Postpositions
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Contents |
The Oblique case
First, let's review how to form the oblique case, to which all postpositions must be affixed:
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| आ becomes ए | ए becomes ओं | Does not change | इयाँ becomes इयों |
| Others do not change | Others append ओं/यों | एँ becomes ओं | |
Simple Postpositions
one word prepositions. We call them prepositions in English, and in some other languages, because these words appear before the noun that they show the relation to. In Hindi, these words appear after the noun. So we call them postpositions.
The five postpositions that we will be covering today are for 'in', 'on', 'up to/until', 'to', and 'by/with/from'.
- में - in
- पर - on
- तक - up to/until
- को - to
- से - by/with/from
Example sentences:
वह घर मैं है। (vah ghar mein hai.) - He is in the house.
वह (vah) is a pronoun that refers to something or someone in the third person. It can be "he", "she", or "it". You have to look at the rest of the sentence for context. There is no other context provided, so we just assume "He".
घर (ghar) = "house".
में (mein) = "in" (notice that we write and say "घर मैं (ghar mein)" for "in the house". The "in" word comes after the noun that you are "in". This is backwards from English. And this is true with all the prepositions/postpositions.)
है (hai) = "is". (notice also that the verb comes at the end of the sentence.)
Let us look at another sample sentence that uses में (men).
मैं दफ़्तर में हूँ। (mein daphtar men huun) = I am in the office.
It is easy to confuse the Hind pronoun for "I" which is मैं (mein) and the postposition that means "in" which is में. One word for "I" has a diphthong (ay-ee) and the word for "in" has a pure "ay" vowel. They both begin with "m" and end in "n". Listen out carefully for it on the recording.
दफ़्तर (daphtar) = office
में (mein) = "in"
हूँ (huun) = "is". Notice that when the subject of the sentence is "वह (vah) = he/she/it", we use "है (hai)" for "is". But when the subject is "मैं (main) = I" the word for "is" is "हूँ (huun)". This is a good thing to remember.
How to use "kaa"
का functions like the English 's, not the preposition "of." It is somewhat odd as it also inflects as an adjective when used for possession, agreeing with the thing possessed, with the possessor in the oblique case. Thus, its form is का before a masculine singular noun, के before a masculine plural or oblique noun, and की before any feminine noun.
Compound Postpositions
- के ऊपर above
- के नीचे below
- के आगे in front of
- के पीछे behind
- के पहले before
- के बाद after
- के अंदर inside
- के बाहर outside
- के लिये for
- के साथ with
