These words are similar in spelling, but different in meaning. Be careful of these words!
सुजन = gentleman
सृजन = creation
संत = saint
शत = one hundred
बाँस = bamboo
बास = smell
प्रणाम = salute
प्रमाण = proof
परिमाण = extent
परिणाम = effect
प्रवाह = flow
परवाह = care
पत्ता = leaf
पता = address
All Hindi verbs end with ना. When you remove the suffix ना, you’re left with the stem of the verb. In Hindi, there are some verbs that only require a single word. These verbs are called simple verbs. There are also compound verbs that take on a second word. Take a look at some of these compound verbs.
जवाब देना = to answer
याचना करना = to beg
ले जाना = to carry away
साफ करना = to clean
पार करना = to cross
प्रवेश करना = to enter
ठीक करना = to fix
प्यार करना = to love
रक्षा करना = to protect
सेवा करना = to serve
सफर करना = to travel
इस्तेमाल करना = to use
The English word ‘thug’ derives from the Hindi word thag (ठग). The Hindi word thag (ठग) means thief or conman. This isn’t quite true for the English word. While it’s possible that a thug can be a thief, the connotation associated with ‘thug’ is a person who commits a crime (not necessarily having to do with theft).
The Indian word for thief comes from ‘thuggee’ (ठग्गी), an organized group of thieves in India. You don’t really hear of the Thuggee (ठग्गी) group anymore. The British suppression of this group and modern travel arrangements have rendered the Thuggee (ठग्गी) group powerless. Before the arrival of the British in India, people normally traveled by foot, caravan, or by a mule. Once railroads were established in India, the Thuggee (ठग्गी) groups could not rob people as effectively.
The leader of a Thuggee (ठग्गी) group was called a jamaadar (जमादा). The most famous leader was Thug Behram. He was infamous for strangling his victims with his trademark rumaal (रूमाल) or handkerchief. It’s hard to say how many people he really killed. The Thuggee were secretive and moved carefully to avoid detection. They often buried the bodies of their victims where no one would notice.
The Thuggee were not just an ordinary band of thieves. They were an elite organization. Membership was hereditary. Generations would learn the trade of robbing and killing. There were specialized roles within the group. One would act as the lookout, the other the hitman, and so on.
Perhaps the mysteriousness of the Thuggee is to account for all the interest in this group. Both Indian and western media have based their novels and films on this legendary group.
Hindi verbs have to be conjugated to reflect the subject of the sentence. Let’s look at the Hindi verb “to do” in the masculine, using the singular and plural forms.
I do : मैं करता हूँ
You do : आप करते हैं
He/It does : वह करता है
We do : हम करते हैं
You (plural) do : आप करते हैं
They do : वे करते हैं
The verb “to do” in the feminine will only be slightly different from the masculine, so please pay attention.
I do : मैं करती हूँ
You do : आप करती हैं
She/It does : वह करती है
We do : हम करती हैं
You all do : आप करती हैं
They do : वे करती हैं
कर = to do. Now you can see for yourself as to how the verb changes in respect to gender and number.
Namaste! (नमस्ते)
Today we’ll take at the gender of Hindi nouns and I’ll give examples of some sentences that show the change in gender of nouns.
Hindi nouns are either masculine or feminine.
Masculine nouns often end in ā. Example: लड़का (boy), राजा king
However, there are masculine nouns that don’t end in ā. घर (house), आदमी man
Many feminine nouns end in ī. Example: लड़की (girl), गाड़ी car
Again, not all feminine nouns end in ī. माता mother, किताब book
मैं लड़का हूँ I am a boy (where the noun ‘boy’ is in the masculine)
मैं लड़की हूँ I am a girl (where the noun ‘girl’ is in the feminine)
मैं = I, हूँ = am, लड़का = boy. In Hindi the verb is placed at the end of the sentence. So in Hindi, ‘I am a boy’ will be ‘I boy am’.
In Hindi, the pronouns do not tell us much about the gender of a person or thing. Therefore, the noun will reflect whether the thing or person alluded to are feminine or masculine. Take a look at these examples:
वह लड़का है he is a boy
वह लड़की है she is a girl
With the two examples above, vah (वह) which is the pronoun for he or she, is exactly the same, with only the noun giving us any indication of gender.
