Modern Hindi Grammar - Indian Institute of Language Studies (IILS)

(Brent) #1

4. SYNTAX



  1. makana ko drvaaja,o sao
    maka:n ke darva:ze se
    house of door-obl from
    from the door of the house


Notice that the presence of a postposition changes all the elements
of the compound noun phrase from direct to oblique by adding the
oblique case markers.


There are a limited number of compound postpositions used in Hindi
such as Aagao a:ge/ pICo kI Aaor pi:che ki: or ‘in front/back of’, and da[-M
da:ĩ:/ baa[-M Aaor ba:ĩ: or ‘towards right/left’. All these are directional.
The first element indicates the direction, and is followed by the
postpositional form kI Aaor ki: or ‘toward’. They are always used after
the oblique noun. Notice that a free postposition without an
argument functions as an adverb.


It is possible to modify postpositions by using a limiter tk tak ‘up
to/till,’ or a particle hI hi: ‘only.’



  1. vah Saama tk phuÐcaogaa.
    vah ša:m tak pahũcega:.
    he evening up to reach-m
    He will reach by evening.

  2. tuma iktaba maoja, pr hI rKao.
    tum kita:b mez par hi: rakho.
    you book table on emp keep
    You just keep the book on the table.


4.1.3. Adjectival Phrases


Adjective phrases are of two types: simple and complex. Simple
adjectives may also be divided into basic and derived adjectives.
The derived adjectives are derived from other word classes such as
nouns. The examples of basic adjectives are: AcCa accha: ‘good,’ laMbaa
lamba: ‘long,’ saaf, sa:f ‘clean,’ etc. Derived adjectives are derived
from nouns:

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