3.5 Grammar of Adjectives

Adjectives Video

Instructor Video: Adjectives

Adjectives qualify nouns and pronouns. In Hindi, adjectives can be classified in two categories: (a) Marked, and (b) Unmarked.

(a) Marked Adjectives end in – . Marked adjective changes its form according to number and gender of the noun that it qualifies.

: –  ending adjective is for masculine singular.

:  –  changes in –  for plural nouns, and masculine honorific.

: –  changes in –  for feminine noun.

Examples:

च्छा लड़का (m.) “good boy,”     च्छी लड़की (f.) “good girl,”     च्छे बच्चे (plu.) “good children.”

ड़ा घर (m.) “big house,”            ड़ी दीवार (f.) “big wall,”           ड़े घर (plu.) “big houses.”

लंबा आदमी (m.) “tall man,”         लंबी औरत (f.) “tall woman,”     लंबे लोग (plu.) “tall people.”

 

Exception: There are a few adjectives like बढ़िया “good,” ज़िंदा “alive,” and मादा “female,” etc that end in – but do not change their forms according to number and gender of the nouns that these adjectives qualify. Most of these adjectives are Persian-Arabic loan words.

(b) Unmarked Adjectives are adjectives that do not end in – . Unmarked adjective does not change its form according to number and gender of the noun that it qualifies.

Examples:

तेज़ लड़का (m.) “smart boy,”         तेज़ लड़की (f.) “smart girl,”           तेज़ बच्चे (plu.) “smart children.”

मज़बूत घर (m.) “strong house,”    मज़बूत दीवार (f.) “strong wall,”     मज़बूत घर (plu.) “strong houses.”

अमीर आदमी (m.) “rich man,”       अमीर औरत (f.) “rich woman,”     अमीर लोग (plu.) “rich people.”

Word order for adjectives: Adjectives can be used predicatively (following), and attributively (preceding).

For examples:

Predicatively Attributively
 यह किताब अच्छी है|

This book is good.

यह अच्छी किताब है |

This is a good book.

वे लोग अमीर हैं |

Those people are rich.

वे अमीर लोग हैं |

They are rich people.

यह लड़का होशियार है|

This boy is intelligent.

यह होशियार लड़का है |

He is an intelligent boy.

Use of –सा with adjectives

In Hindi, –सा is used with adjectives to add extra meaning.

(a) Adjective + सा: It adds “looking, seeming.”

For example:

  • मोटा सा आदमी “fat looking man.”
  • अच्छी सी चाय “seemingly good tea.”
  • पागल से बच्चे “seemingly crazy children.”

(b) Quantitative Adjective + सा:

  • बहुत सा “a great deal.”
  • थोड़ा सा “just a little.”

Activities

रंगों के नाम “Names of Colors”

Please read the following adjectives and decide whether the adjective is marked or unmarked adjective.

Hindi English Marked/Unmarked
काला Black
नीला Blue
भूरा Brown
धूसर/स्लेटी Gray
हरा Green
नारंगी Orange
बैंगनी Purple
लाल Red
सफ़ेद White
पीला Yellow

Adjectives of Quality

Please read the following adjectives and decide whether the adjective is marked or unmarked adjective. Please also make a sentence with each adjective.

Hindi English Marked/Unmarked Sentence
अच्छा Good
बुरा Bad
हल्का Lite
भारी Heavy
अँधेरा Dark
साफ़ Clean
गंदा Dirty
आसान Easy
कठिन Hard
सस्ता Cheap
महँगा Expensive
नया New (thing)
पुराना Old (thing)
सही Right
ग़लत Wrong
मज़बूत Strong
कमज़ोर Weak
बूढ़ा Old (person)
जवान Young

Record your sentences here and share with your friends/teacher

Please choose the correct form of adjective of the following noun.

धन्यवाद !

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