It is quite usual for an beginner in the learning process of any language to make mistake here and there. However, the mistakes could be avoided if a learner knows the pitfalls.

Today, I will cover some of the common mistakes that a beginner could make and detail about it so you can avoid it.

Some of the common mistakes are:

1. Grammatical Gender

For example, the the sentence: Brother or Sister will come.

Incorrect: भाई या बहन आएगा।

When “या” (or) is used the grammatical gender of the verb agree to the last noun. In our example sentence, it is बहन ( Sister) which is feminine so it should be आएगी (she will come) instead आएगा (he will come)

Correct: भाई या बहन आएगी।

Similarly, if a pronoun is used then it agree to the following noun as in the following sentence.

Incorrect: मेरी बेटा और बेटी आज दिल्ली गए हैं।

बेटा (Son) is masculine and hence, the pronoun must be मेरा (mine – masculine) instead मेरी (mine – masculine)

Correct: मेरा बेटा और बेटी आज दिल्ली गए हैं।

In case of the interrogative sentences, we use masculine for verb declination.

Incorrect: देखो कौन आई है?

Here, “कौन” (who) is used masculine and hence, the use of feminine verb ending, आई (came – feminine) is wrong. It must be आया (came – masculine).

Correct: देखो कौन आया है?

2. Grammatical Case

In the following sentence, the case is incorrect. Because of this, the verb add the end is wrong as well.

Incorrect: प्रधानाचार्य अध्यापक को बुलाए।

This can be corrected by adding “ने” to the sentence.

Correct: प्रधानाचार्य ने अध्यापक को बुलाया।

3. Grammatical Voice

Some of the mistakes can come up because of incorrect grammatical voice used. In the following sentence, we are not sure if it is in active voice or passive voice.

Incorrect: पुलिस ने चोर का पीछा किया गया।

Here,”ने” must be replaced with “के द्वारा” (through)

Correct: पुलिस के द्वारा चोर का पीछा किया गया।

4. Use of Unnecessary Words

Sometime, a sentence may be meaningful but may use unnecessary words. This is shown in the following sentence:

Incorrect: मैं रविवार के दिन को यहाँ पहुंच जाऊंगा। (I will reach here on the day of Sunday)

रविवार के दिन (Ravivar ka din – day of Sunday) is wrong as “रविवार” (Ravivar – Sunday) alone is sufficient so repeating assertion with के दिन must be avoided.

Correct: मैं रविवार को यहाँ पहुंच जाऊंगा। (I will reach here on Sunday)

5. Use of Incorrect Words

The following sentence could be tricky as you might find it write but in Hindi, the usage of words is specific to a situation.

वह मेरे शब्दों पर ध्यान नहीं देता। (Literally: He doesn’t pay attention to my words)

In Hindi, “बात पर ध्यान देना” is a acceptable and valid usage. The usage of “शब्दों पर ध्यान देना” is never used. Hence, the sentence should be,

वह मेरी बात पर ध्यान नहीं देता। (Literally: He doesn’t pay attention to my saying/thought/suggestion etc)