Hindustani grammar

Hindustani is the lingua franca of northern India and Pakistan, and its two standardised registers, Hindi and Urdu, are official languages of India and Pakistan respectively. Grammatical differences between the two standards are minimal but each uses its own script: Hindi uses Devanagari while Urdu uses an extended form of the Persian script, typically in the Nastaʿlīq style.

On this grammar page Hindustani is written in "standard orientalist" transcription as outlined in Masica (1991:xv). Being "primarily a system of transliteration from the Indian scripts, [and] based in turn upon Sanskrit" (cf. IAST), these are its salient features: subscript dots for retroflex consonants; macrons for etymologically, contrastively long vowels; h denoting aspirated plosives. Tildes denote nasalized vowels.

Phonology

Main article: Hindustani phonology

The vowels used in Hindustani are the following: a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, e, o, ai, au. Note that the vowels a ai au normally have the pronunciations [ə] [ɛː] [ɔː]. Consonants are outlined in the table below. Hovering the mouse cursor over them will reveal the appropriate IPA symbol, while in the rest of the article hovering the mouse cursor over underlined forms will reveal the appropriate English translation. See Hindustani phonology for further clarification.

Bilabial Labio-
dental
 Dental  Alveolar Retroflex Post-alv./
Palatal
 Velar   Uvular Glottal
Plosive p
ph
b
bh
t
th
d
dh

ṭh

ḍh
k
kh
g
gh
q
Affricate c
ch
j
jh
Nasal m n ñ
Fricative f s z ś x ġ h
Tap or Flap r
ṛh
Approximant v y
Lateral
approximant
l

Morphology

Nouns

Hindustani distinguishes two genders (masculine and feminine), count and non-count, two numbers (singular and plural), and three cases (direct, oblique, and vocative).[1]:43 Nouns may be further divided into two classes based on declension, type-I (marked) and type-II (unmarked). The basic difference between the two categories is that the former has characteristic terminations in the direct singular while the latter does not.[2]

The table below displays the suffix paradigms. A hyphen symbol (for the marked type-I) denotes change from the original termination to another (for example laṛkā to laṛke in the masculine singular oblique), whereas a plus sign (for the unmarked type-II) denotes an ending which should be added (seb to sebõ in the masculine plural oblique.

Singular Plural
Direct Oblique Direct Oblique Vocative
Masculine I -ā-e-õ-o
II +õ+o
Feminine I -ī, -i, -iyā-iyā̃-iyõ-iyo
II ++õ+o

The next table of noun declensions, mostly adapted from Shapiro (2003:263), shows the above suffix paradigms in action. Words: laṛkā ('boy'), kuā̃ ('well'), seb ('apple'), vālid ('father'), cākū ('penknife'), ādmī ('man'), mitra ('friend'), laṛkī ('girl'), ciṛiyā ('finch'), kitāb ('book'), bhāṣā ('language'), and aurat ('woman').

Singular Plural
Direct Oblique Direct Oblique Vocative
Masculine I laṛkā
kuā̃ 2
laṛke 1
kuẽ
laṛkõ
kuõ
laṛko
II seb
vālid 3
cākū
ādmī
sebõ
vālidõ
cākuõ 4
ādmiyõ 4

pitāo

ādmiyo
Feminine I laṛkī
ciṛiyā
laṛkiyā̃
ciṛiyā̃
laṛkiyõ
ciṛiyõ
laṛkiyo
II kitāb
bhāṣā
aurat
kitābẽ
bhāṣāẽ 5
aurtẽ
kitābõ
bhāṣāõ
aurtõ


aurto

Notes for noun declension:

Adjectives

Adjectives may be divided into declinable and indeclinable categories.[8] Declinables are marked, through termination, for the gender, number, case of the nouns they qualify. The set of declinable adjective terminations is similar but greatly simplified in comparison to that of noun terminations —

Dir. sg. All else
Decl. Masc. -ā-e
Fem. -ī
Indecl.

Indeclinable adjectives are completely invariable, and can end in either consonants or vowels (including ā and ī ). A number of declinables display nasalization of all terminations.[8] Dir. masc. sg. () is the citation form.

