Hindi builds many adjectives with endings that roughly mean “connected with” or “possessing.” Three conspicuous families are -ई in शहर → शहरी “city → urban,” -इक in समाज → सामाजिक “society → social,” and -वान in गुण → गुणवान “virtue → virtuous.” Their meanings overlap, but their productivity and register differ, and the exact form of an established adjective cannot always be predicted from its noun.
-ई: a broad relational pattern
Adjectives in -ई often express origin, sphere, style, or association. Common examples include शहरी “urban,” देसी “local/native-style,” विदेशी “foreign,” सरकारी “governmental,” पहाड़ी “mountain/hill-related,” and फ़िल्मी “cinematic; melodramatic.” These adjectives are normally invariant: the same form modifies masculine, feminine, singular, plural, direct, and oblique nouns.
शहरी इलाकों में किराया तेज़ी से बढ़ रहा है।
śahrī ilāqoṃ meṃ kirāyā tezī se baṛh rahā hai.
Rent is rising rapidly in urban areas.
सरकारी बसें इस रास्ते पर रात दस बजे तक चलती हैं।
sarkārī baseṃ is rāste par rāt das baje tak caltī haiṃ.
Government buses run on this route until ten at night.
The -ई remains unchanged in शहरी इलाका, शहरी सड़क, and शहरी इलाकों में. This differs from a basic -आ adjective such as पुराना, which becomes पुरानी सड़क and पुराने इलाकों में. See indeclinable adjectives for the wider agreement pattern.
Meaning is not always neutral “related to.” फ़िल्मी संवाद can simply mean film dialogue, but फ़िल्मी कहानी may imply that a real-life story is implausibly dramatic (informal). देसी can mean indigenous, locally produced, traditional, or South Asian, depending on context and audience.
उसने पूरी घटना को फ़िल्मी अंदाज़ में सुनाया।
usne pūrī ghaṭnā ko filmī andāz meṃ sunāyā.
He narrated the whole incident in a melodramatic, movie-like style.
-इक: learned and institutional relations
The written sequence -इक, often realized within a longer learned formation, appears in adjectives such as सामाजिक “social,” आर्थिक “economic,” ऐतिहासिक “historical,” वैज्ञानिक “scientific,” राजनीतिक “political,” and व्यक्तिगत—which belongs to another suffixal family despite a similar formal register. -इक adjectives are invariant in modern Hindi.
नई आर्थिक नीति पर संसद में लंबी बहस हुई।
naī ārthik nīti par saṃsad meṃ lambī bahas huī.
There was a long debate in Parliament about the new economic policy.
वैज्ञानिक प्रमाण के बिना यह दावा स्वीकार नहीं किया जा सकता।
vaijñānik pramāṇ ke binā yah dāvā svīkār nahīṃ kiyā jā saktā.
This claim cannot be accepted without scientific evidence.
These formations are frequent in news, education, government, and academic prose (formal/academic), though high-frequency words such as सामाजिक are also ordinary conversation. They are largely Sanskritic and lexicalized. Learners should not take a Sanskrit-looking noun and attach -इक at will. For “related to language,” the established adjective is भाषाई or भाषिक, with different distributions; भाषाइक is not licensed by the general pattern.
रिपोर्ट आर्थिक असर के साथ सामाजिक बदलावों पर भी ध्यान देती है।
riporṭ ārthik asar ke sāth sāmājik badlāvoṃ par bhī dhyān detī hai.
The report considers social changes as well as the economic impact.
The stem may change visibly. इतिहास → ऐतिहासिक and विज्ञान → वैज्ञानिक contain learned vowel alternations; they are not produced by simply placing the letters इक after the unchanged noun. The relationship helps vocabulary learning, but spelling must be memorized.
-वान: possessing an abundance or valued trait
-वान creates adjectives and person labels meaning “possessing, endowed with”: धनवान “wealthy,” बलवान “strong/powerful,” गुणवान “virtuous/talented,” ज्ञानवान “knowledgeable,” and भाग्यवान “fortunate.” It tends to attach to Sanskritic bases and often sounds elevated beside a simpler everyday alternative.
धनवान होना और उदार होना एक ही बात नहीं है।
dhanvān honā aur udār honā ek hī bāt nahīṃ hai.
Being wealthy and being generous are not the same thing.
वह बहुत ज्ञानवान महिला हैं, लेकिन अपनी बात बेहद सरल ढंग से समझाती हैं।
vah bahut jñānvān mahilā haiṃ, lekin apnī bāt behad saral ḍhaṅg se samjhātī haiṃ.
She is a very knowledgeable woman, but she explains her ideas very simply.
In present-day Hindi, forms in -वान commonly function as invariant adjectives, including with feminine nouns: ज्ञानवान महिला is natural. Sanskritic feminine counterparts in -वती, such as गुणवती and भाग्यवती, also occur (formal/literary) and in names, blessings, or deliberately traditional style. They are not obligatory replacements whenever the referent is female, and not every newly coined -वान form automatically has a current -वती partner.
