सब sab and सभी sabhī mean “all” or “everyone.” They can modify a plural noun—सब बच्चे, सभी कर्मचारी—or stand alone as pronouns: सब आ गए “everyone has arrived.” सब is extremely common in conversation; सभी is slightly more explicit and especially frequent in careful speech and writing, though it is not restricted to formal contexts.
Unlike distributive हर + singular, सब/सभी + plural presents the relevant people or things as a total set. That difference normally produces plural agreement.
Core patterns
| Function | सब | सभी |
|---|---|---|
| before a noun | सब बच्चे | सभी बच्चे |
| stand-alone subject | सब तैयार हैं | सभी तैयार हैं |
| with को | सबको | सभी को |
| possessive | सबका/सबकी/सबके | सभी का/सभी की/सभी के |
| with के लिए | सबके लिए | सभी के लिए |
सब बच्चे मैदान में खेल रहे हैं।
sab bacce maidān meṃ khel rahe haiṃ.
All the children are playing on the field.
सभी खिड़कियाँ बंद हैं।
sabhī khiṛkiyā̃ band haiṃ.
All the windows are closed.
The masculine plural predicate खेल रहे हैं matches बच्चे. With feminine plural खिड़कियाँ, the invariable adjective बंद stays unchanged while the plural copula is हैं.
सब and सभी as pronouns
When the people or things are understood, the noun can be omitted.
क्या सब आ गए? — हाँ, सभी आ गए हैं।
kyā sab ā gae? — hā̃, sabhī ā gae haiṃ.
Has everyone arrived? — Yes, everyone has arrived.
चाय सबके लिए है; पहले मेहमानों को दीजिए।
cāy sabke lie hai; pahle mehmānoṃ ko dījie.
The tea is for everyone; serve the guests first.
Stand-alone सब often feels conversational and compact. सभी can emphasize that no member is excluded. This is a tendency, not a rigid meaning contrast: many sentences allow either.
Case with an overt plural noun
Before a postposition, the plural noun takes its oblique plural form. सब/सभी remain unchanged.
| Direct subject | Postpositional phrase |
|---|---|
| सभी छात्र | सभी छात्रों को |
| सब बच्चे | सब बच्चों के लिए |
| सभी महिलाएँ | सभी महिलाओं से |
| सब कमरे | सब कमरों में |
सभी छात्रों को नया कार्यक्रम भेज दिया गया है।
sabhī chātroṃ ko nayā kāryakram bhej diyā gayā hai.
The new schedule has been sent to all the students.
सब कमरों में पंखे लगे हैं।
sab kamroṃ meṃ paṅkhe lage haiṃ.
Fans are installed in all the rooms.
In the first sentence, masculine singular कार्यक्रम controls भेज दिया गया है; the students are को-marked recipients. In the second, plural पंखे controls लगे हैं. Never make a verb agree simply with the nearest phrase.
Indefinite introduction and the complete set
कुछ मेहमान जल्दी पहुँचे। बाद में सभी मेहमान खाने की मेज़ पर आ गए।
kuch mehmān jaldī pahũce. bād meṃ sabhī mehmān khāne kī mez par ā gae.
Some guests arrived early. Later, all the guests came to the dining table.
कुछ मेहमान introduces an indefinite subset. सभी मेहमान then quantifies over the complete contextually relevant guest list. English article choices do not map word for word: Hindi identifies the set through context and quantification, without inserting the.
The domain can also be generic:
सभी धातुएँ एक ही तापमान पर नहीं पिघलतीं।
sabhī dhātuẽ ek hī tāpmān par nahīṃ pighaltīṃ.
Not all metals melt at the same temperature.
Here सभी धातुएँ describes the class of metals, not a previously mentioned definite list. Quantification and definiteness are related, but they are not the same category.
Singular mass reading versus plural count reading
With an invariant noun such as काम, agreement can distinguish a collective amount from several countable tasks.
आज सब काम पूरा हो गया।
āj sab kām pūrā ho gayā.
All the work got finished today. (collective/mass reading)
आज सब काम पूरे हो गए।
āj sab kām pūre ho gae.
