2.7: Personal Pronouns with Verb "To be"
Verb “To be”
Instructor Video: Verb “to be”
| Singular pronouns and verb “to be.” | Plural pronouns and verb “to be.” | ||||
| Hindi | Transliteration | English | Hindi | Transliteration | English |
| मैं __हूँ | main __hoon | I am __. | हम __हैं | hum __hain | We are __. |
| तू __है | tu __hai | You are __. | |||
| तुम __हो | tum __ho | You are __. | तुम __हो | tum __ho | You are __. |
| आप __हैं | aap __hain | You are __. | आप __हैं | aap __hain | You are __. |
| यह/वह __है | ye/wo __hai | S/he, This/That is __. | ये/वे __हैं | ye/we __hain | They, These/Those are __. |
Table 3. List of Personal pronouns with the forms of verb होना “to be.”
Summary
| Verb “to be” | Pronouns | Examples |
| हूँ hoon | मैं | मैं अध्यापक हूँ | main adhyaapak hoon . I am a teacher. |
| हो ho | तुम | तुम छात्र हो | tum chhaatr ho . You are a student |
| है hai | तू, यह, वह (Singular nouns) |
तू लड़का है |
tu laRakaa hai
. You are a boy.
यह किताब है | ye kitaab hai . This is a book. वह मेज़ है | wo mez hai . That is a table. पीटर दोस्त है | Peter dost hai . Peter is a friend. |
| हैं hain | हम, आप, ये, वे (Plural nouns/honorific) |
हम छात्र हैं |
hum chhaatr hain
. We are students.
आप अच्छे हैं | aap achchhe hain . You are good. ये/वे किसान हैं | ye/we kisaan hain . They are farmers. ये सब्ज़ियाँ हैं | ye sabziyaan hain . These are vegetables. वे फल हैं | we phal hain . Those are fruits. फ़िलिप जी अध्यापक हैं | Philip ji adhyaapak hain . Philip ji is my teacher, |
Table 4. List of verb होना “to be,” with personal pronouns.
Positive Sentence and the Verb होना “to be”
Unlike English, the standard word order of Hindi is: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).
Structure 1:
| English | Subject | Verb | Object |
| This | is | a pen | |
| Hindi | Subject | Object | Verb |
| This | a pen | is | |
| यह | एक कलम | है | |
Negative Sentence in Hindi and the Verb होना “to be”
Structure 2:
| English | Subject | Ver b | Negative | Object |
| This | is | not | a pen | |
| Hindi | Subject | Object | Negative | Verb |
| This | a pen | not | is | |
| यह | कलम | नहीं | है | |
Yes/No question and the Verb होना “to be”
In English, we move auxiliary verb at the beginning of a sentence to form a yes/no question. Whereas, in Hindi, the word क्या kyaa is used at the beginning of a sentence to form a yes/no question. Please note that here the word क्या kyaa does not mean “what.
Structure 3:
| English | Auxiliary verb | Subject | Object | |
| Is | this | a pen | ||
| Hindi | क्या kyaa | Subject | Object | Verb |
| Kyaa | this | a pen | is | |
| क्या | यह | कलम | है ? |
Yes/No question + Negative and the Verb होना “to be”
Structure 4:
| English | Auxiliary verb | (negative) | Subject | (Negative) | Object |
| Is | (not) | this | (not) | a pen | |
| Isn’t this a pen? / Is this not a pen? | |||||
| Hindi | क्या kyaa | Subject | Object | Negative | Auxiliary Verb |
| kyaa | this | a pen | not | is | |
| क्या | यह | कलम | नहीं | है ? |
Activities
Now as you know how to change a simple Hindi sentence into Negative, yes/no question, and yes/no question + negative, please fill the following table as instructed.
| Positive | Negative | Yes/No Question | Yes/No Question + Negative |
| मैं अध्यापक हूँ | | |||
| हम दोस्त नहीं हैं | | |||
| क्या वे छात्र हैं? | |||
| क्या आप हिन्दुस्तानी हैं ? | |||
| तू भाई है | | |||
| तुम छात्रा नहीं हो | | |||
| क्या यह आलू है ? | |||
| क्या वह टमाटर नहीं है ? |
Please fill in the blanks with suitable object to form five sentences with each pronoun given below. You can use the vocabulary list in this chapter or dictionary for any help that you need to complete this activity.
| Subject | Object | Verb “to be.” | English |
| मैं | अध्यापक | हूँ | | I am a teacher. |
| मैं | |||
| मैं | |||
| मैं | |||
| मैं | |||
| हम | दोस्त | हैं | | We are friends. |
| हम | |||
| हम | |||
| हम | |||
| हम | |||
| तू | होशियार | है | | You are smart. |
| तू | |||
| तू | |||
| तू | |||
| तू | |||
| तुम | लड़के | हो | | You are a boy. |
| तुम | |||
| तुम | |||
| तुम | |||
| तुम | |||
| आप | अच्छी | हैं | | You (female) are good. |
| आप | |||
| आप | |||
| आप | |||
| आप | |||
| यह | किताब | है | | This is a book. |
| यह | |||
| यह | |||
| यह | |||
| यह | |||
| वह | आपका तौलिया | है | | That is your towel. |
| वह | |||
| वह | |||
| वह | |||
| वह | |||
| ये | सब्जियां | हैं | | These are vegetables. |
| ये | |||
| ये | |||
| ये | |||
| ये | |||
| ये | |||
| वे | क्या | हैं ? | What are those? |
| वे | |||
| वे | |||
| वे | |||
| वे |
Test Yourself
https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/ll151/?p=770
धन्यवाद !