An attributive adjective belongs inside a noun phrase and directly describes its head noun: लंबा रास्ता “a long road,” साफ़ कमरा “a clean room.” In neutral Hindi it normally comes before the noun. Declinable adjectives agree with the head noun; indeclinable adjectives occupy the same position but keep one form.
This noun-internal use contrasts with predication. बड़ा कमरा is a noun phrase, “a large room,” while कमरा बड़ा है is a clause, “the room is large.” English uses an unchanged adjective in both, but Hindi position and agreement reveal the structure.
The agreement pattern inside the noun phrase
Use नया nayā as a model declinable adjective.
| Head noun features | Attributive phrase |
|---|---|
| masculine singular direct | नया कमरा nayā kamrā |
| masculine plural direct | नए कमरे nae kamre |
| masculine singular oblique | नए कमरे में nae kamre meṃ |
| masculine plural oblique | नए कमरों में nae kamroṃ meṃ |
| feminine, any number or case | नई दुकान / नई दुकानों में naī dukān / naī dukānoṃ meṃ |
सामने वाला छोटा कमरा अभी खाली है।
sāmne vālā choṭā kamrā abhī khālī hai.
The small room at the front is vacant right now.
नए कमरे सड़क की ओर खुलते हैं।
nae kamre saṛak kī or khulte haiṃ.
The new rooms face the street.
हम नए कमरे में कल से काम करेंगे।
ham nae kamre meṃ kal se kām kareṅge.
We will work in the new room starting tomorrow.
The real-world room remains singular in the third example. में makes the whole masculine noun phrase oblique, producing नए कमरे में.
Declinable and indeclinable adjectives share a position
Both adjective classes appear before the noun. Only the declinable class visibly agrees.
पुरानी इमारत के पीछे एक सुंदर बाग़ है।
purānī imārat ke pīche ek sundar bāġ hai.
There is a beautiful garden behind the old building.
सुंदर इमारतों की तस्वीरें वेबसाइट पर हैं।
sundar imāratoṃ kī tasvīreṃ vebsāiṭ par haiṃ.
Photographs of the beautiful buildings are on the website.
पुरानी displays feminine agreement with इमारत. Invariant सुंदर modifies masculine बाग़ and feminine plural oblique इमारतों without changing. Morphological invariability does not make its semantic link to the noun any weaker.
The same contrast occurs with loans:
उसने नई डिजिटल घड़ी ऑनलाइन मँगाई।
usne naī ḍijiṭal ghaṛī onlāin mãgāī.
She ordered a new digital watch online.
Declinable नई agrees with feminine घड़ी; English-derived डिजिटल remains invariant.
Attributive versus predicative structure
Position changes the grammatical job, not necessarily the descriptive content.
मुझे ठंडी चाय पसंद नहीं है।
mujhe ṭhaṇḍī cāy pasand nahīṃ hai.
I do not like cold tea.
चाय अब ठंडी है।
cāy ab ṭhaṇḍī hai.
The tea is cold now.
In ठंडी चाय, adjective and noun form one constituent. In चाय ठंडी है, ठंडी is the predicate. Agreement is feminine in both. See predicative adjectives with होना for the clause pattern.
An English speaker may be tempted to place the adjective after a noun simply because both languages allow “the tea is cold.” Hindi permits that order when the adjective is predicative, focused, or an afterthought—not as the unmarked shape of an attributive noun phrase.
More than one modifier
Several modifiers can occur before one head. Each declinable adjective independently agrees with that head.
उसने लंबी नीली सूती साड़ी पहनी है।
usne lambī nīlī sūtī sāṛī pahnī hai.
She is wearing a long blue cotton sari.
लंबी and नीली show feminine agreement. सूती “cotton” is invariant. Their order reflects meaning and conventional closeness to the noun; it is not created by a string of English-style endings.
Degree markers form a unit with the adjective they modify:
यह बहुत पुराना सरकारी अस्पताल है।
yah bahut purānā sarkārī aspatāl hai.