All the tasks got finished today. (plural count reading)
The written noun काम does not change, but पूरा हो गया is singular and पूरे हो गए is plural. For an indivisible mass, सारा is often even clearer: सारा पानी, सारा काम. सभी पानी is not the ordinary way to say “all the water.”
Numbers and “all N”
सभी चार दरवाज़े रात भर बंद रहे।
sabhī cār darvāze rāt bhar band rahe.
All four doors remained closed all night.
सभी + number + plural noun is possible when explicitly emphasizing the entire numbered set. Hindi also has compact totalizing forms such as चारों दरवाज़े “all four doors” and दोनों बच्चे “both children.” Do not stack both strategies as सभी चारों दरवाज़े in ordinary neutral wording; it is redundant unless special emphasis is intended.
Hindi does not require numeral classifiers with ordinary count nouns. The number directly precedes the plural noun.
Agreement under ने
Plural सब/सभी controls agreement only when syntax allows it. A ने-marked perfective transitive subject cannot control the verb.
सभी छात्रों ने नई किताबें खरीदीं।
sabhī chātroṃ ne naī kitābeṃ kharīdīṃ.
All the students bought new books.
Feminine plural किताबें is unmarked and controls खरीदीं. Plural masculine छात्रों ने does not control the verb across ने.
Scope with negation
सब लोग बैठक में नहीं आए; दो लोग बीमार थे।
sab log baiṭhak meṃ nahīṃ āe; do log bīmār the.
Not everyone came to the meeting; two people were ill.
बैठक में एक भी व्यक्ति नहीं आया।
baiṭhak meṃ ek bhī vyakti nahīṃ āyā.
Not a single person came to the meeting.
In the first sentence, negation takes scope over the universal: “not all.” The continuation makes that reading explicit. एक भी ... नहीं forces the stronger “none” reading. Because intonation can affect short negative sentences, add context or a form such as एक भी when the distinction matters.
Common Mistakes
1. Combining सब with a singular count noun
❌ सब बच्चा बाहर है।
Incorrect for ‘all the children’: use plural बच्चे and plural agreement.
✅ सब बच्चे बाहर हैं।
sab bacce bāhar haiṃ.
All the children are outside.
2. Using a direct plural noun before को
❌ सभी छात्र को संदेश मिला।
Incorrect: plural छात्र becomes छात्रों before को.
✅ सभी छात्रों को संदेश मिला।
sabhī chātroṃ ko sandeś milā.
All the students received the message.
3. Using सभी with an undivided mass noun
❌ सभी पानी गिर गया।
Incorrect for ‘all the water’: use mass quantifier सारा.
✅ सारा पानी गिर गया।
sārā pānī gir gayā.
All the water spilled.
4. Translating distributive “each” with plural सब
❌ सब छात्र को अलग चाबी मिली।
Incorrect: this mixes plural सब with singular छात्र and को; use distributive हर छात्र.
✅ हर छात्र को अलग चाबी मिली।
har chātr ko alag cābī milī.
Each student received a different key.
Key Takeaways
- सब is highly frequent in conversation; सभी is more explicit and common in careful or formal wording.
- With count nouns, both normally take a plural noun and plural agreement.
- Before postpositions, put the noun in the oblique plural: सभी छात्रों को.
- Context defines the complete set; Hindi does not add English-style articles.
- Negated सब/सभी often means “not all,” not “none.”
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- हर each and everyA2 — Use indeclinable हर with singular count nouns for distributive each/every meanings, including case, agreement, intervals, and negation scope.
- प्रत्येक in formal HindiA2 — Use formal प्रत्येक with singular nouns for administrative, academic, and carefully written each/every statements.
- पूरा and सारा whole and allA2 — Distinguish पूरा for an intact bounded whole from सारा for exhaustive totality, with correct agreement and scope.
- दोनों and all-of-number formsB1 — Use दोनों, तीनों, चारों, and related forms to refer exhaustively to every member of a known numbered set.
- Plural marking with numerals and quantifiersB1 — Choose singular, plural, and oblique Hindi noun forms after numbers and quantifiers such as ek, har, kai, kuch, and sabhī.
- 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.