Hindi compound adjectives package a complex property into one modifier: पर्यावरण-अनुकूल “environment-friendly,” जलरोधी “water-resistant,” लंबा-चौड़ा “large and extensive,” or मुँहबोला “socially treated as kin though not biologically related.” Some are stable lexical words, some are formal technical formations, and some are expressive pairs. Their agreement depends mainly on the grammatical class of the final adjectival member—not simply on the length or spelling of the compound.
Head-final compounds with invariant endings
A highly visible modern pattern combines a domain noun with an invariant adjectival element. Examples include पर्यावरण-अनुकूल “environment-friendly,” उपभोक्ता-विरोधी “anti-consumer,” ऊर्जा-कुशल “energy-efficient,” समयबद्ध “time-bound,” and जलरोधी “water-resistant.” The first member identifies the domain or target; the final member contributes the property.
नई इमारत में ऊर्जा-कुशल उपकरण लगाए गए हैं।
naī imārat meṃ ūrjā-kuśal upkaraṇ lagāe gae haiṃ.
Energy-efficient equipment has been installed in the new building.
कंपनी ने पर्यावरण-अनुकूल पैकेजिंग अपनाने का वादा किया है।
kampanī ne paryāvaraṇ-anukūl paikejiṅg apnāne kā vādā kiyā hai.
The company has promised to adopt environmentally friendly packaging.
यह घड़ी जलरोधी है, लेकिन इसे समुद्र में पहनने की सलाह नहीं दी गई है।
yah ghaṛī jalrodhī hai, lekin ise samudra meṃ pahanne kī salāh nahīṃ dī gaī hai.
This watch is water-resistant, but wearing it in the sea is not recommended.
अनुकूल, कुशल, बद्ध, रोधी, and विरोधी are invariant in these uses. Thus पर्यावरण-अनुकूल नीति, पर्यावरण-अनुकूल उत्पाद, and पर्यावरण-अनुकूल नीतियाँ keep the same adjective. Agreement appears on a preceding declinable adjective or in the predicate, not inside this compound.
English readily invents compounds ending in -friendly, -proof, and -resistant. Hindi has productive technical models, but the exact conventional form matters. जलरोधी is established; attaching -रोधी to any noun may produce an understandable but nonstandard coinage. Institutional writers often verify terminology rather than relying on morphology alone (formal/technical).
-युक्त, -रहित, -पूर्ण, and -प्रधान
Learned final elements build many formal adjectives. -युक्त means “equipped with, containing,” -रहित “free from, lacking,” -पूर्ण “full of, characterized by,” and -प्रधान “dominated by, chiefly based on.” These formations are common in labels, policy documents, journalism, and academic prose (formal/academic).
| Formation | Meaning | Natural setting |
|---|---|---|
| सुविधायुक्त | equipped with amenities | property or travel listings |
| धूम्रपान-रहित | smoke-free | public signage |
| अर्थपूर्ण | meaningful | general/formal |
| कृषि-प्रधान | agriculture-dominated | geography/economics |
यह पूरा परिसर धूम्रपान-रहित क्षेत्र है।
yah pūrā parisar dhūmrapān-rahit kṣetra hai.
This entire campus is a smoke-free zone.
गाँव की अर्थव्यवस्था अब भी कृषि-प्रधान है।
gā̃v kī arthavyavasthā ab bhī kriṣi-pradhān hai.
The village economy is still predominantly agricultural.
बैठक में लंबी बहस हुई, पर कोई अर्थपूर्ण निर्णय नहीं लिया गया।
baiṭhak meṃ lambī bahas huī, par koī arthapūrṇ nirṇay nahīṃ liyā gayā.
There was a long debate in the meeting, but no meaningful decision was made.
These adjectives are normally invariant. English speakers sometimes try to make -युक्त or -रहित agree like अच्छा, but there is no रहिता नीति or युक्ते पदार्थ in modern Hindi adjective agreement. Gender belongs to the head noun; the compound modifier stays fixed.
The negative -रहित also differs from clausal बिना. चीनी-रहित पेय is a category label “sugar-free drink” (formal/commercial); बिना चीनी की चाय is the ordinary phrase “tea without sugar.” Category labels favor compounding, while conversation often favors an analytic phrase.
