Originally posted: _palak https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/45368637
नमस्ते! Warm greetings to all the Hindi Learners out there. सभी को नव वर्ष की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं! (Happy New Year everyone!)
Since many people find hard to recognise the Gender of the Nouns in Hindi, here is a small guide.
In the Hindi language, a noun which indicates male is called a Masculine Gender (पुल्लिंग) and a noun which indicates female is called a Feminine Gender (स्त्रीलिंग).
It is important to know the gender of a word to decline (match a noun with its case) the noun and to modify other words which are grammatically related to the noun within a sentence.
Let's understand the different nuances of genders one by one -
>> MASCULINE NOUNS:
Masculine nouns are written in 2 ways:-
- WITH SINGULAR: “आ” & PLURAL: “ए”:-
SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|
बेटा (SON) | बेटे (SONS) |
लड़का (BOY) | लड़के (BOYS) |
जूता (SHOE) | जूते (SHOES) |
कमरा (ROOM) | कमरे (ROOMS) |
- SAME SINGULAR & PLURAL FORM:-
SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|
शहर (CITY) | शहर (CITIES) |
घर (HOME) | घर (HOMES) |
मकान (HOUSE) | मकान (HOUSES) |
दोस्त (FRIEND) | दोस्त (FRIENDS) |
>> FEMININE NOUNS:
The feminine nouns are also written in 2 ways:
- WITH "ई" IN THE SINGULAR CASE AND "इयाँ", IN THE PLURAL CASE:-
SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|
लड़की (GIRL) | लड़कियाँ (GIRLS) |
मिठाई (SWEET) | मिठाइयाँ (SWEETS) |
गली (STREET) | गलियाँ (STREETS) |
चिड़िया (BIRD) | चिड़ियाँ (BIRDS) |
- BY SUFFIXING "एँ" IN THE PLURAL CASE:-
SINGULAR | PLURAL |
---|---|
किताब (BOOK) | किताबें 2 (BOOKS) |
आशा (HOPE) | आशाएं (HOPES) |
बोतल (BOTTLE) | बोतलें (BOTTLES) |
औरत (WOMAN) | औरतें (WOMEN) |
NOTE:- We can use the same nouns for both males and females. This depends upon the context.
CONVERTING MASCULINE NOUNS TO FEMININE:-
- ADDING “ई” TO A MASCULINE NOUN TO CONVERT A FEMININE WORD:-
MASCULINE | FEMININE |
---|---|
बड़ा (BIG) | बड़ी ** (BIG) |
बेटा (SON) | बे**टी** (DAUGHTER) |
लड़का (BOY) | लड़की (GIRL) |
प्यारा (CUTE/ADORABLE) | प्यारी (CUTE/ADORABLE) |
- ADDING “आ” TO A MASCULINE noun TO CONVERT A FEMININE WORD:-
MASCULINE | FEMININE |
---|---|
बालक (CHILD) | बालिका (CHILD) |
प्रिय (DEAR) | प्रिया (DEAR) |
- ADDING “इया” TO A MASCULINE NOUN TO CONVERT TO A FEMININE WORD-
MASCULINE | FEMININE |
---|---|
बूढ़ा (OLD MAN) | बुढ़िया (OLD WOMAN) |
बंदर (MONKEY) | बंदरिया (MONKEY fem.) |
TIP:- The बूढ़ा and बुढ़िया are for examples, but shouldn't be used in regular language, as it may sound rude, rather prefer using बुज़ुर्ग which works for both Male and female.
- ADDING “नी” SUFFIX TO A MASCULINE NOUN TO CONVERT TO A FEMININE WORD-
MASCULINE | FEMININE |
---|---|
मोर (PEACOCK) | मोरनी ** (PEAHEN) |
शेर (LION) | शेर**नी** (LIONESS) |
So, this was a brief about the Gender of the Nouns in Hindi. I hope this post was useful for you.