Understanding Hindi Noun Number (Sankhya)
In Hindi, just like in English, nouns can tell us if we are talking about one thing or more than one thing. This is called the 'number' of the noun. There are two types of numbers in Hindi: singular and plural.
Important Points
- Singular (Ekavachan): When a noun is talking about just one person, place, animal, or thing, it is singular.
- Plural (Bahuvachan): When a noun is talking about more than one person, place, animal, or thing, it is plural.
Changing a noun from singular to plural in Hindi is a bit different from English. There are some rules that help us know how to make this change.
Important Points
- For masculine nouns ending in 'आ' (aa), we change it to 'ए' (e) to make it plural.
- For masculine nouns not ending in 'आ' (aa), we usually add 'ओं' (on) or 'एं' (en) to make it plural.
- For feminine nouns ending in 'ई' (ee), we change it to 'इयाँ' (iyan) to make it plural.
- For feminine nouns not ending in 'ई' (ee), we usually add 'एं' (en) to make it plural.
Examples
- लड़का (boy) becomes लड़के (boys)
- गाय (cow) becomes गायें (cows)
- किताब (book) becomes किताबें (books)
Sometimes, the plural form is not made by just adding letters but also by changing the word a little. It's important to listen and practice to get better at it!