Possessives: my, your, his, her, and 's
संबंधवाचक शब्द: मेरा, तुम्हारा, उसका/उसकी, और 's
English marks possession two different ways depending on whether you're using a pronoun or a full noun — where Hindi runs both through essentially the same का/की/के mechanism, agreeing with the thing owned rather than the owner.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
One unified system in Hindi, a two-way split in English
my book (possessive pronoun) vs. Priya's book (noun + 's)
मेरी किताब / प्रिया की किताब — both use the same का/की/के pattern
Hindi builds possession the same way whether the owner is a pronoun or a proper noun: the possessor takes की (agreeing with the feminine किताब), giving प्रिया की किताब and मेरी किताब side by side with the identical mechanism. English instead splits this into two unrelated systems: a dedicated set of possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our, their) for pronoun-owners, and an apostrophe-s ('s) tacked onto a noun-owner (Priya's). Since Hindi's का/की/के already covers both cases smoothly, expect to consciously learn English's possessive pronouns as a separate vocabulary set from the 's rule, rather than assuming one pattern will cover both.
उसका/उसकी doesn't reveal the owner's gender — his/her does
his book vs. her book (the pronoun itself flags whether the owner is male or female)
उसकी किताब — the same word serves for both 'his book' and 'her book'
In Hindi, उसका/उसकी/उसके agree with the gender and number of the thing owned (किताब is feminine, so उसकी), not with the gender of the owner — so 'his book' and 'her book' come out as the identical उसकी किताब, and only context tells you whether उस- refers to a man or a woman. English does the opposite: his and her fix the owner's gender directly into the word itself, regardless of what's owned. This is one of the more common trip-up points, since Hindi gives no built-in habit of marking the owner's gender on a possessive.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| English | Pronunciation | Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| my book | my book | मेरी किताबmerī kitāb |
| your book | yor book | तुम्हारी किताबtumhārī kitāb |
| his book | hiz book | उसकी किताबuskī kitāb |
| her book | hur book | उसकी किताबuskī kitāb |
| Priya's book | PREE-yaz book | प्रिया की किताबpriyā kī kitāb |
| our house | ow-er hows | हमारा घरhamārā ghar |