Hindi possessives मेरा merā “my,” तेरा terā “your” at the intimate तू level, and हमारा hamārā “our” behave like -आ adjectives. Their ending agrees with the possessed noun, not with the owner: मेरा भाई, मेरी बहन, मेरे दोस्त.
English possessives do not change with the thing owned. Hindi makes gender, number, and oblique case visible on the possessive.
Agreement paradigm
| Owner | Masculine singular direct | Feminine | Masculine plural/oblique |
|---|---|---|---|
| मैं | मेरा merā | मेरी merī | मेरे mere |
| तू | तेरा terā | तेरी terī | तेरे tere |
| हम | हमारा hamārā | हमारी hamārī | हमारे hamāre |
मेरा भाई जयपुर में रहता है।
merā bhāī jaypur meṃ rahtā hai.
My brother lives in Jaipur.
मेरी बहन आज घर पर है।
merī bahan āj ghar par hai.
My sister is at home today.
मेरे दोस्त शाम को आएँगे।
mere dost śām ko āẽge.
My friends will come in the evening.
The owner remains the same first-person singular in all three. भाई, बहन, and plural दोस्त determine the endings.
Case inside the noun phrase
A masculine singular possessive changes to -ए when the whole noun phrase is oblique before a postposition.
मैंने अपने पुराने दोस्त को संदेश भेजा।
maĩne apne purāne dost ko sandeś bhejā.
I sent a message to my old friend.
For nonreflexive possession, compare मेरे पुराने दोस्त को “to my old friend.” Even though दोस्त itself does not visibly change, मेरे and पुराने show the oblique case.
हमारे नए घर में अभी फ़र्नीचर नहीं है।
hamāre nae ghar meṃ abhī farnīcar nahīṃ hai.
There is no furniture in our new house yet.
घर is masculine singular but oblique before में, so both हमारे and नए take -ए.
तेरा carries intimate social meaning
तेरा belongs to direct तू. It is natural in relationships that use intimate तू, but it can sound belittling or aggressive toward an unfamiliar adult.
तेरी चाय ठंडी हो रही है।
terī cāy ṭhaṇḍī ho rahī hai.
Your tea is getting cold. (intimate singular)
आपकी चाय ठंडी हो रही है।
āpkī cāy ṭhaṇḍī ho rahī hai.
Your tea is getting cold. (respectful)
This formal–informal minimal pair changes तेरी to आपकी; feminine चाय selects -ई in both. Familiar तुम would use तुम्हारी.
Possessive agreement and honorific agreement operate on different controllers. In आपकी चाय, आपकी is feminine because of चाय, but the respectful owner आप still takes plural-honorific verb forms such as हैं and चाहें when it is the subject. Respectful third-person possession likewise commonly uses plural morphology—इनका/उनका rather than non-honorific singular इसका/उसका—even for one person. Honorificity is therefore grammatical as well as social; it does not override the possessed noun's control of -आ/-ई/-ए.
हमारा and the meaning of “we”
हमारा means “our,” but Hindi हम does not grammatically distinguish inclusive “you and I” from exclusive “others and I, not you.” Context supplies that difference.
हमारी ट्रेन छह बजे है।
hamārī ṭren chah baje hai.
Our train is at six.
यह हमारा साझा फ़ैसला है।
yah hamārā sājhā faislā hai.
This is our joint decision.
Words such as हम दोनों “the two of us” or an explicit list clarify membership when necessary. The possessive still agrees with the possessed noun.
Predicative possession
Possessives can stand after the noun when ownership is the new information.
नीली छतरी मेरी है, काली वाली तुम्हारी है।
nīlī chatrī merī hai, kālī vālī tumhārī hai.
The blue umbrella is mine; the black one is yours. (familiar)
The omitted noun remains feminine, so मेरी/तुम्हारी are feminine. Hindi has no separate unchanging forms equivalent to English mine and ours; agreement continues even when the noun is understood.
Possessive versus reflexive अपना
When the possessor is also the clause subject, neutral Hindi usually chooses अपना “one's own.”
