How respect works through plural agreement
I can speak about and to an elder with the right agreement throughout
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
My father is a doctor.
Please phone him.
Mother came yesterday.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
आप always takes plural agreement, even about one person: आप कैसे हैं? And the same plural extends to a respected third person:
Everything agreeing with that person goes plural: मेरे पिताजी डॉक्टर हैं, उनका घर, उन्हें बताइए. Getting one word right and another wrong is more conspicuous than getting all of them wrong.
A respected woman takes थीं and हैं but the participle stays feminine: माँ जी आई थीं - mother had come.
Among friends and about people your own age, the singular is normal and the plural would sound stiff or ironic.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesApplying the plural to the verb but not to the possessives and pronouns around it.
Plural on the verb only
Possessives and pronouns go plural too: mere pitaji, unka ghar.
Singular used about a respected third person
pitaji aa rahe hain, with a plural verb about one man.
My father is a doctor.
mere and hain both plural for one respected man.
Please phone him.
unhen, the honorific plural, for one person.
Mother came yesterday.
thin plural, but the participle stays feminine.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi morphology and syntax.
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account relied on for aspect, valency and clause structure.