Hindi pronouns explained

The personal pronouns and possessives in Modern Standard Hindi of the Hindustani language display a higher degree of inflection than other parts of speech. Personal pronouns have distinct forms according to whether they stand for a subject (nominative), a direct object (accusative), an indirect object (dative), or a reflexive object. Pronouns further have special forms used with postpositions.

The possessive pronouns are the same as the possessive adjectives, but each is inflected to express the grammatical person of the possessor and the grammatical gender of the possessed.

Pronoun use displays considerable variation with register and dialect, with particularly pronoun preference differences between the most colloquial varieties of Hindi.

Postpositions

The function of case marking in Hindi is done exclusively by postpositions. The pronouns of Hindi can be declined into three cases, nominative, oblique (and ergative), and dative/accusative. The oblique and ergative case is used with the case marking postpositions to form the ergative, accusative/dative, instrumental/ablative, genitive, inessive, adessive, terminative, and semblative cases. The postpositions are considered to be bound morphemes to the pronouns. The eight primary postpositions of Hindi are mention in the table below:

Case Marker	Postposition	Explanation	Example	English
Ergative	ने (ne)	marks the subject of the sentence	इसने (isne)	he/she
Accusative	को (ko)	marks the receiver of an action	इसको (isko)	him/her
Dative	को (ko)	marks the indirect object; can also mark the subject (quirky subject)	इसको (isko)	to him/her
Instrumental	से (se)	marks the object with/using which the action was done	इससे (isse)	with him/her
Ablative	से (se)	shows movement away from the object	इससे (isse)	from him/her
Genitive	का (kā)	shows possession	इसका (iskā)	his/her(s)
Inessive	में (mẽ)	shows something is in/inside something	इसमें (ismẽ)	in him/her
Adessive	पे / पर (pe / par)	shows something is on/at something	इसपे (ispe)	on him/her
Terminative	तक (tak)	shows something is goes up to the object	इसतक (istak)	till him/her
Semblative	सा (sā)	shows resemblance	इससा (issā)	like him/her

Note:

The pronoun इस (is) which is the oblique case of the nominative demonstrative pronoun यह (yah) can be translated as he, she, it, and this.
The postpositions which end in the vowel ा (-ā) (which are the genitive and semblative postpositions) can further decline according to gender, number, and grammatical case of the noun it describes. The declension of postpositions follow the following declension by changing their end vowels:

Case! colspan="2"
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	ा-ā	े-e	ी-ī
Oblique	े-e		ी-ī

Case! colspan="2"
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	काkā	केke	कीkī
Oblique	केke		कीkī

Case! colspan="2"
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	साsā	सेse	सीsī
Oblique	सेse		सीsī

Personal pronouns

Hindi has personal pronouns in the first and second person, but not the third person, where demonstratives are used instead. They are inflected for case and number (singular, and plural), but not for gender. Pronouns decline for four grammatical cases in Hindi: The nominative case, the accusative/dative case and two postpositional cases, the oblique and ergative cases. The second person pronouns have three levels of formality: intimate, familiar, and formal. As also done in many other Indo-European languages, the plural pronouns are used as singular polite or formal pronouns.^[1] ^[2]

Case		1st Person		2nd Person
		Singular	Plural	Intimate	Familiar	Formal
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative		मैं	हम	तू	तुम	आप
Oblique	Ergative	मैं		तू
	Regular	मुझ		तुझ
	Regular(Emphatic)	मुझी	हमीं	तुझी	तुम्हीं	—
	Ergative(Emphatic)	—	हमीं	—	तुम्हीं	—
Accusative		मुझे	हमें	तुझे	तुम्हें	—
Dative		मुझे	हमें	तुझे	तुम्हें	—

Case! colspan="2"
Singular	Plural	Intimate	Familiar	Formal
1st Person	2nd Person
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Ergative	मैंने	हमने	तूने	तुमने	आपने
Accusative	मुझको	हमको	तुझको	तुमको	आपको
Dative	मुझको	हमको	तुझको	तुमको	आपको
Instrumental	मुझसे	हमसे	तुझसे	तुमसे	आपसे
Ablative	मुझसे	हमसे	तुझसे	तुमसे	आपसे
Genitive	—	—	—	—	आपका
Inessive	मुझमें	हममें	तुझमें	तुममें	आपमें
Adessive	मुझपे	हमपे	तुझपे	तुमपे	आपपे
Terminative	मुझतक	हमतक	तुझतक	तुमतक	आपतक
Semblative	मुझसा	हमसा	तुझसा	तुमसा	आपसा

Note:

In the eastern dialects of Hindi, the pronoun हम is used as both the first person singular and plural pronoun. When plurality is to be implied then words such as लोग (people), सब (all) are added after the pronoun.
True genitive pronouns exist for the personal pronouns (except आप) and they cannot be constructed from the oblique cases, they are discussed in the 'Possessive Pronouns' section below.
The emphasised oblique case for the pronoun आप (āp) is constructed periphrastically using the exclusive emphatic particle ही (hī) which is आप ही (āp hī). Although pronounced the same as आफी (āphī), it is never written like that.

