Many common Hindi adjectives end in masculine singular -आ -ā and change to agree with the noun they describe: नया कमरा “new room,” नए कमरे “new rooms,” नई दुकान “new shop.” These are declinable adjectives.
The narrowly conditioned citation form is treated separately under masculine singular direct -आ; this page maps the complete agreement system.
Not every adjective changes. Consonant-final forms such as सुंदर “beautiful” and साफ़ “clean,” along with many loans, remain invariant. Even a visible final -आ is not absolute proof of declension: common forms such as ज़िंदा “alive,” बढ़िया “excellent,” and लापता “missing” are invariant. Agreement is therefore a property of an adjective's morphological class, not a requirement to attach an ending to every describing word.
दोनों लापता लड़कियाँ सुरक्षित मिल गईं।
donoṃ lāpatā laṛkiyā̃ surakṣit mil gaī̃.
Both missing girls were found safe.
Feminine plural लड़कियाँ does not change invariant लापता. This exception is genuinely lexical; learn an unfamiliar adjective with more than one noun rather than relying on spelling alone.
The core -आ / -ए / -ई pattern
Use नया nayā “new” as the model.
| Noun features | Adjective | Noun phrase |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular direct | नया nayā | नया कमरा |
| masculine plural direct | नए nae | नए कमरे |
| masculine singular oblique | नए nae | नए कमरे में |
| masculine plural oblique | नए nae | नए कमरों में |
| feminine singular, any case | नई naī | नई दुकान / नई दुकान में |
| feminine plural, any case | नई naī | नई दुकानें / नई दुकानों में |
The adjective has three surface endings: -आ for masculine singular direct, -ए for masculine plural direct and masculine oblique, and -ई throughout the feminine. The noun may have additional number and case endings of its own.
छोटा कमरा ऊपर है।
choṭā kamrā ūpar hai.
The small room is upstairs.
नीली कुर्सियाँ खिड़की के पास हैं।
nīlī kursiyā̃ khiṛkī ke pās haiṃ.
The blue chairs are near the window.
मैं पुराने मकान के सामने आपका इंतज़ार कर रहा हूँ।
maĩ purāne makān ke sāmne āpkā intazār kar rahā hū̃.
I'm waiting for you in front of the old house. (male speaker)
छोटा is masculine singular direct, नीली is feminine plural, and पुराने is masculine oblique before the compound postposition के सामने.
Direct and oblique contrast
Case affects a masculine singular adjective even when real-world number stays singular.
लंबा रास्ता यहाँ से शुरू होता है।
lambā rāstā yahā̃ se śurū hotā hai.
The long road starts here.
लंबे रास्ते पर आज कम यातायात है।
lambe rāste par āj kam yātāyāt hai.
There is little traffic on the long road today.
Direct लंबा रास्ता becomes oblique लंबे रास्ते before पर. Feminine forms do not show this contrast: लंबी सड़क, लंबी सड़क पर.
English adjectives do not mark case, gender, or number, so learners often hear -ए and assume it means plural. It also marks masculine singular oblique.
Attributive and predicative agreement
An attributive adjective occurs inside the noun phrase before its noun. A predicative adjective describes the subject with a copula. Declinable adjectives agree in both positions.
यह भारी डिब्बा बहुत बड़ा है।
yah bhārī ḍibbā bahut baṛā hai.
This heavy box is very large.
वे पुरानी सड़कें अब चौड़ी हैं।
ve purānī saṛkeṃ ab cauṛī haiṃ.
Those old roads are wide now.
In the first sentence, invariant भारी modifies डिब्बा, while predicative बड़ा agrees masculine singular. In the second, both पुरानी and चौड़ी are feminine plural in meaning, though the adjective ending remains -ई.
Hindi normally puts an attributive adjective before the noun: बड़ा डिब्बा. The sequence डिब्बा बड़ा है is not English-style postnominal modification; it is a complete predicate, “the box is big.”
Declinable versus indeclinable
| Declinable | Changes | Indeclinable | Stays fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| अच्छा | अच्छा/अच्छे/अच्छी | साफ़ | साफ़ कमरा/साफ़ दुकान |
| बड़ा | बड़ा/बड़े/बड़ी | सुंदर | सुंदर लड़का/सुंदर लड़की |
| नया | नया/नए/नई | आसान | आसान सवाल/आसान भाषा |
| ठंडा | ठंडा/ठंडे/ठंडी | गर्म | गर्म पानी/गर्म चाय |
The semantic job is identical: both classes modify nouns. Only one class displays agreement endings. Many Perso-Arabic and English loans are indeclinable, but ending and lexical history are not perfectly predictive; learn a new adjective with at least a masculine and feminine example.
