In Hindi, it is very important to master declension of noun. Without their knowledge, it is impossible to know and use the proper gender, number and case of the noun in grammatically correct sentences.

Lets have a look into the grammatical detail of declension of noun in this post. In next post, I will show you more details and examples on how to change from gender, number and more on cases in Hindi.

The three different declensions of noun are:

1. लिंग – Ling – Gender

This declension tell us the gender of the noun. Lets see some examples:

लड़का खेल रहा है. Boy is playing.
लड़की खेल रही है. Girl is playing.
and,
हवा चल रही है. Wind is flowing.
पंखा चल रहा है. Fan is blowing.

These are of 2 types:

a. पुल्लिंग संज्ञा – Pulling Sangya – Masculine Nouns:
There are certain noun which are always masculine like:
1. आकारांत शब्द:  कपडा, लोहा, दरवाजा आदि (Masc. words: Cloth, Iron, Door etc.)
2. देश: अमेरिका, भारत, जेर्मनी, फ्रांस आदि. (Countries: America, India, Germany, France etc.)
3. पर्वतो : हिमालय, कैलाश, आरावली आदि. (Mountains: Himalaya, Kailash, Aravali etc)
4. ग्रहों : मंगल , शनि, बुध आदि. (Planets: Mars, Saturn, Jupiter etc.)
5. धातुओं: सोना, चांदी, पीतल , लोहा आदि. (Metals: Gold, Silver, Iron etc.)
6. दिनों : सोम, मंगल, बुध, रवि, शनि आदि. (Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday, Saturday etc.)
7. समुन्दरो: हिंद महासागर, अरब सागर आदि. (Oceans/Sea: Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea etc)
8. पदार्थ/ पत्थर: हीरा, मोती, मणि आदि. (Precious Stones: Diamond, Pearl, Gem etc.)

b. स्त्रीलिंग संज्ञा – Striling Sangya – Feminine Noun:
There are certain noun which are always feminine like:
1. इकारांत शब्दों : नदी, रोटी, बेटी आदि. (Fem. words: River, Bread, Daughter etc.)
2. भाषाओं: हिंदी, अंग्रेज़ी, चीनी, उर्दू आदि. ( Languages: Hindi, English, Chinese, Urdu etc.)
3. नदिओं: यमुना, गंगा, सरस्वती, कावेरी आदि. (Rivers: Yamuna, Ganga, Sarasvati, Kavari etc.)
4. जिन शब्दों में “ता”, “आई”, “आवट”, “इया” : सुन्दरता, बुराई, सजावट आदि. (words:  Beauty, Badness, Decoration etc.)
5. शास्त्रों : बन्दूक, तलवार, तोप आदि. (Weapons: Gun, Sword, Cannon etc.)

Some of the noun are used for both masculine and feminine like कोयल, उल्लू etc. To differentiate between the two, we need to add a prefix “नर” for masculine and “मादा” for feminine.
So, it will be नर कोयल for Mas. Cuckoo and मादा उल्लू for Fem. Owl.

Some noun are not clear and found only by understanding the sentence. For example :
1. कल प्रधानमंत्री जा रहे हैं. Prime Minster is going tomorrow.
Here “रहे हैं” – jaa rahe (is going) indicate the Prime Minister is Masculine with “रहे” (masculine))
2. प्रधानमंत्री दिल्ली जा रही हैं. Prime Minister is going to Delhi.
Here “रही हैं” – jaa rahe (is going) indicate the Prime Minister is Feminine with “रही” (feminine))

2. वचन – Vacchan – Number (grammatical)

In Hindi, the number are divided into two types:

a. एक वचन – Ek Vachan – Singular Number
लड़का बात कर रहा है. Boy is talking.
Here, लड़का and रहा है both point to singular number.
लड़की खेल रही है. Girl is playing.
Here, लड़की and रही है both point to singular number.
b. बहुवचन – Bahuvachan – Plural Number
लड़के बात कर रहे हैं. Boys are talking.
Here, लड़के and रहे हैं both point to a plural number.
लड़कियां खेल रही हैं. Girls are playing.
Here, लड़कियां and रही हैं both point to plural number.

So, in comparison to English, we have two marker that indicate the grammatical number in Hindi.

3. कारक – Karak – Case

In Hindi, कारक (Case) shows what is being done by whom and by what. Instances are highlighted :

1. राहुल ने पढाई की. Rahul did study.
2. राजीव ने कमल से बात की. Rajiv had talk with Kamal.
3. कोमल कार से कार्यलय जाती है. Komal goes to office with a car.
4. मैं सब के लिए लिख रहा हूँ. I am writing for all.

There are 8 major cases in Hindi.
These are :
1. कर्ता कारक – Karta Karak – Nominative Case : This uses ने as postposition.
2. करण कारक – Karan Karak – Instrument Case : This uses से, के द्वारा as postposition.
3. अपादान कारक – Apaadan Karak – Ablative Case :This uses से as postposition.
4. सम्बन्ध कारक – Samband Karak – Possessive Case :This uses का, के , की / रा , रे, री as postposition.
5. कर्म कारक – Karm Karak – Objective Case :This uses को as postposition.
6. संप्रदान कारक – Sanpradan Karak – Dative Case :This uses को, के लिए as postposition.
7. अधिकरण कारक – Adhikaran Karak – Locative Case :This uses में, पर as postposition.
8. संबोधन कारक – Sanbodhan Karak – Vocative Case :This uses हे, अरे, ओ as postposition.

More details and examples on declensions of noun will be found in continuing post that I will write tomorrow. So, stay tuned! 🙂