हर har means “each” or “every.” It distributes a statement over the individual members of a contextually relevant set: हर बच्चा “every child,” हर दिन “every day.” It is indeclinable, normally precedes a singular count noun, and does not change for gender or case.
English distinguishes each from every more sharply than Hindi does. हर can translate either one; when Hindi needs to emphasize “one apiece” or one-by-one distribution, it often uses एक-एक, not a second form of हर.
The basic singular pattern
| Type | Noun phrase | Agreement outside a ने-clause |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | हर बच्चा | हर बच्चा तैयार है |
| feminine | हर लड़की | हर लड़की तैयार है |
| time expression | हर सुबह | हर सुबह अलग होती है |
| invariant noun | हर आदमी | हर आदमी सहमत नहीं है |
हर बच्चा अपना नाम साफ़ लिखेगा।
har baccā apnā nām sāf likhegā.
Every child will write their name clearly.
हर लड़की अपनी सीट पर बैठी है।
har laṛkī apnī sīṭ par baiṭhī hai.
Each girl is sitting in her own seat.
हर बच्चा takes masculine singular लिखेगा; हर लड़की takes feminine singular बैठी है. Reflexive अपना/अपनी changes with the possessed noun, not with the English word their.
Case: हर stays fixed, the noun changes
Before a postposition, हर remains unchanged while a declinable noun takes its oblique form.
| Direct | With a postposition |
|---|---|
| हर बच्चा | हर बच्चे को |
| हर कमरा | हर कमरे में |
| हर लड़की | हर लड़की से |
| हर कोई | हर किसी के लिए |
मैंने हर मेहमान को चाय दी।
maĩne har mehmān ko cāy dī.
I gave tea to every guest.
हर कमरे में एक खिड़की है।
har kamre meṃ ek khiṛkī hai.
There is one window in every room.
The postposition determines the case form: कमरा → कमरे before में. A bare pronominal हर कोई has the special oblique sequence हर किसी; see distributive हर कोई.
Singular हर versus plural सब/सभी
हर distributes over singular members; सब/सभी presents the relevant set as plural.
हर कर्मचारी समय पर आया।
har karmacārī samay par āyā.
Every employee arrived on time. (each individual)
सभी कर्मचारी समय पर आए।
sabhī karmacārī samay par āe.
All the employees arrived on time. (the group)
The truth conditions may be nearly identical, but agreement differs: singular आया after हर कर्मचारी, plural आए after सभी कर्मचारी. With an all-female set and an overt feminine noun, the corresponding forms are feminine singular or plural.
Definiteness and the set being quantified
Hindi does not add an article after हर. The situation supplies the domain: हर ग्राहक may mean every customer in this shop, every customer on today's list, or every customer in a general policy.
एक ग्राहक ने बिल माँगा।
ek grāhak ne bil mā̃gā.
A customer asked for the bill. (indefinite introduction)
हर ग्राहक ने अलग सवाल पूछा।
har grāhak ne alag savāl pūchā.
Every customer asked a different question. (universal over the relevant customers)
एक ग्राहक introduces one indefinite member. हर ग्राहक quantifies over a contextually bounded set; it does not itself mean “the customer.” Hindi combines quantifiers, demonstratives, word order, specificity, and context instead of an article system.
Agreement in perfective transitive clauses
The distributive subject does not always control the verb. With perfective transitive ने, agreement follows the unmarked object or defaults according to the ordinary ergative pattern.
हर छात्र ने एक किताब चुनी।
har chātr ne ek kitāb cunī.
Every student chose a book.
Feminine चुनी agrees with unmarked किताब, not with masculine छात्र. The singular form is not evidence that हर छात्र controls it. This distinction matters whenever a quantified subject appears in a perfective transitive clause.
हर with intervals and numbers
हर + number + time unit expresses a recurring interval. The number follows हर.
हम हर दो हफ़्ते में प्रगति की समीक्षा करते हैं।
ham har do hafte meṃ pragati kī samīkṣā karte haiṃ.
We review progress every two weeks.
Hindi needs no obligatory classifier in हर बच्चा or हर दो हफ़्ते. Measure and time nouns can form specialized expressions, but full numeral formation belongs in Numbers and Measurement.
For one item per recipient, एक-एक is more explicit than हर:
दोनों बच्चों को एक-एक संतरा मिला।
donoṃ baccoṃ ko ek-ek santarā milā.
Each of the two children received one orange.
Using हर संतरा here would mean “every orange,” not “one orange each.”
Scope with indefinites and negation
हर छात्र ने अपनी पसंद की एक किताब चुनी।
har chātr ne apnī pasand kī ek kitāb cunī.
Every student chose a book they liked. (the book may differ by student)
हर छात्र ने वही किताब चुनी।
har chātr ne vahī kitāb cunī.
Every student chose that same book.
In the first sentence, एक किताब can vary with each student. वही forces a single shared book in the second. This is a scope difference: the indefinite can fall inside the distribution created by हर.
Negation creates another important contrast.
हर छात्र आज नहीं आया।
har chātr āj nahīṃ āyā.
Not every student came today.
आज एक भी छात्र नहीं आया।
āj ek bhī chātr nahīṃ āyā.
Not a single student came today.
The first usually negates the universal claim; the second explicitly gives the “none” reading.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting a plural noun after हर
❌ हर बच्चे तैयार हैं।
Incorrect: distributive हर normally takes a singular noun and singular agreement.
✅ हर बच्चा तैयार है।
har baccā taiyār hai.
Every child is ready.
2. Ignoring the noun's oblique form
❌ हर लड़का को टिकट मिला।
Incorrect: लड़का becomes oblique लड़के before को.
✅ हर लड़के को टिकट मिला।
har laṛke ko ṭikaṭ milā.
Every boy received a ticket.
3. Forcing subject agreement through ने
❌ हर छात्र ने रिपोर्ट लिखा।
Incorrect: feminine unmarked रिपोर्ट controls लिखी in this perfective transitive clause.
✅ हर छात्र ने रिपोर्ट लिखी।
har chātr ne riporṭ likhī.
Every student wrote the report.
4. Translating “one each” as हर
❌ दोनों बच्चों को हर किताब मिली।
Incorrect for ‘one book each’: this means every book went to both children.
✅ दोनों बच्चों को एक-एक किताब मिली।
donoṃ baccoṃ ko ek-ek kitāb milī.
The two children received one book each.
Key Takeaways
- हर is indeclinable and normally precedes a singular count noun.
- Its distributive noun phrase normally has singular agreement, except where ordinary case and agreement rules select another controller.
- Use सब/सभी + plural for a collective “all” perspective and एक-एक for explicit “one each.”
- Context supplies the set quantified by हर; no English-style article is inserted.
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- Scope with negation and quantifiersC1 — Interpret and disambiguate not all, none, some not, free-choice any, and same-versus-varying readings in Hindi quantified clauses.