Grammar Reference

Hindi vowels and their matra forms

I can recognize and read all 11 Hindi vowels

33 Hindi consonants by articulation group

I can recognize all 33 Hindi consonants and understand aspiration

Special signs and consonant combinations

I can read conjuncts and understand nasalization marks

Hindi SOV word order and basic patterns

I can form basic Hindi sentences in SOV order

Negation with नहीं, न, and मत

Can make negative statements and prohibitions

Question words: कौन/क्या/कहाँ/कब/क्यों/कैसे/कितना + क्या as yes/no marker

Can ask and understand basic questions

Conjunctions: और/लेकिन/या/क्योंकि/इसलिए/कि

Can connect ideas using basic Hindi conjunctions for addition, contrast, alternatives, and cause/result

jo opens the relative clause and vah answers it

I can build a relative clause with its correlative

Reporting what somebody said, with no shift of tense

I can report what somebody said without changing their tense

jab tak, jaise hi and the participial time phrases

I can say when, as soon as, until and after something happened

The conditional for what did not happen and cannot now

I can say what would have happened if things had gone differently

The family of verbs where the person is not the subject

I can use the experiencer pattern for remembering, understanding and liking

The oblique and case forms of the relative pronoun

I can build a relative clause where the relative word is not the subject

Using the -na form as a full noun

I can make a verb the subject of a sentence

Moving elements for emphasis while keeping the verb last

I can move a phrase for emphasis without breaking the sentence

Passing on what somebody told you to do

I can report an instruction somebody gave me

The full set of subordinating conjunctions

I can build a sentence with two or more subordinate clauses

Saying 'the man who reads' without a relative clause

I can replace a jo clause with a participial phrase

Singling out one element of a sentence

I can foreground exactly the element I mean

What fluent speakers leave out

I can understand rapid speech where much is left unsaid

Hindi pronouns with 3-tier formality

I can use Hindi pronouns with appropriate formality

Possessives: मेरा/तेरा/तुम्हारा/आपका/उसका/हमारा + agreement

Can express possession using Hindi possessive pronouns with correct gender/number agreement

kuchh, koi, sab, har: some, any, all and every

I can say some, any, all, every and none

whatever, whenever, wherever, anybody at all

I can say whatever, whenever and wherever

Present tense of होना: हूँ, है, हो, हैं

I can conjugate होना and form negative sentences

Present habitual tense: stem + ता/ती/ते + हूँ/है/हैं

Can describe habitual actions and daily routines

Simple past tense: stem + -ा/-ी/-े with split ergativity introduction

Can narrate past events using simple past with intransitive verbs

Transitive past: subject + ने, verb agrees with object (split ergativity)

Can form transitive past tense sentences with correct ने marking and object agreement

Imperative forms: तू (bare stem), तुम (-ओ), आप (-इए) commands

Can give commands and make requests at appropriate politeness levels

Present progressive: stem + रहा/रही/रहे + हूँ/है/हैं

Can describe actions happening right now using the progressive tense with correct gender agreement

Future tense: stem + -ऊँगा/-एगा/-एँगे etc.

Can express future plans and intentions using the Hindi future tense with correct person/gender suffixes

Modal verbs: infinitive + चाहना (want) / सकना (can)

Can express wants and abilities using चाहना and सकना with correct verb forms

Dative subject verbs: मुझे भूख लगी, मुझे पसन्द है

Can express physical sensations, preferences, and knowledge using dative-subject constructions

Joining two actions with -kar

I can chain two actions in one sentence

The second verb that adds shading rather than meaning

I can recognise a compound verb and its shading

Doing it, making someone do it, having it done

I can say that I had something done

The passive with the participle plus jana

I can form a passive sentence

Three degrees of obligation: should, have to, had no choice

I can tell apart advice, intention and unavoidable obligation

The form for what might be, after shayad, chahe and taki

I can express possibility, purpose and polite hesitation

Verb pairs where one happens by itself and the other is done to something

I can choose between the verb that happens and the verb that is done

lagna: to seem, to take time, to feel, and to begin

I can use lagna for seeming, for duration and for starting to do something

hona for being, becoming and what regularly happens

I can tell apart being something, becoming something and something being generally so

The noun-plus-verb pattern that supplies most of the Hindi lexicon

I can build and understand verbs made of a noun plus karna or hona

Being able to, against managing to in the event

I can distinguish being able to do something from managing to do it

Structures for going on doing something

I can say that an action continued or kept being repeated

The vectors beyond le, de and ja

I can hear what the less common vector verbs add

Three aspects times three tenses, laid out together

I can place any Hindi verb form in the tense and aspect grid

Which postposition each verb demands

I can use the right postposition with a verb I have just learned

Expressing how sure you are

I can grade how certain I am about something

Choosing between forms that are all grammatical

I can choose the aspect that carries the nuance I mean

M/F gender with adjective and verb agreement

I can identify noun gender and apply agreement

Noun/adjective form changes before postpositions

I can apply oblique case to nouns and adjectives

The direct and oblique plural for every noun class

I can form the plural of any noun, direct or oblique

Possessive postposition with gender agreement

I can express possession with correct gender agreement

Locative postpositions and oblique case introduction

I can use में/पर for location and apply oblique case

को as dative/object marker + pronoun forms (मुझे/तुम्हें/उसे/हमें/इन्हें)

Can use को for indirect objects, experiencer constructions, and specific direct objects