कहानी की नायिका बुद्धिमान और साहसी है।
kahānī kī nāyikā buddhimān aur sāhasī hai.
The heroine of the story is intelligent and courageous.
बुद्धिमान belongs to the related -मान family rather than literal -वान, which shows why surface resemblance cannot replace lexical learning. Both patterns denote possession, but their distribution comes from established word families.
Choosing among layers of vocabulary
The same situation can invite an everyday Perso-Arabic-derived adjective, a Sanskritic institutional term, or an English loan. सरकारी अस्पताल is neutral everyday Hindi. राजकीय चिकित्सालय is markedly official and Sanskritic (formal). गवर्नमेंट हॉस्पिटल occurs in code-mixed speech (informal). No suffix-conversion rule makes these equally suitable everywhere.
लोग इसे सरकारी अस्पताल कहते हैं, जबकि पुराने बोर्ड पर ‘राजकीय चिकित्सालय’ लिखा है।
log ise sarkārī aspatāl kahte haiṃ, jabki purāne borḍ par ‘rājakīya cikitsālay’ likhā hai.
People call it a government hospital, while the old sign says ‘state medical facility.’
Similarly, माली हालत “financial condition” has a Perso-Arabic relational adjective (formal), while आर्थिक स्थिति is a very common Sanskritic formal equivalent. फ़ाइनैंशल कंडीशन is code-mixed. Register is carried by the entire expression, not just its final two letters.
कंपनी की माली हालत कमज़ोर है; आधिकारिक रिपोर्ट इसे गंभीर आर्थिक संकट बताती है।
kampanī kī mālī hālat kamzor hai; ādhikārik riporṭ ise gambhīr ārthik saṅkaṭ batātī hai.
The company's financial condition is weak; the official report calls it a serious economic crisis.
Category change and agreement
All three patterns can turn a noun into an attributive or predicative adjective. Because the common outputs are invariant, their form stays stable even when the head changes; only other declinable adjectives respond.
पुराने ऐतिहासिक भवनों की मरम्मत अगले महीने शुरू होगी।
purāne aitihāsik bhavnoṃ kī marammat agle mahīne śurū hogī.
Repairs to the old historic buildings will begin next month.
In पुराने ऐतिहासिक भवनों, पुराना becomes oblique plural पुराने, while ऐतिहासिक stays fixed. This contrast is an excellent diagnostic: derivation determines the adjective's lexical class; syntax then applies whatever agreement that class allows.
Common Mistakes
❌ शहरियाँ सड़कें रात में खाली रहती हैं।
Incorrect—relational शहरी is invariant; it does not take a feminine plural ending.
✅ शहरी सड़कें रात में खाली रहती हैं।
śahrī saṛkeṃ rāt meṃ khālī rahtī haiṃ.
Urban streets remain empty at night.
❌ नई आर्थिकी नीति अगले महीने आएगी।
Incorrect—आर्थिक is invariant; it does not take a feminine -ई ending.
✅ नई आर्थिक नीति अगले महीने आएगी।
naī ārthik nīti agle mahīne āegī.
The new economic policy will be issued next month.
❌ यह खोज विज्ञानिक रूप से महत्वपूर्ण है।
Incorrect—the established form is वैज्ञानिक, with a learned stem alternation.
✅ यह खोज वैज्ञानिक रूप से महत्वपूर्ण है।
yah khoj vaijñānik rūp se mahatvapūrṇ hai.
This discovery is scientifically important.
❌ वह ज्ञानवानी महिला हैं।
Incorrect—do not add feminine -ई to ज्ञानवान; the ordinary adjective is invariant.
✅ वह ज्ञानवान महिला हैं।
vah jñānvān mahilā haiṃ.
She is a knowledgeable woman.
Key Takeaways
- Relational -ई adjectives are broad and often everyday; -इक is prominent in learned and institutional vocabulary; -वान expresses possession of a trait.
- Common members of all three families are invariant in modern Hindi.
- Stem changes in ऐतिहासिक and वैज्ञानिक show that a live relationship does not make spelling mechanically predictable.
- Sanskritic, Perso-Arabic, inherited, and English alternatives coexist, but their register and collocations prevent free substitution.
Related Topics
- Indeclinable adjectivesA2 — Recognize Hindi adjectives that keep one form across gender, number, case, and attributive or predicative position.
- Loan adjectives and invariabilityA2 — Use most Perso-Arabic and English loan adjectives invariantly while recognizing integrated loans that have entered Hindi agreement paradigms.
- Attributive adjectivesA2 — Place adjectives inside Hindi noun phrases, normally before the head noun, with the agreement required by the adjective's class.
- Gender of tatsama and Perso-Arabic loansA1 — Learn how Sanskrit tatsama and Perso-Arabic nouns enter Hindi gender, number, case, agreement, and vocative patterns.
- Abstract nouns with -pan and -īA2 — Understand how -पन and -ई form qualities, states, relationships, and activities—and why their meanings are not interchangeable.