The vocabulary and syntax of official and academic Hindi
I can read a government circular or an academic paper in Hindi
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
This decision was taken unanimously.
Training will be provided under the project.
Please ensure the necessary action is taken.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Sanskritised Hindi replaces the everyday word at every opportunity, prefers the passive, and builds long compounds. A sentence may contain no Perso-Arabic word at all.
| Everyday | Sanskritised |
|---|---|
| शुरू करना | प्रारंभ करना |
| ख़त्म | समाप्त |
| कोशिश | प्रयास |
| मदद | सहायता |
| इस्तेमाल | प्रयोग / उपयोग |
Nominalisation dominates: instead of 'we decided', the text says निर्णय लिया गया - a decision was taken. Agents disappear, and long के अंतर्गत, के संदर्भ में chains do the linking.
Find the verb at the end first, then work backwards through the compounds. Most long words split into two familiar halves.
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesReading left to right and giving up at the first long compound.
Reading a long sentence left to right
Find the final verb first, then unpack backwards.
Everyday synonym used in an official text
prarambh, samapt, prayas, sahayata belong to this register.
This decision was taken unanimously.
Nominalised, passive, agentless - as in Russian officialese.
Training will be provided under the project.
ke antargat chains like the Russian v ramkakh.
Please ensure the necessary action is taken.
Pure officialese in both languages.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in C1 course exercises
The Government of India standard for Devanagari spelling, followed for all written forms here.
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi morphology and syntax.