Declinable adjective baṛā "big" in attributive use
Sg. Pl.
Dir. Obl. Dir. Obl. Voc.
M I baṛā laṛkā
baṛā kuā̃
baṛe laṛke
baṛe kuẽ
baṛe laṛkõ
baṛe kuõ
baṛe laṛko
II baṛā seb
baṛā pitā
baṛā cākū
baṛā ādmī
baṛā mitra
baṛe seb
baṛe pitā
baṛe cākū
baṛe ādmī
baṛe mitra
baṛe sebõ
baṛe pitāõ
baṛe cākuõ
baṛe ādmiyõ
baṛe mitrõ

baṛe pitāo

baṛe ādmiyo
baṛe mitro
F I baṛī laṛkī
baṛī śakti
baṛī ciṛiyā
baṛī laṛkiyā̃
baṛī śaktiyā̃
baṛī ciṛiyā̃
baṛī laṛkiyõ
baṛī śaktiyõ
baṛī ciṛiyõ
baṛī laṛkiyo
II baṛī kitāb
baṛī bhāṣā
baṛī aurat
baṛī kitābẽ
baṛī bhāṣāẽ
baṛī aurtẽ
baṛī kitābõ
baṛī bhāṣāõ
baṛī aurtõ


baṛī aurto
Indeclinable adjective xarāb "bad" in attributive use
Sg. Pl.
Dir. Obl. Dir. Obl. Voc.
M I xarāb laṛkā
xarāb kuā̃
xarāb laṛke
xarāb kuẽ
xarāb laṛkõ
xarāb kuõ
xarāb laṛko
II xarāb seb
xarāb pitā
xarāb cākū
xarāb ādmī
xarāb mitra
xarāb sebõ
xarāb pitāõ
xarāb cākuõ
xarāb ādmiyõ
xarāb mitrõ

xarāb pitāo

xarāb ādmiyo
xarāb mitro
F I xarāb laṛkī
xarāb śakti
xarāb ciṛiyā
xarāb laṛkiyā̃
xarāb śaktiyā̃
xarāb ciṛiyā̃
xarāb laṛkiyõ
xarāb śaktiyõ
xarāb ciṛiyõ
xarāb laṛkiyo
II xarāb kitāb
xarāb bhāṣā
xarāb aurat
xarāb kitābẽ
xarāb bhāṣāẽ
xarāb aurtẽ
xarāb kitābõ
xarāb bhāṣāõ
xarāb aurtõ


xarāb aurto

All adjectives can be used either attributively, predicatively, or substantively. Substantively they are of course declined as nouns rather than adjectives.

(~ se ~ ) is a suffix for adjectives, modifying or lightening their meaning; giving them an "-ish" or "quite" sense. e.g. nīlā "blue" → nīlā-sā "bluish". Its emphasis is rather ambiguous, sometimes enhancing, sometimes toning down, the sense of the adjective.[9]

Comparatives and superlatives

Comparisons are made by using "than" (the postposition se; see below), "more" (aur, zyādā), and "less" (kam). The word for "more" is optional, while "less" is required, so that in the absence of either "more" will be inferred.

Hindustani Word order Meaning
Gītā Gautam se lambī haiGita Gautam than tall isGita is taller than Gautam
Gītā Gautam se aur/zyādā lambī haiGita Gautam than more tall isGita is more tall than Gautam
Gītā Gautam jitnī lambī hai Gita Gautam as tall is Gita is (just) as tall as Gautam
Gītā Gautam se kam lambī haiGita Gautam than less tall isGita is less tall than Gautam

In the absence of an object of comparison ("more" of course is now no longer optional):

Hindustani Word order Meaning
chokrā zyādā baṛā haiThe lad more big isThe lad is bigger
chokrā utnā hi lambā hai The lad as just tall is The lad is just as big
chokrā kam baṛā haiThe lad less big isThe lad is less big
Hindustani Word order Meaning
zyādā baṛā chokrāThe more big ladThe bigger lad
The just as big lad
kam baṛā chokrāThe less big lad The less big lad

Superlatives are made through comparisons with "all" (sab). Comparisons using "least" are rare; it is more common to use an antonym.

