उसके चेहरे पर चमक है।

to be

Breakdown of उसके चेहरे पर चमक है।

• पर: on
• चेहरा: face
• उसका: her

Questions & Answers about उसके चेहरे पर चमक है।

What is the literal structure of उसके चेहरे पर चमक है?

A very literal breakdown is:

• उसके = his / her / of that person
• चेहरे पर = on the face
• चमक = shine / glow / radiance
• है = is

So the sentence is literally:

On his/her face, there is a glow.

That is a very normal Hindi way to express something like His/Her face is glowing or There is a glow on his/her face.

Why is it उसके, not उसका?

Because Hindi possessives का / की / के agree with the noun that follows.

The base noun is चेहरा (face), which is masculine. If it were in its simple direct form, you would say:

उसका चेहरा = his/her face

But here the noun is followed by the postposition पर (on), so चेहरा has to change into its oblique form:

• चेहरा → चेहरे

Once that happens, the possessive also changes:

• उसका चेहरा
• उसके चेहरे पर

So उसके is used because चेहरे is in the oblique form.

Why does चेहरा become चेहरे?