डिब्बे पर ‘चीनी-रहित’ लिखा है, लेकिन मैं चाय बिना चीनी के ही माँगूँगा।
ḍibbe par ‘cīnī-rahit’ likhā hai, lekin maĩ cāy binā cīnī ke hī mā̃gū̃gā.
The package says ‘sugar-free,’ but I'll simply order tea without sugar.
Paired adjectives that do agree
Expressive or coordinate pairs such as लंबा-चौड़ा “large/extensive,” छोटा-मोटा “minor; assorted small,” काला-सफ़ेद “black-and-white,” and सीधा-सादा “simple and unpretentious” behave differently. Their final -आ members belong to the declinable adjective class, and both parts normally show matching agreement where their forms allow it.
उन्होंने लंबी-चौड़ी योजना तो बनाई, पर बजट तय नहीं किया।
unhoṃne lambī-cauṛī yojnā to banāī, par bajaṭ tay nahīṃ kiyā.
They drew up an elaborate plan, but did not settle the budget.
मरम्मत के बाद भी कुछ छोटी-मोटी समस्याएँ रह गईं।
marammat ke bād bhī kuch choṭī-moṭī samasyāẽ rah gaīṃ.
A few minor problems remained even after the repairs.
वह सीधा-सादा आदमी है और बेवजह बहस नहीं करता।
vah sīdhā-sādā ādmī hai aur bevajah bahas nahīṃ kartā.
He is a simple, unpretentious man and does not argue needlessly.
Compare feminine लंबी-चौड़ी योजना with masculine लंबा-चौड़ा विवरण and oblique masculine लंबे-चौड़े विवरण में. Hyphenation displays the pairing, but ordinary Hindi agreement still operates inside it.
The meaning is often not literal addition. छोटी-मोटी समस्या means a minor problem, not one that is simultaneously physically short and fat. लंबी-चौड़ी बातें can imply grandiose or exaggerated talk (informal). Lexical pragmatics matters alongside agreement.
Lexical compounds with a declinable final member
Some compounds have become conventional adjectives while retaining a final -आ form: मुँहबोला “regarded as kin by social declaration,” मनचाहा “desired/chosen to one's liking,” and जाना-पहचाना “familiar, well-known.” They agree like other -आ adjectives.
रीमा मेरी मुँहबोली बहन है; हम बचपन से साथ बड़े हुए हैं।
rīmā merī mũhbolī bahan hai; ham bacpan se sāth baṛe hue haiṃ.
Reema is like a sister to me though not biologically related; we grew up together.
उसे आख़िरकार मनचाही नौकरी मिल गई।
use āxirkār mancāhī naukrī mil gaī.
She finally got the job she wanted.
यह इलाक़ा दिन में जाना-पहचाना लगता है, पर रात में बिल्कुल अलग दिखता है।
yah ilāqā din meṃ jānā-pahcānā lagtā hai, par rāt meṃ bilkul alag dikhtā hai.
This area feels familiar during the day but looks completely different at night.
The internal relation is lexicalized. मुँहबोली बहन does not literally mean “a mouth-spoken sister,” and speakers cannot freely substitute another body-part noun. Closed or hyphenated appearance, semantic specialization, and predictable -आ/-ई/-ए agreement can coexist.
Perso-Arabic and hybrid compound adjectives
Perso-Arabic resources contribute established compounds such as दिलचस्प “interesting” and ख़ुशमिज़ाज “cheerful/easygoing,” but surface segmentation is not always live to Hindi speakers. Both are invariant adjectives and should be learned whole. A speaker does not freely replace दिल or मिज़ाज to manufacture parallel adjectives.
नई सहकर्मी बहुत ख़ुशमिज़ाज हैं और सबको सहज महसूस कराती हैं।
naī sahkarmī bahut xuśmizāj haiṃ aur sabko sahaj mahsūs karātī haiṃ.
The new coworker is very cheerful and makes everyone feel at ease.
लेख का विषय दिलचस्प है, लेकिन भाषा ज़रूरत से ज़्यादा कठिन है।
lekh kā viṣay dilcasp hai, lekin bhāṣā zarūrat se zyādā kaṭhin hai.
The article's subject is interesting, but the language is more difficult than necessary.