Hindustani Word order Meaning
kamrā sabse sāf haiThe room all than clean isThe room is the cleanest
kamrā sabse kam sāf haiThe room all than less clean isThe room is the least clean
kamrā sabse gandā haiThe room all than dirty isThe room is the dirtiest
Hindustani Word order Meaning
sabse sāf kamrāThe all than clean roomThe cleanest room
sabse kam sāf kamrāThe all than less clean roomThe least clean room
sabse gandā kamrā The all than dirty roomThe dirtiest room

In Sanskritized and Persianized registers of Hindustani, comparative and superlative adjectival forms using suffixes derived from those languages can be found.[10]

Sanskrit Persian
Comp. ("-er")-tar
Sup. ("-est")-tam-tarīn

Numerals

Main article: Hindustani numerals

The numeral systems of several of the Indo-Aryan languages, including Hindustani and Nepali, are typical decimal systems, but contracted to the extent that nearly every number 1–99 is irregular. The first four ordinal numbers are also irregular. The suffix -vā̃ marks ordinals beginning at the number five.

0-5
English Hindustani Cardinal Hindustani Ordinal
zero śūnya, sifar śūnyavā̃
one ek pehelā, avval
two do dūsrā
three tīn tīsrā
four chār cauthā
five pā̃ch pā̃chvā̃

Postpositions

The aforementioned inflectional case system only goes so far on its own, and rather serves as that upon which is built a system of agglutinative suffixes or particles known as postpositions, which parallel English's prepositions. It is their use with a noun or verb that necessitates the noun or verb taking the oblique case (though the bare oblique is also minorly used adverbially[11]), and it is with them that the locus of grammatical function or "case-marking" then lies. There are seven such one-word primary postpositions:

Beyond these are a large range of compound postpositions, composed of the genitive primary postposition in the oblique form (ke, ) plus an adverb.

Pronouns

Personal

Hindustani has personal pronouns for the first and second persons, while for the third person demonstratives are used, which can be categorized deictically as proximate and non-proximate.[14] Pronouns distinguish cases of direct, oblique, and dative. The lattermost, often called a set of "contracted" forms, is in free variation with the oblique case plus dative postposition. Pronouns do not distinguish gender.

Also displayed in the below table are the genitive pronominal forms to show that the 1st and 2nd pronouns have their own distinctive forms of merā, hamārā, terā, tumhārā apart from the regular formula of OBL. + ; as well as the ergative pronominal forms to show that the postposition ne does not straightforwardly suffix the oblique bases: rather than *mujh ne and *tujh ne, direct bases are used giving mai ne and tū ne, and rather than in ne and un ne, it's inhõ ne and unhõ ne.

, tum, and āp are the three second person pronouns ("you"), constituting a threefold scale of sociolinguistic formality: respectively "intimate", "familiar", and "polite". The "intimate" is grammatically singular while the "familiar" and "polite" are grammatically plural.[10] When being referred to in the third person however, only those of the "polite" level of formality are grammatically plural.[15] The following table is adapted from Shapiro (2003:265).

Personal Demonstrative Relative Interrogative
1st person 2nd person 3rd person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Proximal Non-proximal
Intimate Familiar Polite Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Direct mãĩ ham tum āp yevo jo kaun, kyā
Oblique mujhtujhisinusunjisjinkiskin
Dative mujhehamẽtujhetumhẽāp koiseinhẽuseunhẽ jisejinhẽkisekinhẽ
Genitive merāhamārāterā tumhārāāp kā is kāin kāus kāun kā jis kājin kākis kākin kā
Ergative mãĩ neham netū netum neāp neis neinhõ ne us neunhõ nejis nejinhõ nekis nekinhõ ne

Notes for pronouns:

Derivates

Interrogative Relative Demonstrative
Prox. Non-prox.
Time kabjab abtab
Place kahā̃jahā̃ yahā̃vahā̃
kidharjidhar idharudhar
Quantity kitnājitnā itnāutnā
Quality kaisājaisāaisāvaisā
Manner kaisejaiseaisevaise

Adverbs

Hindustani has few underived forms.[26] Adverbs may be derived in ways such as the following —

Verbs

Overview

The Hindustani verbal system is largely structured around a combination of aspect and tense/mood. Like the nominal system, the Hindustani verb involves successive layers of (inflectional) elements to the right of the lexical base.[28]

Hindustani has 3 aspects: perfective, habitual, and continuous, each having overt morphological correlates.[11] These are participle forms, inflecting for gender and number by way of a vowel termination, like adjectives.[29] The perfective, though displaying a "number of irregularities and morphophonemic adjustments", is the simplest, being just the verb stem followed by the agreement vowel. The habitual forms from the imperfective participle; verb stem, plus -t-, then vowel. The continuous forms periphrastically through compounding (see below) with the perfective of rahnā "to stay".