मैं अपना कमरा साफ़ कर रहा हूँ।
maĩ apnā kamrā sāf kar rahā hū̃.
I am cleaning my own room. (male speaker)
मैंने मेरी चाबी रीना को दे दी।
maĩne merī cābī rīnā ko de dī.
I gave Reena my key. (contrastive/regional reading)
The second can occur when मेरी is contrastive or in regional usage, but neutral coreference favors मैंने अपनी चाबी.... By contrast, रीना ने मेरी चाबी ली must use मेरी because the owner “me” is not the subject Reena.
रीना ने मेरी चाबी अपने बैग में रख ली।
rīnā ne merī cābī apne baig meṃ rakh lī.
Reena put my key in her own bag.
मेरी points to the speaker; अपने points back to Reena. See reflexive अपना for the full controller system.
Relational compound postpositions
Forms such as मेरे लिए, तेरे साथ, हमारे पास look like possessive forms because the relational element determines their shape.
हमारे पास तुम्हारे लिए एक ख़बर है।
hamāre pās tumhāre lie ek xabar hai.
We have some news for you. (familiar)
This does not mean that an unspoken masculine object is literally possessed. The forms are part of compound-postposition grammar.
A dialogue: relationship and number
क्या यह तुम्हारा बैग है? — नहीं, हमारा बैग वहाँ है; यह शायद सर का है।
kyā yah tumhārā baig hai? — nahīṃ, hamārā baig vahā̃ hai; yah śāyad sar kā hai.
Is this your bag? — No, our bag is over there; this is probably sir's. (familiar singular, then plural owner)
Common Mistakes
1. Agreeing with the owner
❌ मेरा बहन दिल्ली में रहती है।
Incorrect: feminine बहन requires मेरी.
✅ मेरी बहन दिल्ली में रहती है।
merī bahan dillī meṃ rahtī hai.
My sister lives in Delhi.
2. Missing oblique agreement
❌ मैं हमारा नया घर में बैठा हूँ।
Incorrect: before में, हमारा नया becomes हमारे नए.
✅ मैं हमारे नए घर में बैठा हूँ।
maĩ hamāre nae ghar meṃ baiṭhā hū̃.
I am sitting in our new house. (male speaker)
3. Using intimate तेरा with a respected stranger
❌ सर, तेरा फ़ोन बज रहा है।
Inappropriate default: तेरा belongs to intimate तू-level address.
✅ सर, आपका फ़ोन बज रहा है।
sar, āpkā fon baj rahā hai.
Sir, your phone is ringing.
4. Missing reflexive अपना
❌ मैंने मेरा कमरा साफ़ किया।
Incorrect in the neutral coreferential reading: use अपना for the subject's own room.
✅ मैंने अपना कमरा साफ़ किया।
maĩne apnā kamrā sāf kiyā.
I cleaned my room.
Key Takeaways
- मेरा, तेरा, हमारा agree with the possessed noun, not the owner.
- Masculine singular phrases take -ए in oblique position: मेरे घर में.
- तेरा preserves intimate तू social meaning; familiar and respectful forms differ.
- Reflexive अपना normally refers possession back to the clause subject.
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- मैं and हम direct formsA1 — Use first-person मैं and हम with the right agreement, case forms, number readings, and reflexive expressions.
- तू intimate singular youA1 — Use singular तू with its intimate agreement, oblique forms, commands, and relationship-dependent social meanings.
- Possessive तुम्हारा and आपकाA2 — Use familiar तुम्हारा and respectful आपका with agreement controlled by the possessed noun, not by the owner.
- Reflexive possessive अपनाB1 — Use अपना for possession that returns to a clause's subject while making it agree with the possessed noun.
- Inclusive and exclusive readings of हमC1 — Interpret whether हम includes the addressee through discourse cues, explicit group phrases, and the social setting.
- Oblique stems मुझ तुझ and हमA2 — Build first-person and intimate second-person postpositional forms from मुझ, तुझ, and हम while distinguishing को, ने, possessive, and reflexive forms.