Hindi postpositions follow their complement, and an interrogative pronoun before them normally takes an oblique form. Direct कौन “who?” becomes singular/nonplural किस or plural किन; genitive forms then agree where required. This is a central difference from English, which can leave a preposition at the end of a question: “Who did you speak to?”
The basic कौन → किस/किन pattern
Use direct कौन when the pronoun itself is an unmarked subject or predicate identity. Before ने, को, से, में, पर and other postpositions, use किस for a single or unspecified referent and किन when plurality is explicit.
| Function | Singular/unspecified | Explicit plural |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | कौन | कौन लोग / कौन-से |
| Accusative/dative and ordinary postpositions | किसे / किसको, किससे, किसमें | किन्हें / किनको, किनसे, किनमें |
| Ergative | किसने | किन्होंने |
| Genitive | किसका, किसकी, किसके | किनका, किनकी, किनके |
दरवाज़े पर कौन है?
darvāze par kaun hai?
Who is at the door?
तुमने कल किससे बात की?
tumne kal kisse bāt kī?
Who did you speak to yesterday?
इस फ़ैसले पर किन लोगों ने आपत्ति की?
is faisle par kin logoṃ ne āpatti kī?
Which people objected to this decision?
In pronunciation and standard spelling, किस + से and किस + को are written किससे and किसको. किसे is the common accusative/dative alternative to किसको and may mean “whom?”; plural किन्हें similarly alternates with किनको. किन्होंने is the standard plural ergative form, not किनने.
Person or thing: context disambiguates किस
Direct Hindi distinguishes कौन “who” from क्या “what,” but before many postpositions the forms converge on किस. Thus किससे can mean “with whom,” “from whom,” “with what,” or “by what,” depending on the predicate and context.
तुमने डिब्बा किससे खोला?
tumne ḍibbā kisse kholā?
What did you open the box with?
तुम स्टेशन से किसके साथ आए?
tum sṭeśan se kiske sāth āe?
Who did you come from the station with?
यह दाग़ किससे निकलेगा?
yah dāġ kisse niklegā?
What will remove this stain? / What will this stain come out with?
Hindi speakers add a noun when ambiguity matters: किस व्यक्ति से “with which person,” किस औज़ार से “with which tool,” किस चीज़ से “with what thing.” The shared form is not vague when the verb and situation make the semantic role obvious.
Do not preserve direct क्या before a postposition: neutral standard Hindi uses किससे, not क्या से, for “with what?” For a fuller paradigm, see oblique किस and किन.
Genitive questions: किसका, किसकी, किसके
The genitive postposition का agrees with the possessed head, not with the unknown possessor. Consequently, one owner can be questioned with three forms.
यह फ़ोन किसका है?
yah fon kiskā hai?
Whose phone is this?
मेज़ पर किसकी चाबी पड़ी है?
mez par kiskī cābī paṛī hai?
Whose key is lying on the table?
बाहर किसके जूते रखे हैं?
bāhar kiske jūte rakhe haiṃ?
Whose shoes are outside?
फ़ोन is masculine singular, चाबी feminine, and जूते masculine plural, so the genitive ending changes. The form does not tell you whether the unknown owner is male or female. English whose is invariant and therefore gives learners no reminder to make this agreement.
With an explicit plural possessor, किनके is available: ये किन बच्चों के बैग हैं? “Which children’s bags are these?” Here किन बच्चों के marks the plural group of possessors.
Compound postpositions
Many relational expressions contain के plus a noun or adverb: के साथ “with,” के बारे में “about,” के पास “near/in someone’s possession,” के सामने “in front of,” and के लिए “for.” Their interrogative complement therefore takes किसके or plural किनके.
आप किसके बारे में पूछ रही हैं?
āp kiske bāre meṃ pūch rahī haiṃ?
Who or what are you asking about? (honorific, addressed to a woman)
आज बच्चों के साथ किसके पास जाना है?
āj baccoṃ ke sāth kiske pās jānā hai?
Whose place do we have to visit with the children today?
इन उम्मीदवारों में से आप किनके पक्ष में हैं?
in ummīdvāroṃ meṃ se āp kinke pakṣ meṃ haiṃ?
Which of these candidates do you support? (formal/honorific)
Because the relational expression governs के, forms such as किस साथ and कौन के बारे में are not neutral standard Hindi. Treat the whole sequence as a unit: किसके साथ, किसके बारे में.
किसके लिए usually asks “for whom/which one,” whereas lexicalized किसलिए asks “for what purpose?” Compare:
यह कमरा किसके लिए बुक किया गया है?
yah kamrā kiske lie buk kiyā gayā hai?
Who has this room been booked for?
यह कमरा किसलिए बुक किया गया है?
yah kamrā kislie buk kiyā gayā hai?
For what purpose has this room been booked?