से: from, by, with (instrument), comparison

Can express origin, instrument, and comparison using से

Compound postpositions: के लिए, के बारे में, के साथ, के बाद, के पहले

Can use common compound postpositions to express purpose, accompaniment, time sequence, and topic

Variable (-ा/-ी/-े) and invariable adjectives with gender/number agreement

Can use adjectives with correct gender/number agreement

Comparing with se, and the superlative with sabse

I can compare two things and name the best of a group

Numbers 1-100: each with unique Hindi form (not compositional like English)

Can use Hindi numbers 1-100 in everyday contexts

First, second, half, one and a half, quarter past and quarter to

I can give an order, a floor number and a quantity with a fraction in it

The Indian numbering system and how it is written

I can read and write large numbers the way they appear in India

Days, clock time, कल = yesterday AND tomorrow

Can tell time, name days of the week, and use कल/आज/परसों correctly with appropriate tense

Two vocabularies for one language, and when to use which

I can recognise the register of a word and choose one that fits the situation

The Persian constructions living inside Hindi

I can recognise Persian formations and read them correctly

Choosing between words a dictionary gives as identical

I can choose between near-synonyms by register and collocation

Adverbs of place (यहाँ/वहाँ), time (अभी/फिर), manner (धीरे/जल्दी)

Can use common Hindi adverbs of place, time, manner, and degree in correct sentence position

Three-tier honorific system: तू < तुम < आप + जी suffix

Can choose the appropriate level of formality (तू/तुम/आप) and use जी to show respect

The perfect with chuka and with the past participle plus hona

I can say that something has already happened

hi, bhi and to: small words that change the meaning

I can place hi, bhi and to correctly and hear what they add

isliye, phir bhi, varna: joining one thought to the next

I can link two sentences to show result, contrast or an alternative

Three negatives and where each belongs

I can choose the right negative for a statement, a clause and a command

Saying all day, until evening, and from morning right through

I can say how long something lasted and how far it extended

The small words that make speech sound native

I can soften, confirm and emphasise the way a native speaker does

Repetition and echo words, which Hindi uses constantly

I can use reduplication for gradualness, distribution and vagueness

The suffixes that build new words: vala, pan, i, dar

I can recognise a word I have not met from the suffix on it

The compound types Hindi inherited from Sanskrit

I can break a long compound into its parts and guess its meaning

Turning qualities and states into nouns

I can build an abstract noun from an adjective or a verb

Adjectives built from verbs: the doing one and the done one

I can describe someone by what they are doing or what has been done to them

Saying when without building a clause

I can say 'the moment something happened' without a full clause

When a direct object takes ko and when it does not

I can decide whether a direct object needs ko

The compound postpositions of written and formal Hindi

I can read a notice or an article and follow its postpositions

When ne appears, why, and the verbs that refuse it

I can apply ne correctly including its exceptions

How to address someone you do not know

I can address a stranger, a shopkeeper and an elder correctly

How respect works through plural agreement

I can speak about and to an elder with the right agreement throughout

Asking, refusing and disagreeing without giving offence

I can make a request, refuse and disagree while staying polite

The formal titles of letters, ceremonies and public speech

I can open a formal letter or address an audience appropriately

Reading the answer that is not the words

I can hear a soft refusal and a non-committal answer for what they are

Everyday idioms using parts of the body

I can understand and use common body-part idioms

The proverbs an educated speaker will assume you know

I can recognise a common proverb and understand what it is being used to say

The conventions of applications, notices and news Hindi

I can read an official notice and write a simple application

When an English word is the natural choice and when it is not

I can mix English into Hindi the way an urban speaker does

Sequencing, referring back and closing an argument

I can structure a paragraph so a reader can follow it

What lies behind the standard, and what you will actually hear

I can tell standard Hindi from a regional variety and follow the difference

The vocabulary and syntax of official and academic Hindi

I can read a government circular or an academic paper in Hindi

Headlines, attribution and hedging in the press

I can read a Hindi newspaper report and recognise what is asserted and what is attributed

The figures used in speeches, songs and good prose

I can recognise the standard figures and use a few in my own writing

Court and bureaucratic vocabulary and its conventions

I can follow a legal notice or an administrative order

Why film songs do not sound like the Hindi you learned

I can follow a film song or a poem without treating its grammar as errors

The interference errors that survive into advanced Hindi

I can audit my own Hindi for the errors my first language causes

How Hindi jokes are built

I can follow a joke or a pun and see why it works

Opening, structuring and closing a speech in Hindi

I can structure and deliver a short formal speech

Structuring an argument in academic Hindi

I can write a structured argument in academic Hindi

Saying the same thing at five different levels

I can say the same thing at any register the situation calls for

Narration, dialogue and description in Hindi

I can write a short narrative that reads as Hindi rather than as translation

A systematic checklist for your own writing

I can revise my own Hindi systematically rather than by feel

Deciding agreement when more than one rule applies

I can resolve an agreement conflict correctly

The epic references an educated speaker assumes you know

I can recognise a classical allusion and understand what it implies

From Sanskrit through Apabhramsha to the modern standard

I can explain why Hindi has the vocabulary layers it has

One grammar, two scripts, two vocabularies

I can describe the relationship between Hindi and Urdu accurately

Hindi's official status and why it is contested

I can discuss Hindi's official position without misstating it

What transfers, what does not, and what has to be rebuilt

I can translate a Russian paragraph into Hindi without importing its syntax

The vocabulary and habits of literary discussion

I can discuss a Hindi text using the standard critical vocabulary