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	Verb	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 क्याkyaa is used at the beginning of a sentence to form a yes/no question. Please note that here the word क्याkyaa 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

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/ll151/?p=770

धन्यवाद !