Derived from honā "to be" are five copula forms: present, past, subjunctive, presumptive, contrafactual (aka "past conditional"). Used both in basic predicative/existential sentences and as verbal auxiliaries to aspectual forms, these constitute the basis of tense and mood.

Non-aspectual forms include the infinitive, the imperative, and the conjunctive. Mentioned morphological conditions such the subjunctive, "presumptive", etc. are applicable to both copula roots for auxiliary usage with aspectual forms and to non-copula roots directly for often unspecified (non-aspectual) finite forms.

Finite verbal agreement is with the nominative subject, except in the transitive perfective, where it is with the direct object, with the erstwhile subject taking the ergative construction -ne (see postpositions above). The perfective aspect thus displays split ergativity.

Tabled below on the left are the paradigms for adjectival concord (A), here only slightly different from that introduced previously: the f. pl. can nasalize under certain conditions. To the right are the paradigms for personal concord (P), used by the subjunctive.

(A) Sg. Pl.
Masc. -ā-e
Fem. -ī-ī( ̃)
(P) 1st. 2nd. 3rd.
Sg. -ū̃-e
Pl. - -o/ẽ -

Forms

The sample verb is intransitive dauṛnā "to run", and the sample inflection is 3rd. masc. sg. (P = e, A = ā) where applicable.

Non-aspectual Aspectual
Non-finite
Root * dauṛ
Infinitive/
Gerund/
Obligatory
*-nā dauṛnā
Obl. Infinitive *-ne dauṛne
Conjunctive *-kar, *-ke dauṛkar, dauṛke
Agentive/
Prospective
*-ne vāl-A, *-nevāl-A dauṛne vālā, dauṛnevālā
Adjectivals.
Perfective *-A (hu-A) dauṛā (huā)
Imperfective *-t-A (hu-A) dauṛtā (huā)
Adverbial. Obl. of adjectival.
Imperfective *-t-e (hu-e) dauṛte hue
Finite
Contingent Future *-P dauṛe
Definite Future *-P-g-A dauṛegā
Imperatives.[30]
Intimate * dauṛ
Familiar *-o dauṛo
Polite *-iye dauṛiye
Deferred *-nā dauṛnā
Deferential *-iye gā dauṛiye gā
Aspectuals plotted against copulas.
Perfective Habitual Continuous
*-A *-t-A * rah-A
Present h-? dauṛā hai dauṛtā hai dauṛ rahā hai
Past th-A dauṛā thā dauṛtā thā dauṛ rahā thā
Subjunctive ho-P dauṛā ho dauṛtā ho dauṛ rahā ho
Presumptive ho-P g-A dauṛā ho gā dauṛtā ho gā dauṛ rahā ho gā
Contrafactual ho-t-A dauṛā hotā dauṛtā hotā dauṛ rahā hotā
Unspecified dauṛā dauṛtā

Notes

Sg Pl.
1st. 2nd. 3rd. 1st. 2nd. 3rd.
Pron. mãĩ vo ham tum āp vo
Pres. hū̃haihãĩ hohãĩ
Subj. hū̃hoho
Root Perf.
Stem
[32]
Imperative[35] Subj.
Stem
[36]
Fam. Pol.
ho- "be"hu-
jā- "go"ga-
kar- "do"ki- kījie
de- "give"di-dodījied-
le- "take"li-lolījiel-
pī- "drink" pījie

