Every Hindi noun belongs grammatically to one of two genders: masculine or feminine. Gender is visible far beyond the noun itself. It can determine the form of an agreeing adjective, a possessive, a participle, and sometimes the verb. English speakers cannot rely on English, because English normally does not assign gender to objects: Hindi कमरा kamrā “room” is masculine, while किताब kitāb “book” is feminine.
Gender also interacts with number and case. A noun may have direct, oblique, and vocative forms, but it does not change gender when it changes form. The central insight is that Hindi case is layered: nouns show a relatively small inflectional contrast, while a following postposition carries most relational meaning. The next page develops gender clues from noun endings.
Gender is a grammatical class
Natural sex often helps with nouns for people: लड़का laṛkā “boy” is masculine and लड़की laṛkī “girl” is feminine. For objects and abstract ideas, gender must be learned as part of the noun. दरवाज़ा darvāzā “door” is masculine; खिड़की khiṛkī “window” is feminine. Nothing about a physical window is inherently feminine.
बड़ा दरवाज़ा खुला है।
baṛā darvāzā khulā hai.
The big door is open.
बड़ी खिड़की खुली है।
baṛī khiṛkī khulī hai.
The big window is open.
The adjective बड़ा/बड़ी and participle खुला/खुली both agree with the noun. English uses unchanged big and open; Hindi repeats the gender information across the phrase and predicate.
Grammatical gender describes a word's behavior, not a person's identity. Speakers can choose respectful descriptions and appropriate kinship or professional terms, but the agreement pattern follows the head noun actually used.
A compact noun paradigm
The most transparent classes are masculine nouns in -ā and feminine nouns in -ī. The table shows direct, oblique, and vocative forms:
| Case/number | Masculine लड़का | Feminine लड़की |
|---|---|---|
| direct singular | लड़का laṛkā | लड़की laṛkī |
| direct plural | लड़के laṛke | लड़कियाँ laṛkiyā̃ |
| oblique singular | लड़के laṛke | लड़की laṛkī |
| oblique plural | लड़कों laṛkoṃ | लड़कियों laṛkiyoṃ |
| vocative singular | लड़के laṛke | लड़की laṛkī |
| vocative plural | लड़को laṛko | लड़कियो laṛkiyo |
The same surface form can have different jobs. लड़के is direct plural “boys,” oblique singular “boy” before a postposition, or singular vocative “boy!” Context and the following postposition disambiguate it.
Vocatives are used for direct address. Bare लड़के! can sound abrupt (informal); a name, kin term, जी jī, or polite title is normally more appropriate when respect is required. The forms are grammatical, but social choice still matters.
Direct and oblique are a pair
Use a direct form when the noun phrase is not placed into an oblique environment. A simple subject often shows the direct form:
लड़का बाहर खड़ा है।
laṛkā bāhar khaṛā hai.
The boy is standing outside.
लड़कियाँ बाहर खड़ी हैं।
laṛkiyā̃ bāhar khaṛī haiṃ.
The girls are standing outside.
Before a simple postposition, the noun takes its oblique form. This page focuses on the noun's shape; individual postpositions and their meanings are taught separately.
लड़के को अंदर बुलाओ।
laṛke ko andar bulāo.
Call the boy inside.
लड़कियों से बाद में बात करना।
laṛkiyoṃ se bād meṃ bāt karnā.
Talk to the girls later.
English adds a preposition without inflecting boy or girls. Hindi first selects लड़के/लड़कियों, then adds को/से. The postposition expresses most of the relation; the noun's oblique ending signals that it is linked to that postposition.
Agreement follows gender and number
Declinable adjectives in -ā change to -ī with feminine nouns and to -e with masculine plural or masculine oblique forms. Perfective and other participles can show the same gender-number contrasts when the syntax allows agreement.
अच्छा लड़का जल्दी आया।
acchā laṛkā jaldī āyā.
The good boy arrived early.
अच्छी लड़की जल्दी आई।
acchī laṛkī jaldī āī.
The good girl arrived early.
अच्छे लड़के जल्दी आए।
acche laṛke jaldī āe.
The good boys arrived early.
अच्छी लड़कियाँ जल्दी आईं।
acchī laṛkiyā̃ jaldī āīṃ.
The good girls arrived early.