This is a very old government hospital.
बहुत immediately modifies पुराना. The full phrase बहुत पुराना then modifies masculine अस्पताल. For ordering beyond this core pattern, see adjective order in noun phrases.
Definiteness and conventional meanings
An attributive adjective does not function as an article. पुराना घर can introduce an old house or identify one already known; demonstratives, possession, and context establish definiteness.
वह पुराना घर अब एक पुस्तकालय है।
vah purānā ghar ab ek pustakālay hai.
That old house is now a library.
Some adjective–noun combinations have conventional meanings. छोटा भाई means younger brother, पुराना दोस्त a long-standing friend, and बड़ा सवाल an important question. The adjective remains attributive and agrees normally.
मेरी छोटी बहन अपने पुराने दोस्तों से मिलने गई है।
merī choṭī bahan apne purāne dostoṃ se milne gaī hai.
My younger sister has gone to meet her old friends.
Agreement in a perfective ने-clause
The ने-marked agent never controls an attributive adjective. The adjective agrees with its head noun; an eligible unmarked object may separately control the perfective verb.
अरुण ने लाल कमीज़ खरीदी।
aruṇ ne lāl kamīz kharīdī.
Arun bought a red shirt.
Invariant लाल modifies feminine कमीज़. Feminine खरीदी agrees with that unmarked object, not with masculine अरुण ने.
नीता ने महँगे जूते लौटा दिए।
nītā ne mahãge jūte lauṭā die.
Neeta returned the expensive shoes.
Declinable महँगे agrees with masculine plural जूते despite the feminine agent.
Common Mistakes
❌ मैं कमरा बड़ा में काम करता हूँ।
Incorrect—inside the postpositional noun phrase, the adjective precedes the noun and both declinable masculine words are oblique.
✅ मैं बड़े कमरे में काम करता हूँ।
maĩ baṛe kamre meṃ kām kartā hū̃.
I work in the large room. (male speaker)
❌ नई कमरे में बैठक है।
Incorrect—masculine singular oblique कमरे requires नए.
✅ नए कमरे में बैठक है।
nae kamre meṃ baiṭhak hai.
The meeting is in the new room.
❌ सुंदरें तस्वीरें दीवार पर हैं।
Incorrect—सुंदर is indeclinable and cannot take the feminine plural noun ending.
✅ सुंदर तस्वीरें दीवार पर हैं।
sundar tasvīreṃ dīvār par haiṃ.
Beautiful photographs are on the wall.
❌ नेहा ने महँगा चूड़ियाँ खरीदीं।
Incorrect—feminine plural चूड़ियाँ requires महँगी; the agent's features are irrelevant.
✅ नेहा ने महँगी चूड़ियाँ खरीदीं।
nehā ne mahãgī cūṛiyā̃ kharīdīṃ.
Neha bought expensive bangles.
Key Takeaways
- Neutral attributive adjectives precede the head noun inside its noun phrase.
- Declinable adjectives agree with the head; indeclinable adjectives modify it without visible inflection.
- Postpositions make the whole phrase oblique and can change masculine -आ to -ए.
- Degree words stay with their adjective, and multiple modifiers each retain their own class behavior.
- A ने-marked agent does not determine attributive agreement.
Related Topics
- Declinable adjectives in -āA1 — Form the -ā, -e, and -ī agreement pattern of variable Hindi adjectives across gender, number, case, and predicate position.
- Predicative adjectives with होनाA2 — Build clauses in which an adjective describes the subject through present, past, or future forms of होना.
- Adjective order in noun phrasesA2 — Arrange determiners, quantities, degree phrases, descriptive adjectives, classifying modifiers, and the head noun in natural Hindi order.
- Postposed adjectives and marked focusA2 — Interpret adjectives after a Hindi noun as predicates, secondary descriptions, contrastive focus, afterthoughts, or marked literary epithets.
- Indeclinable adjectivesA2 — Recognize Hindi adjectives that keep one form across gender, number, case, and attributive or predicative position.