Causatives

Transitives or causatives are morphologically contrastive in Hindustani, leading to the existence of related verb sets divisible along such lines. While the derivation of such forms shows patterns, they do reach a level of variegation so as to make it somewhat difficult to outline all-encompassing rules. Furthermore, some sets may have as many as four to five distinct members; also, the meaning of certain members of given sets may be idiosyncratic.[38]

Starting from intransitive or transitive verb stems further transitive/causative stems are produced according to these assorted rules —

1a. Root vowel change: aā, u/ūo, i/īe. Sometimes accompanied by root final consonant change: kc, , lØ.
1b. Suffixation of . Often accompanied by:
Root vowel change: ū/ou, e/ai/ā/īi.
Insertion of semivowel l between such vowel-terminating stems.
2. Suffixation of -vā (in place of if and where it'd occur) for a "causative".

The majority of the following are sets culled from Shapiro (2003:270) and Snell & Weightman (1989:243–244). The lack of third members displayed for the ghūmnā to dhulnā sets does not imply that they do not exist but that they were simply not listed in the source literature (Snell & Weightman 1989:243). Intransitive verbs are coloured brown while transitives remain the usual black.

In the causative model of "to cause to be Xed", the agent takes the postposition se. Thus Y se Z banvānā "to cause Z to be made by Y" = "to cause Y to make Z" = "to have Z made by Y" = "to have Y make Z", etc.

Compounds

Compound verbs, a highly visible feature of Hindi–Urdu grammar, consist of a verbal stem plus an auxiliary verb. The auxiliary (variously called "subsidiary", "explicator verb", and "vector",[39]) loses its own independent meaning and instead "lends a certain shade of meaning"[40] to the main or stem verb, which "comprises the lexical core of the compound".[39] While most any verb can act as a main verb, there is a limited set of productive auxiliaries.[41] Shown below are prominent such auxiliaries, with their independent meaning first outlined, followed by their semantic contribution as auxiliaries.

The above three are the most common of auxiliaries, and the "least marked", or "lexically nearly colourless".[44] The nuance conveyed by an auxiliary can often be very subtle, and need not always be expressed with different words in English translation. lenā and denā, transitive verbs, occur with transitives, while intransitive jānā occurs mostly with intransitives; a compound of a transitive and jānā will be grammatically intransitive as jānā is.

Finally, having to do with the manner of an occurrence, compounds verbs are mostly used with completed actions and imperatives, and much less with negatives, conjunctives, and contexts continuous or speculative. This is because non-occurrences cannot be described to have occurred in a particular manner.[43]

Conjuncts

Another notable aspect of Hindi–Urdu grammar is that of "conjunct verbs", composed of a noun or adjective paired up with a general verbalizer, most commonly transitive karnā "to do" or intransitive honā "to be(come)", functioning in the place of what in English would be single unified verb.

In the case of an adjective as the non-verbal element, it is often helps to think of karnā "to do" as supplementally having the senses of "to cause to be", "to make", "to render", etc.

Adjective Conjunct Literal Meaning
sāf cleansāf karnāto do cleanto clean
niyukt/muqarrar appointedniyukt/muqarrar karnāto do appointedto appoint
band closedband honāto become closedto close
xatm finishedxatm honāto become finishedto finish

In the case of a noun as the non-verbal element, it is treated syntactically as the verb's (direct) object (never taking the ko marker; governing agreement in perfective and infinitival constructions), and the semantic patient (or agent: see gālī khānā below) of the conjunct verbal expression is often expressed/marked syntactically as a genitive adjunct (-kā ~ ke ~ ) of the noun.[51]

Noun Conjunct Conjunct + patient Literal Meaning
intizār waitintizār karnākisī kā intizār karnāto do somebody's waitto wait for somebody
istemāl useistemāl karnāfon kā istemāl karnāto do a phone's useto use a phone
bāt talkbāt karnāSamīr kī bāt karnāto do Sameer's talkto talk about Sameer
pratiṣṭhā installationpratiṣṭhānkarnāmūrti/but kī pratiṣṭhā karnāto do an idol's installationto install an idol
gālī cursegālī khānāsanam kī gālī khānāto eat a lover's curseto be cursed out by one's lover
tasvīr picturetasvīr khīṅcnā/khicvānāIbrahim ki tasvīr khīṅcnā/khicvānā to pull Ibrahim's pictureto take Ibrahim's picture

With English it is the verb stems themselves that are used.

