कोई koī is an existential indefinite centered on an unspecified person or singular member: कोई आया है “someone has come,” कोई किताब “some book/any book.” In questions it often corresponds to “anyone/any,” and with negation कोई नहीं means “no one/not any.” Before postpositions and case markers, it normally uses oblique किसी kisī.
Core paradigm
| Environment | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| direct/pronominal | कोई koī | कोई आया koī āyā |
| before को | किसी को kisī ko | to someone/anyone |
| before से | किसी से kisī se | with/from anyone |
| possessive | किसी का/की/के kisī kā/kī/ke | someone's |
| free choice | कोई भी/किसी भी koī bhī/kisī bhī | anyone/any whatsoever |
कोई आपसे मिलने आया है।
koī āpse milne āyā hai.
Someone has come to meet you. (respectful)
क्या किसी ने मुझे फ़ोन किया था?
kyā kisī ne mujhe fon kiyā thā?
Did anyone call me?
किसी ने is oblique before ने. कोई ने is not the standard form.
Unspecified person versus unspecified thing
Used alone, कोई normally suggests a person, while कुछ normally suggests a thing or amount.
See कुछ “some/any” for mass and plural quantity.
दरवाज़े पर कोई है, लेकिन बाहर कुछ दिखाई नहीं दे रहा।
darvāze par koī hai, lekin bāhar kuch dikhāī nahīṃ de rahā.
Someone is at the door, but nothing is visible outside.
Before a noun, कोई can select one nonspecific member of a class:
कोई आसान रास्ता ज़रूर होगा।
koī āsān rāstā zarūr hogā.
There must be some easy route.
This is singular. For several routes, use कुछ रास्ते or कई रास्ते.
Questions, negation, and polarity
क्या यहाँ कोई डॉक्टर है?
kyā yahā̃ koī ḍokṭar hai?
Is there a doctor here?
यहाँ कोई डॉक्टर नहीं है।
yahā̃ koī ḍokṭar nahīṃ hai.
There is no doctor here.
The noun phrase is existential rather than definite. Hindi does not use an article; polarity supplies “a/any/no” in English.
In an affirmative statement, कोई can deliberately leave identity open: the speaker asserts that an appropriate member exists without identifying which one. This is common with futures, possibilities, and suggestions. An already identifiable person instead calls for a name, demonstrative, or contextually established bare noun.
कोई नहीं has negation over the existential. By contrast, कोई छात्र नहीं आया means no student came, while कुछ छात्र नहीं आए means some students failed to come.
कोई भी: free choice
Adding भी often gives “any at all/whichever.”
आप कोई भी खाली सीट चुन सकते हैं।
āp koī bhī khālī sīṭ cun sakte haiṃ.
You may choose any vacant seat. (respectful)
किसी भी सवाल का जवाब जल्दबाज़ी में मत देना।
kisī bhī savāl kā javāb jaldbāzī meṃ mat denā.
Don't answer any question in a hurry. (informal instruction)
कोई alone can mean an unspecified one; कोई भी explicitly opens the choice across the set. The distinction depends on scope and context.
Definiteness and specificity
कोई आदमी introduces an unidentified man. Once identified, Hindi normally uses the bare noun, a demonstrative, a name, or a pronoun—not कोई.
एक आदमी ने संदेश छोड़ा। वह आदमी शाम को फिर आएगा।
ek ādmī ne sandeś choṛā. vah ādmī śām ko phir āegā.
A man left a message. That man will return this evening.
Replacing second-mention वह आदमी with कोई आदमी would introduce or select an unspecified man again. Definiteness comes from discourse and वह, not an article.
Agreement
कोई is invariant, but the noun and predicate show gender and number. An unknown person's gender may be resolved by context or default masculine singular agreement.
कोई महिला बाहर खड़ी है और कोई बच्चा उसके साथ है।
koī mahilā bāhar khaṛī hai aur koī baccā uske sāth hai.
A woman is standing outside, and a child is with her.
Feminine महिला... खड़ी, masculine बच्चा, and singular है follow the referents, not the invariant quantifier.
Scope
हर छात्र ने किसी शिक्षक से बात की।
har chātr ne kisī śikṣak se bāt kī.
Every student spoke with a teacher. (possibly a different teacher for each student)
The usual narrow-scope reading allows different teachers. A named teacher or एक ही शिक्षक forces a shared referent. Scope is not encoded by an article.
Singular and plural contrast
कोई कर्मचारी आपकी मदद करेगा; कुछ कर्मचारी अभी बैठक में हैं।
koī karmacārī āpkī madad karegā; kuch karmacārī abhī baiṭhak meṃ haiṃ.
Some employee will help you; some employees are in a meeting right now. (respectful)
First कोई selects one unspecified helper; plural कुछ selects a subset. The invariant noun कर्मचारी gets its number from agreement.
Common Mistakes
❌ कोई ने दरवाज़ा खोला।
Incorrect—before ने, कोई becomes किसी.
✅ किसी ने दरवाज़ा खोला।
kisī ne darvāzā kholā.
Someone opened the door.
❌ मैंने कोई को जवाब नहीं दिया।
Incorrect—before को, use किसी.
✅ मैंने किसी को जवाब नहीं दिया।
maĩne kisī ko javāb nahīṃ diyā.
I did not reply to anyone.
❌ कोई लोग बाहर इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं।
Incorrect for plural ‘some people’—use कुछ or कई.
✅ कुछ लोग बाहर इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं।
kuch log bāhar intazār kar rahe haiṃ.
Some people are waiting outside.
❌ कोई पानी दे दीजिए।
Incorrect for an unspecified amount of mass पानी.
✅ थोड़ा पानी दे दीजिए।
thoṛā pānī de dījie.
Please give me some water. (respectful)
Key Takeaways
- Direct कोई means someone or one unspecified member; oblique किसी precedes case markers.
- Questions and negation create “anyone/no one” readings.
- कोई भी expresses free choice more explicitly.
- Use कुछ/कई for plural subsets and कुछ/थोड़ा for quantities.
- Discourse, demonstratives, and context—not articles—turn an introduced referent into an identifiable one.
Now practice Hindi
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- कुछ some and anyA2 — Use invariant कुछ with mass and plural nouns, as a pronoun, and in polarity-sensitive ‘anything’ readings.
- Indefinite कोई and कुछB1 — Use कोई for an unidentified person or countable member and कुछ for an unspecified quantity, content, or degree, including oblique and modifier patterns.
- Negative indefinites कोई नहीं and कुछ नहींB1 — Express nobody, nothing, and not any with कोई नहीं, कुछ नहीं, किसी…नहीं, while controlling scope, case, agreement, and emphatic भी.
- किसी भी and कोई भी free choiceB2 — Use कोई भी in direct position and किसी भी before case markers to express unrestricted choice, polarity-sensitive any, and emphatic none.
- No articles in HindiA1 — Interpret bare Hindi noun phrases as definite, indefinite, or generic through context, demonstratives, specificity, and information structure.