Demonstrative, interrogative, and relative pronouns

Just like Sanskrit, Hindi does not have true third person pronouns, but its demonstratives play their role when they stand independently of a substantive.^[3] The demonstrative pronouns just like the personal pronouns can be declined into the nominative, ergative, accusative/dative and the oblique case.

The relative and the interrogative pronouns can be constructed for the non-nominative cases by just changing the first consonant of the demonstrative pronouns to ज (j) and क (k) respectively.

Case		Demonstrative				Interrogative		Relative
		Proximal		Non-proximal		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Literary	यह	ये	वह	वे	क्या,कौन,		जो
	Colloquial	ये		वो		क्या,कौन,		जो
	Emphatic	यही		वही		—	—	(जो भी)
Accusative		इसे	इन्हें	उसे	उन्हें	किसे	किन्हें	जिसे	जिन्हें
Dative		इसे	इन्हें	उसे	उन्हें	किसे	किन्हें	जिसे	जिन्हें
Oblique	Regular	इस	इन	उस	उन	किस	किन	जिस	जिन
	Ergative	इस	इन्हों	उस	उन्हों	किस	किन्हों	जिस	जिन्हों
	Emphatic	इसी	इन्हीं	उसी	उन्हीं	किसी	किन्हीं	—	—

Case! colspan="4"
Proximal		Non-proximal		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Demonstrative	Interrogative		Relative
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Ergative	इसने	इन्होंने	उसने	उन्होंने	किसने	किन्होंने	जिसने	जिन्होंने
Accusative	इसको	इनको	उसको	उनको	किसको	किनको	जिसको	जिनको
Dative	इसको	इनको	उसको	उनको	किसको	किनको	जिसको	जिनको
Instrumental	इससे	इनसे	उससे	उनसे	किससे	किनसे	जिससे	जिनसे
Ablative	इससे	इनसे	उससे	उनसे	किससे	किनसे	जिससे	जिनसे
Genitive	इसका	इनका	उसका	उनका	किसका	किनका	जिसका	जिनका
Inessive	इसमें	इनमें	उसमें	उनमें	किसमें	किनमें	जिसमें	जिनमें
Adessive	इसपे	इनपे	उसपे	उनपे	किसपे	किनपे	जिसपे	जिनपे
Terminative	इसतक	इनतक	उसतक	उनतक	किसतक	किनतक	जिसतक	जिनतक
Semblative	इससा	इनसा	उससा	उनसा	किससा	किनसा	जिससा	जिनसा

Notes:

The ergative case is predominantly used with animate nouns.
कौन is the animate interrogative and क्या is the inanimate interrogative.
जो is used as both the animate and inanimate relative pronoun.
The genitive and semblative postpositions decline to agree with the number, gender, and case of the object it possesses or describes respectively.

Possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns are the same as the possessive adjectives, but each is inflected to express the grammatical person of the possessor and the grammatical gender of the possessed. Unlike the personal pronouns (except for आप), there are no true possessive pronoun forms for the demonstrative pronouns. So, the demonstrative, interrogative, and relative possessive pronouns are formed using oblique case with the postposition का (kā).^[4]

Person		Nominative	Genitive
			Masculine			Feminine
			Singular	Plural	Oblique	Singular	Plural	Oblique
1st Person		मैं	मेरा	मेरे		मेरी
1st Person		हम	हमारा	हमारे		हमारी
2nd Person	Intimate	तू	तेरा	तेरे		तेरी
	Familiar	तुम	तुम्हारा	तुम्हारे		तुम्हारी
	Formal	आप	आपका	आपके		आपकी

Person			Nominative		Genitive
					Masculine			Feminine
					Singular	Plural	Oblique	Singular	Plural	Oblique
Demonstrative	Proximal	Singular	यह	ये	इसका	इसके		इसकी
	Proximal	Plural	ये	ये	इनका	इनके		इनकी
	Distal	Singular	वह	वो	उसका	उसके		उसकी
	Distal	Plural	वे	वो	उनका	उनके		उनकी
Interrogative	Singular		कौन, क्या,		किसका	किसके		किसकी
Interrogative	Plural		कौन, क्या,		किनका	किनके		किनकी
Relative	Singular		जो, सो,		जिसका	जिसके		जिसकी
Relative	Plural		जो, सो,		जिनका	जिनके		जिनकी

The possessive pronouns and the genitive postposition का (kā) decline to agree with the number, gender, and case of the possessed object.
In colloquial usage जो (jo) functions as both animate and inanimate relative pronoun. सो (so) (inanimate relative pronoun) also sometimes used but in a limited manner.

