions

Just as in English grammar, there are eight parts of speech in Hindi grammar. In this article, we learn the meanings and usage of basic prepositions in Hindi. Prepositions are known as sambhandbodhak shabd (सम्बन्धबोधक) in Hindi.

sambhandbodhak shabd do the same work in Hindi as the prepositions do in English, which is to describe the relationship between nouns, verbs and adjectives. Let us look at some examples:

1. Kitab shelf par hai. (किताब शेल्फ़ परहै ) (The book is on the shelf)
2. Veh school ki taraf jaa rahi hai. (वह स्कुल कि तरफ़ जा रही है) (She is going towards the school).

The underlined words in the sentences above are prepositions. They express the relation between:

• two nouns- Kitab (book) and Shelf (shelf) in the first sentence and
• a pronoun veh (She) and a noun school (school) in the second sentence.

The most commonly use prepositions in Hindi are given below. The meaning of each word in English and how to write the word in Hindi is also provided.

• Above, On: upar (उपर)
• According: anusaar (अनुसार)
• After: baad (बाद)
• Against: khilaf (खिलाफ़)
• Because: karan (कारण)
• Before: pehle (पहले), aage (आगे)
• Behind: peche (पीछे)
• Below: neche (नीचे)
• Beyond: paar (पार)
• Equal: brabar (बराबर)
• Except: sivaye (सिवाय)
• Excluding: atirikt (अतिरक्त), rahit (रहित), alava (अलावा)
• Far: dur (दूर)
• For: liye (लिए ),vaste (वास्ते)
• Front: samne (सामने)
• Here: yaha (यहाँ)
• In between: beech (बीच)
• Including: samet (समेत), sahit (सहित)
• Inside: bheetar (भीतर), andar (अ़ंदर)
• Like: jaisa (जैसा), sman (समान), tarah (तरह)
• Near: paas (पास), nikat (नीकट), smeep (समीप)
• Opposite: vipreet (विप्रीत)
• Outside: bahar (बाहर)
• There: vaha (वहाँ)
• Through: dvara (द्वारा), zariya (ज़रिया)
• Till: tak (तक)
• Towards: taraf (तरफ़)
• With: sang (संग), saath (साथ)
• Without: bina (बिना) , bgaer (बगैर)

Try using the activity "Word Volleyball" to learn prepositions in Hindi.It is a fun activity enjoyed by students of all ages and it can easily be incorporated to learn other parts of speech also.

1. Prepare a list of prepositions for your reference.
2. Discuss the important prepositions and their meanings from the list
3. Divide the class into two or more groups and ask them to chose names for themselves, preferably Hindi names.
4. Give a small ball, a dry erase pen or marker and a wet wipe to each group.
5. Ask the group to write a preposition in Hindi on one side of the ball and throw it towards a member of the other group.
6. The student who catches the ball must try to tell the meaning of the preposition in English. The student to the left makes a sentence using the preposition, and the student sitting on the right states the opposite of that preposition.
7. For every correct answer, the group scores a point.
8. Scores for spellings and pronunciation can also be incorporated in this activity.