Interrogative adverbs with postpositions
Not every question word uses किस. Place and time adverbs can combine directly with a restricted set of postpositions: कहाँ से “from where,” कहाँ तक “as far as where,” कब से “since when,” and कब तक “until/by when.”
यह बस कहाँ से कहाँ तक जाती है?
yah bas kahā̃ se kahā̃ tak jātī hai?
From where to where does this bus run?
आप इस परियोजना पर कब से काम कर रहे हैं?
āp is pariyojnā par kab se kām kar rahe haiṃ?
Since when have you been working on this project? (honorific)
These are adverbial expressions, so there is no invented oblique form such as किस कहाँ से. Likewise, क्यों already asks a reason and normally needs no postposition. Learn productive किस/किन + postposition separately from conventional adverbial combinations.
Position, polarity, and intonation
The complete interrogative phrase normally occupies the answer’s position. Hindi keeps the postposition beside its complement instead of stranding it at the end.
रीमा ने रिपोर्ट किसको भेजी?
rīmā ne riporṭ kisko bhejī?
Who did Rima send the report to?
An answer such as रीमा ने रिपोर्ट संपादक को भेजी replaces किसको with संपादक को. Initial किसको रीमा ने रिपोर्ट भेजी? is possible with strong contrast, but it is not obligatory English-style wh-fronting.
Compare the information question with a polar one:
क्या संपादक ने मसौदा लेखिका को लौटाया?
kyā sampādak ne masaudā lekhikā ko lauṭāyā?
Did the editor return the draft to the writer?
संपादक ने मसौदा किसको लौटाया?
sampādak ne masaudā kisko lauṭāyā?
Who did the editor return the draft to?
Clause-initial क्या marks the first as yes–no. The second asks for the recipient and does not normally add क्या. Hindi information questions may end low or falling as well as high or rising, depending on dialect and focus; prosodic emphasis and context, rather than a fall alone, create an interrogating or demanding tone.
Politeness is carried by address and agreement:
तुम किसके साथ जा रहे हो? — अजय के साथ।
tum kiske sāth jā rahe ho? — ajay ke sāth.
Who are you going with? — With Ajay. (familiar)
आप किससे मिलना चाहेंगी? — विभागाध्यक्ष से।
āp kisse milnā cāheṅgī? — vibhāgādhyakṣ se.
Whom would you like to meet? — The department head. (formal/honorific, addressed to a woman)
An echo question may put the surprising candidate after the interrogative:
तुमने यह ख़बर किससे सुनी—विनय से?
tumne yah xabar kisse sunī—vinay se?
You heard this news from whom—from Vinay?
Common Mistakes
Leaving कौन uninflected
❌ यह चाबी कौन के पास है?
Incorrect—कौन becomes किस before compound postposition के पास.
✅ यह चाबी किसके पास है?
yah cābī kiske pās hai?
Who has this key?
Stranding the postposition like English
❌ तुम किस आए साथ?
Incorrect—के साथ must remain together after किसके.
✅ तुम किसके साथ आए?
tum kiske sāth āe?
Who did you come with?
Ignoring genitive agreement
❌ यह छतरी किसका है?
Incorrect—का agrees with feminine छतरी, so use किसकी.
✅ यह छतरी किसकी है?
yah chatrī kiskī hai?
Whose umbrella is this?
Adding polar क्या to an information question
❌ क्या आपने किससे बात की?
Incorrect as a neutral ‘Who did you speak to?’—क्या asks yes or no.
✅ आपने किससे बात की?
āpne kisse bāt kī?
Who did you speak to? (honorific)
Key Takeaways
Before postpositions, replace direct कौन with किस or explicit plural किन: किससे, किसको, किसमें; किनसे, किनको, किनमें. Use agreeing किसका/किसकी/किसके for possession and किसके/किनके before compound postpositions such as के साथ and के बारे में. Keep each postposition attached to its interrogative phrase, preserve normal Hindi clause order, and reserve initial क्या for polar questions.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- कौन and किस person questionsA2 — Use direct कौन and oblique किस or किन to ask who, whom, whose, with whom, and other case-marked person questions.
- कहाँ किधर and कहाँ सेA2 — Distinguish कहाँ for location or destination, किधर for direction, and कहाँ से for source, origin, or starting point.
- कब and कितनी देरA2 — Ask when something happens, how long it lasts, and where a time period begins or ends with कब, कितनी देर, से, and तक.
- क्यों and किसलिएA2 — Distinguish the broad reason question क्यों from the purpose-focused किसलिए and use both with natural Hindi word order and appropriate politeness.
- Oblique किस and किनB1 — Use singular/general किस and selected-plural किन before postpositions, in possessives, and in conventional किसे/किन्हें and किसने/किन्होंने forms.
- The oblique in compound postpositional phrasesA2 — Build oblique noun phrases before compound Hindi postpositions such as के साथ, के लिए, के पास, and के बारे में.