Verb stem Conjunct Meaning
cek checkcek karnāto check
bor borebor honāto be bored

Passive

The passive construction is periphrastic. It is formed from the perfective participle by addition of the auxiliary jānā "to go"; i.e. likhnā "to write" → likhā jānā "to be written". The agent is marked by the postposition se. Furthermore, both intransitive and transitive verbs may be grammatically passivized to show physical/psychological incapacity, usually in negative sentences. Lastly, intransitives often have a passive sense, or convey unintentional action.[52]

Syntax

With regards to word order, Hindustani is an SOV language. In terms of branching, it is neither purely left- or right-branching, and phenomena of both types can be found. The order of constituents in sentences as a whole lacks governing "hard and fast rules", and frequent deviations can be found from normative word position, describable in terms of a small number of rules, accounting for facts beyond the pale of the label of "SOV".[53]

  1. Indirect objects precede direct objects.
  2. Attributive adjectives precede the noun they qualify.
  3. Adverbs precede the adjectives they qualify.
  4. Negative markers (nahī̃, na, mat) and interrogatives precede the verb.
  5. Interrogatives precede negative markers if both are present.
  6. kyā ("what?") as the yes-no question marker occurs at the beginning of a clause.

Possession

Possession, reflecting what many other languages indicate via the verb to have, is reflected in Hindustani by the genitive (inflected appropriately) or the postposition ke pās ("near") and the verb honā. Possible objects of possession (nouns) fall into two main categories in Hindustani: one for persons such as family members, or body parts, and the other for most inanimate objects, animals, most abstract ideas, and some persons such as servants.

References

  1. Kachru, Yamuna (2006). Hindi (12th ed.). John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027238122.
  2. Shapiro (2003:262–263)
  3. Shapiro (2003:262)
  4. 1 2 3 Snell & Weightman (1989:24)
  5. Snell & Weightman (1989:43)
  6. Shapiro (2003:263)
  7. Schmidt (2003:313)
  8. 1 2 3 Shapiro (2003:264)
  9. Snell & Weightman (1989:117)
  10. 1 2 Shapiro (2003:265)
  11. 1 2 3 Shapiro (2003:266)
  12. Snell & Weightman (1989:67)
  13. Snell & Weightman (1989:80–81)
  14. Shapiro (2003:264–265)
  15. Snell & Weightman (1989:21)
  16. 1 2 Schmidt (2003:293)
  17. Snell & Weightman (1989:68)
  18. Snell & Weightman (1989:106)
  19. Snell & Weightman (1989:88)
  20. Snell & Weightman (1989:89)
  21. Snell & Weightman (1989:90)
  22. Snell & Weightman (1989:79)
  23. Snell & Weightman (1989:80)
  24. Snell & Weightman (1989:198)
  25. Snell & Weightman (1989:199)
  26. Schmidt (2003:322)
  27. Snell & Weightman (1989:150)
  28. Masica (1991:257)
  29. 1 2 Schmidt (2003:323)
  30. Shapiro (2003:268)
  31. Schmidt (2003:324)
  32. 1 2 3 Schmidt (2003:328)
  33. Snell & Weightman (1989:140)
  34. Snell & Weightman (1989:149)
  35. Snell & Weightman (1989:64)
  36. Snell & Weightman (1989:113, 125)
  37. Snell & Weightman (1989:179)
  38. Shapiro (2003:270)
  39. 1 2 Shapiro (2003:269)
  40. Snell & Weightman (1989:154)
  41. Shapiro (2003:269–270)
  42. Snell & Weightman (1989:155)
  43. 1 2 3 Snell & Weightman (1989:156)
  44. 1 2 Schmidt (2003:337)
  45. Snell & Weightman (1989:220)
  46. 1 2 3 Schmidt (2003:338)
  47. 1 2 3 Snell & Weightman (1989:221)
  48. Schmidt (2003:337–338)
  49. Snell & Weightman (1989:222)
  50. Masica (1991:329)
  51. (Masica 1991, p. 368)
  52. Schmidt (2003:331)
  53. Shapiro (2003:271)

Bibliography

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