Modern professional Hindi also uses English-headed hybrids such as यूज़र-फ़्रेंडली, बजट-फ़्रेंडली, and फ़ुल-टाइम (informal/professional). These are invariant and audience-sensitive. A public technical brochure may instead choose उपयोगकर्ता-अनुकूल (formal/technical); conversation may say इस्तेमाल में आसान.
टीम इसे यूज़र-फ़्रेंडली कहती है, जबकि हिंदी पुस्तिका में ‘उपयोगकर्ता-अनुकूल’ लिखा है।
ṭīm ise yūzar-freṇḍlī kahtī hai, jabki hindī pustikā meṃ ‘upyogkartā-anukūl’ likhā hai.
The team calls it user-friendly, while the Hindi manual says ‘user-friendly’ in Sanskritic terminology.
This contrast shows contemporary derivation at work: an English frame, a Sanskritic technical compound, and the inherited analytic इस्तेमाल में आसान all express related meanings but position the speaker differently by register.
Spelling and boundaries
Lexical words such as दिलचस्प, जलरोधी, and अर्थपूर्ण are conventionally closed. Paired adjectives such as लंबा-चौड़ा normally use a hyphen. Transparent technical compounds often use a hyphen for readability—पर्यावरण-अनुकूल, धूम्रपान-रहित—though editorial practice varies. A multiword analytic description remains open: इस्तेमाल में आसान.
The hyphen does not cancel grammar and does not make every sequence a valid word. Nor should English spacing be copied automatically. Learn conventional spelling together with the lexical item, especially where consonant clusters or schwa deletion make the boundary hard to hear.
For the contrast between invariant and agreeing outputs, see indeclinable adjectives. The structurally related nominal pattern appears under compound nouns.
Common Mistakes
❌ हमें पर्यावरण-अनुकूली पैकेजिंग चाहिए।
Incorrect—अनुकूल is invariant; feminine पैकेजिंग does not trigger -ई.
✅ हमें पर्यावरण-अनुकूल पैकेजिंग चाहिए।
hameṃ paryāvaraṇ-anukūl paikejiṅg cāhie.
We need environmentally friendly packaging.
❌ यह धूम्रपान रहित-क्षेत्र है।
Incorrect boundary placement—धूम्रपान-रहित forms the modifier of क्षेत्र.
✅ यह धूम्रपान-रहित क्षेत्र है।
yah dhūmrapān-rahit kṣetra hai.
This is a smoke-free area.
❌ उन्होंने लंबा-चौड़ा योजना बनाई।
Incorrect—both declinable members agree with feminine योजना.
✅ उन्होंने लंबी-चौड़ी योजना बनाई।
unhoṃne lambī-cauṛī yojnā banāī.
They drew up an elaborate plan.
❌ वह मेरी मुँहबोला बहन है।
Incorrect—मुँहबोला is declinable and must agree with feminine बहन.
✅ वह मेरी मुँहबोली बहन है।
vah merī mũhbolī bahan hai.
She is like a sister to me, though we are not biologically related.
Key Takeaways
- Invariant endings such as -अनुकूल, -रोधी, -रहित, -युक्त, -पूर्ण, and -प्रधान do not acquire gender-number endings.
- Paired and lexical -आ compounds do agree: लंबा-चौड़ा / लंबी-चौड़ी, मुँहबोला / मुँहबोली.
- Formal technical compounding is productive but conventional; comprehensible inventions are not automatically idiomatic terms.
- Closed, hyphenated, and open spellings reflect different lexical and editorial conventions.
- Sanskritic, Perso-Arabic, inherited, and English resources coexist, each carrying characteristic meanings and registers.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Compound nounsB2 — Understand how Hindi combines nouns into lexical units, assigns head meaning and gender, and marks plural, case, and spelling.
- 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.
- Semantic adjective pairs with वालाC1 — Distinguish a bare adjective from its वाला counterpart and track the agreement, contrast, and association meanings that वाला adds.
- Sanskritized vocabulary and compoundsC1 — Use Sanskritic vocabulary and compact compounds where modern Hindi genres license them, while preserving Hindi agreement, case, and readable sentence architecture.
- Reduplication and distributive formationC1 — Understand how Hindi repeats words and stems to distribute participants, space, time, degree, and portions without treating every repetition as emphasis.