Reflexive pronouns

There are a number of words in Hindi that function as reflexive pronouns.^[5] The indeclinable स्वयं (svayam) can indicate reflexivity pertaining to subjects of any person or number, and—since subjects in Hindi can appear in the nominative, or dative cases^[6] —it can have the sense of any of these two cases.

ख़ुद (khud) and स्वयं (svayam) are indeclinable reflexive pronouns.
अपना (apnā) is a declinable reflexive pronoun.

Case			Masculine		Feminine
Case			Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Declinable	Nominative		अपना	अपने	अपनी
	Oblique	with noun	अपने		अपनी
	Oblique	sans noun	अपने	अपनों	अपनी	अप्नियों
Undeclinable	Nominative		ख़ुद
	Oblique		ख़ुद
	Nominative		स्वयं
	Oblique		स्वयं

Indefinite pronouns

There are two indefinite pronouns in Hindi: कोई (someone, somebody) and कुछ (something). कुछ is also used as an adjective (numeral and quantitative) and as an adverb meaning ‘some, a few, a little, partly.’ Similarly, कोई can be used as an adverb in the sense of ‘some, about.’ When it is used with the semblative postposition सा the pronoun कोई सा (of some kind, some, something) is formed. The indefinite pronouns of Hindi are mentioned in the table below:

Case		Animate	Inanimate	Animate	Inanimate	Animate
Case		Singular		Plural (some)		Plural (several)
Nominative		कोई	कुछ			कई
Oblique	with noun	किसी		कुछ		कई
Oblique	sans noun	किसी		किन्हीं	कुछों	कइयों

Note: The animate plural forms are also used as formal animate singular forms.

Adverbial pronouns

Adverbial pronouns of Hindi and the declension pattern of the declinable pronouns are mentioned in the table below:

		Interrogative	Relative	Demonstrative
		Interrogative	Relative	Proximal	Non-proximal
Undeclinable	Time	कब	जब	अब	तब
	Direction	किधर	जिधर	इधर	उधर
	Place	कहाँ	जहाँ	यहाँ	वहाँ
	Manner	कैसे	जैसे	ऐसे	वैसे
Declinable	Quantity	कितना	जितना	इतना	उतना
Declinable	Quality	कैसा	जैसा	ऐसा	वैसा

Case! colspan="2"
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine
Nominative		ा	े	ी
Oblique	with noun	े		ी
Oblique	sans noun	े	ों	ी	ियों

Case! colspan="2"
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine
Nominative		कितना	कितने	कितनी
Oblique	with noun	कितने		कितनी
Oblique	sans noun	कितने	कितनों	कितनी	कितनियों

Bibliography

Book: Schmidt, Hans. John Lynch. 2003. Temathesis in Rotuman. Issues in Austronesian Historical Phonology. Pacific Linguistics Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. 175–207. http://www.rotuma.net/os/Temathesis%20in%20Rotuman.pdf. 978-0-85883-503-0.
Book: Shapiro, Michael C.. 2003. Hindi. https://books.google.com/books?id=iUHfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT311 . Cardona. George. Jain. Dhanesh. The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. 978-0-415-77294-5. 250–285.
Book: Snell. Rupert. Weightman. Simon. 1989. Teach Yourself Hindi. McGraw-Hill. 2003. 978-0-07-142012-9. Teach Yourself.

Notes and References

http://www.koausa.org/iils/pdf/ModernHindiGrammar.pdf
Spencer. Andrew. 2020-08-20. CASE IN HINDI.
Book: Shapiro, Michael C.. A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd. 2003. 81-208-0508-9. New Delhi. 264–265.
Book: N. Koul, Omkar. Modern Hindi Grammar. McNeil Technologies, Inc.. 2008. 978-1-931546-06-5. United States of America. 75–81.
Web site: 2012-04-20. Reflexive Pronouns. 2020-08-20. hindilanguage.info. en-US.
Bhatt, Rajesh (2003). Experiencer subjects. Handout from MIT course “Structure of the Modern Indo-Aryan Languages”.