सस्ता होटल साफ़ है, लेकिन महँगी टैक्सी गंदी है।
sastā hoṭal sāf hai, lekin mahãgī ṭaiksī gandī hai.
The cheap hotel is clean, but the expensive taxi is dirty.
Declinable सस्ता, महँगी, गंदी change; invariant साफ़ does not.
Degree does not cancel agreement
Degree words precede the adjective, while the adjective continues to agree.
हमारा कमरा बहुत बड़ा है, लेकिन उसकी बालकनी सबसे छोटी है।
hamārā kamrā bahut baṛā hai, lekin uskī bālkanī sabse choṭī hai.
Our room is very large, but its balcony is the smallest.
बहुत and सबसे are invariant degree markers. They do not absorb agreement: बड़ा follows masculine कमरा, छोटी follows feminine बालकनी.
Conventional meaning shifts
Agreement remains regular when an adjective acquires a conventional meaning. पुराना दोस्त usually means a long-standing friend, not necessarily an elderly one. बड़ा सवाल may mean an important question rather than a physically large one. छोटा भाई means younger brother.
अमित मेरा पुराना दोस्त है; हम स्कूल में साथ पढ़ते थे।
amit merā purānā dost hai; ham skūl meṃ sāth paṛhte the.
Amit is an old friend of mine; we studied together at school.
यह बड़ा सवाल है कि खर्च कौन उठाएगा।
yah baṛā savāl hai ki kharc kaun uṭhāegā.
The big question is who will cover the expense.
The morphology agrees normally even though the adjective's interpretation is not literal size or age.
Agreement in a ने-clause
रीना ने नए कपड़े खरीदे।
rīnā ne nae kapṛe kharīde.
Reena bought new clothes.
The adjective नए agrees with masculine plural कपड़े. Perfective खरीदे also agrees with that unmarked object because agent रीना ने is marked by ने. Reena's feminine gender does not control either form.
Common Mistakes
1. Leaving a declinable adjective invariant
❌ यह लड़की लंबा है।
Incorrect: feminine लड़की requires लंबी.
✅ यह लड़की लंबी है।
yah laṛkī lambī hai.
This girl is tall.
2. Declining an indeclinable adjective
❌ यह आसानी सवाल है।
Incorrect: आसान is an invariant adjective; आसानी is the noun ‘ease.’
✅ यह आसान सवाल है।
yah āsān savāl hai.
This is an easy question.
3. Confusing attributive and predicative position
❌ मैंने कमरा बड़ा किराए पर लिया।
Incorrect for the intended noun phrase ‘a large room’: postposed बड़ा is separated from the noun and invites a predicative reading.
✅ मैंने बड़ा कमरा किराए पर लिया।
maĩne baṛā kamrā kirāe par liyā.
I rented a large room.
4. Agreeing with an ergative agent
❌ सीमा ने नया घड़ी खरीदी।
Incorrect: adjective नया must agree with feminine घड़ी, not with any default or agent feature.
✅ सीमा ने नई घड़ी खरीदी।
sīmā ne naī ghaṛī kharīdī.
Seema bought a new watch.
Key Takeaways
- Declinable -आ adjectives use -आ masculine singular direct, -ए masculine plural or oblique, and -ई feminine.
- They agree both before a noun and in predicate position.
- Indeclinable adjectives modify the same meanings without changing form.
- Degree and figurative meaning do not change the ordinary agreement pattern.
Related Topics
- Masculine singular direct -āA1 — Use adjective -आ with a masculine singular noun in direct case, and distinguish it from masculine -ए, feminine -ई, and invariant adjectives.
- Masculine plural and oblique -eA1 — Use adjective -ए for masculine plurals and for masculine noun phrases made oblique by a postposition.
- Feminine -ī across number and caseA1 — Use adjective -ई with feminine nouns in both singular and plural, direct and oblique contexts.
- Indeclinable adjectivesA2 — Recognize Hindi adjectives that keep one form across gender, number, case, and attributive or predicative position.
- Attributive adjectivesA2 — Place adjectives inside Hindi noun phrases, normally before the head noun, with the agreement required by the adjective's class.
- Predicative adjectives with होनाA2 — Build clauses in which an adjective describes the subject through present, past, or future forms of होना.