जिसका–उसका possessive relatives

Hindi expresses “whose” with जिसका / जिसके / जिसकी and normally resumes that owner with उसका / उसके / उसकी. The relative and correlative halves identify the same possessor, but their endings agree with the noun possessed in each local phrase—not with the possessor’s gender.

That agreement is the central challenge for English speakers. English whose never changes, while Hindi asks two questions: “Who is the owner?” and “What grammatical form does the possessed noun require?” The second answer selects -का, -के, or -की.

From जो–वह to जिसका–उसका

The basic relative–correlative balance is visible in ordinary जो–वह and conversational जो–वो sentences:

When the relative relation itself is possession, जो takes the genitive linker and becomes जिसका / जिसके / जिसकी:

The unknown possessor is introduced through जिसका फ़ोन and resumed through उसका नाम.

Agreement follows the possessed noun

Use जिसका / उसका before a direct masculine singular possessed noun, जिसकी / उसकी before a feminine noun, and जिसके / उसके before a masculine plural or an oblique masculine noun.

The owner can be male, female, plural, or even inanimate; that does not determine the ending:

For plural or honorific possessors, use जिन- / उन- rather than singular जिस- / उस-: जिनका / जिनके / जिनकी pairs with उनका / उनके / उनकी. There are therefore two separate agreement decisions. The stem (जिस-/जिन-, उस-/उन-) reflects the possessor's number or respectful status, while -का / -के / -की agrees with the possessed noun.

Here plural जिन कर्मचारियों identifies multiple possessors. Relative की agrees with feminine plural रिपोर्टें, while correlative के agrees with masculine plural नाम; the two endings need not match.

In the second example, जिसका agrees with masculine बेटा, but उसकी agrees with feminine माँ. Both point to the same person. The endings differ because the possessed nouns differ.

Oblique possession before postpositions

A masculine singular noun becomes oblique before a postposition, so the possessive linker changes from का to के:

The direct phrase would be जिसका भाई. Because भाई is followed by से, the phrase is जिसके भाई से. On the other side, feminine दुकान requires उसकी.

Possession can also sit inside a compound postpositional phrase:

Here जिसकी agrees with feminine शिकायत. The following के बारे में belongs to the larger phrase शिकायत के बारे में; it does not change जिसकी to जिसके.

Possessors can be people, groups, or things

Possessive relatives cover more than legal ownership. They express kinship, parts, authorship, association, and properties:

This example uses analytic जिस इमारत की छत, literally “the roof of which building,” rather than standalone जिसकी छत. The correlative उसके नीचे treats the building as the landmark for के नीचे.

Hindi often keeps the head noun inside the relative half—जिस कंपनी के उत्पाद—and resumes it with उसका मुख्यालय. This explicit architecture remains clear even when English would use one compact whose clause.

Clause order and head-external alternatives

The correlative can come first when the owner is already topical:

This is grammatical, but a long correlative-first sentence can burden the listener. The relative-first version—जिसका बैग यहाँ रखा है, उसकी चाबी मुझे मिल गई है—is clearer without context.

Hindi also permits a head-external noun followed by जिसका:

This pattern is common (formal) in edited prose. Commas signal a supplementary description here. For restrictive and conversational alternatives, see head-external relatives.

Part of a productive family

जिसका–उसका is the possessive branch of Hindi’s larger j-correlative system: जो–वह for persons and things, जहाँ–वहाँ for places, जब–तब for times, जैसा–वैसा for qualities, and जितना–उतना for quantities. The same referential bridge is present even when agreement makes the two possessives look different.

A familiar proverb uses that balance:

Here उसी को resumes the person selected by जिसका, with ही emphasizing “that very person.” A correlative need not always repeat a possessive form if the main clause assigns another role.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Use जिसका–उसका to link a possessor across relative and main clauses. Select -का, -के, or -की from the possessed noun in each phrase, including its oblique form before a postposition. The possessor’s gender does not control that ending. The two halves may therefore be जिसका … उसकी … or जिसकी … उसका … while still referring to exactly the same owner.