Gender Difference

[Kandikkal]

Hi I am new to this forum and I am amazed to see a Hindi section here. I know a little bit of Hindi as I have learned it for some years back in school.

One thing which blocks me from communicating in Hindi is that almost all Hindi words have genders. So you have to use exact 'ka' or 'ki' along with the word when constructing sentences. Many have laughed at me for using improper gender for words during online game-play.

I think if we can make a list of common words with their gender in a table, it will be very helpful for learners like me.

[Meera]

Hey kandikal, although there are many exceptions there are some fast rules in learning gender. For the most part words ending in -i (ई ) are feminine and words ending in -a(अ ) are masculine. These are considered masculine and feminine type 1 nouns. Of course there are many expectations. For example many Sanskrit loanwords like भाषा (bhasha) language,  आशा (asha ) hope are feminine. There are also many nouns they don't follow this like आदमी (aadmi) man is masculine. Basically if they don't follow the hard and fast rules you have to learn by memorization. I try to learn by putting the gender next to every new word I learn, and on flashcards.   

[Kandikkal]

Thanks! That helped a lot. I will try to follow this when I am speaking next time. Is it safe to guess that words like sea,earth,rain are of feminine nature?

[Meera]

Thanks! That helped a lot. I will try to follow this when I am speaking next time. Is it safe to guess that words like sea,earth,rain are of feminine nature?

Not always, earth is feminine but समुद्र (samudra) sea is masculine,  बारिश (barish) rain is feminine and भूमि (bhoomi) earth is also feminine. I think there are some different words for all of these things though.

[Kandikkal]

Not always, earth is feminine but समुद्र (samudra) sea is masculine,  बारिश (barish) rain is feminine and भूमि (bhoomi) earth is also feminine. I think there are some different words for all of these things though.

Also what tool do you use for writing Hindi like this in this site? May be you can make a separate thread explaining that? I think it will help many people like me

[Meera]

I use my computer to write it because I have Hindi installed. But you can use google translate, all you have to do is set it to hindi-english or any other language and let's say you wanted to spell आदमी (aadmi) you type in aadmi in the translate box and it will automatically convert it for you. If you still have any other questions or it's still confusing feel free to ask me 

[Kandikkal]

I think I am happy with google translate for now. धन्यवाद् मीरा

[Meera]

कोई बात नहीं!

[Esperahol]

The thing that got me about Hindi is that I am used to -o being masculine and -a being feminine with -i following on either side of gender depending on circumstance. But with Hindi -a was masculine and -i was generally always feminine and neither -e nor -o really came into it. But perhaps I should get back into the practice of studying Hindi... if nothing else I have a forum for practice.

[Meera]

The thing that got me about Hindi is that I am used to -o being masculine and -a being feminine with -i following on either side of gender depending on circumstance. But with Hindi -a was masculine and -i was generally always feminine and neither -e nor -o really came into it. But perhaps I should get back into the practice of studying Hindi... if nothing else I have a forum for practice.

Yes you should deffintly study it! It's a fun languae and you could practice here with us  :grin:

[shamzblueworld]

I think its also same with Urdu and Punjabi too, though I guess it will be present in all the languages as well, of course most of the words has to have a gender one way or another, but yes, it is more common in Urdu and Hindi as well as Punjabi languages.

[Ayesha]

I have inhibitions speaking in Hindi only for fear of mixing up the gender!

I have studied it for four years in school and now I live in a city where one cannot survive without decent command over the language. And yet I still fumble at times when it comes to cataloging nouns into their correct gender. As @Ayesha said, it takes practice and a lot of memorizing to internalize this particular aspect of the language.

Besides the -i ending marking feminine and -a ending marking masculine rule, there's one more that I've heard though I cannot testify to its validity. I'm told that things that are in motion are considered feminine while stationary objects are masculine.

COnsequently, it is:

Bus ruka hai. (when it is still)

and

Bus chal rahi hai. (when it is moving)

If someone could confirm this, however, that would really help!

[RyanGarg]

Its good to see a thread for Hindi here. @ Ayesha - The first sentence should be - bus ruki hai. Any vehicle is considered as feminine gender in Hindi

[VinayaSpeaks]

I am not fluent in Hindi, however, I can understand Hindi. I read well and also have rudimentary Hindi writing skills.In my experience, gender is the most difficult in Hindi language. Vehicle (referred as gadi in Hindi) is masculine gender where as train (called trail or rail) is feminine gender. When you refer train as a vehicle you will have to use masculine gender and when you say train you will have to use in feminine gender.