The feminine adjective stays अच्छी in both singular and plural; the feminine plural is visible on लड़कियाँ and आईं. Not every adjective changes: सुंदर sundar is indeclinable, so both सुंदर लड़का and सुंदर लड़की are correct.
Possessives patterned like मेरा/मेरी/मेरे agree with the thing possessed, not the possessor:
मेरी किताब और मेरा फ़ोन मेज़ पर हैं।
merī kitāb aur merā fon mez par haiṃ.
My book and my phone are on the table.
किताब is feminine, so मेरी; फ़ोन is masculine, so मेरा. The speaker's gender is irrelevant.
Agreement becomes more complex with ने, object को, honorificity, and coordinated nouns. Do not turn the basic pattern into a blanket “the verb agrees with the subject” rule. At A1, use clear intransitive examples such as आया/आई to establish gender first.
Borrowed nouns still enter Hindi morphology
A loan noun receives a Hindi grammatical gender and ordinarily uses Hindi number and case patterns. Feminine फ़ाइल fāil has direct plural फ़ाइलें fāileṃ and oblique plural फ़ाइलों fāiloṃ. Standard Hindi does not need an English -s.
ये फ़ाइलें नई हैं, लेकिन पुरानी फ़ाइलों में ज़रूरी काग़ज़ हैं।
ye fāileṃ naī haiṃ, lekin purānī fāiloṃ meṃ zarūrī kāġaz haiṃ.
These files are new, but the old files contain important papers.
Code-switching speakers may use an English plural inside an English phrase (informal/Hinglish). That is a register choice, not the productive Hindi plural paradigm.
A natural exchange
लड़का कहाँ है? — लड़के को बाहर बुलाओ; लड़कियाँ भी वहीं हैं।
laṛkā kahā̃ hai? — laṛke ko bāhar bulāo; laṛkiyā̃ bhī vahīṃ haiṃ.
Where is the boy? — Call the boy outside; the girls are there too.
The exchange moves from direct singular लड़का to oblique singular लड़के before को, then to feminine direct plural लड़कियाँ. The change is visible and audible.
Common Mistakes
1. Ignoring feminine adjective agreement
❌ यह अच्छा किताब है।
Incorrect: किताब is feminine, so अच्छा must become अच्छी.
✅ यह अच्छी किताब है।
yah acchī kitāb hai.
This is a good book.
2. Using a direct masculine noun before a postposition
❌ लड़का को अंदर बुलाओ।
Incorrect: masculine -ā changes to -e before को.
✅ लड़के को अंदर बुलाओ।
laṛke ko andar bulāo.
Call the boy inside.
3. Keeping a feminine direct plural before a postposition
❌ लड़कियाँ से बात करो।
Incorrect: the plural noun must take its oblique form before से.
✅ लड़कियों से बात करो।
laṛkiyoṃ se bāt karo.
Talk to the girls.
4. Adding an English plural ending
❌ मैंने दो फ़ाइल्स भेजीं।
Incorrect in standard Hindi morphology: use the feminine plural फ़ाइलें.
✅ मैंने दो फ़ाइलें भेजीं।
maĩne do fāileṃ bhejīṃ.
I sent two files.
Key Takeaways
- Every Hindi noun is grammatically masculine or feminine.
- Gender controls agreeing adjectives, possessives, participles, and eligible verbs.
- Direct, oblique, and vocative are noun forms; gender remains constant across them.
- Hindi case is layered: modest noun inflection combines with a following postposition.
- Borrowed nouns normally take Hindi gender, plural, and oblique morphology.
Related Topics
- Reliable gender clues from endingsA1 — Use productive Hindi noun endings to predict gender and declension while learning the high-frequency exceptions that endings cannot solve.
- Direct singular and plural formsA2 — Recognize Hindi's default noun forms and build direct plurals across the major masculine and feminine declension classes.
- Oblique singular formationA2 — Form the singular case used before Hindi postpositions and recognize when that case is overt or hidden on the noun.
- Oblique plural formationA2 — Build the plural noun forms required before postpositions across the major Hindi declension classes.
- Declinable adjectives in -āA1 — Form the -ā, -e, and -ī agreement pattern of variable Hindi adjectives across gender, number, case, and predicate position.
- Agreement in gender and numberA1 — Track masculine, feminine, singular, and plural agreement across Hindi participles, predicates, and auxiliaries.