उसे फोन की लत है।

to be

Breakdown of उसे फोन की लत है।

• फोन: phone
• वह: she
• का: of

Questions & Answers about उसे फोन की लत है।

What does उसे mean here?

उसे means to him, to her, or to that person, depending on context.

Grammatically, it is the common short form of उसको, which comes from वह. In this sentence, Hindi uses a to someone ... is pattern, so the structure is literally something like:

To him/her, phone addiction is.

That is why उसे appears instead of a plain he/she form.

Why is उसे used instead of वह?

Because this sentence uses a Hindi pattern where the person experiencing a state is marked with को.

With लत होना and many similar expressions, Hindi does not usually say he/she is X in the same way English does. Instead, it says something closer to:

to him/her, X is

So:

• उसे फोन की लत है = He/She has a phone addiction
• literally = To him/her, phone addiction is

If you used वह, it would sound like you were building a different kind of sentence.

Does उसे mean him or her?

It can mean either him or her.

Hindi third-person pronouns do not normally distinguish he and she the way English does. So उसे can refer to:

• him
• her
• sometimes that person

In this sentence alone, you cannot tell the person’s gender.