Nominalization: Turning Verbs & Adjectives into Nouns
Nominalization: क्रियाओं और विशेषणों को संज्ञा में बदलना
Formal Hindi writing does this too — compressing a clause into a noun phrase (सरकार का निर्णय, 'the government's decision') rather than stringing full clauses together. Hindi even has a suffix, -ता, that works almost exactly like French's -ité, attaching to an adjective to build an abstract noun: वास्तविक ('real') → वास्तविकता ('reality'), mirroring réel → réalité step for step.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Suffix patterns — and one direct match with Hindi's own -ता
décider → la décision; développer → le développement; laver → le lavage; naître → la naissance; possible → la possibilité
निर्णय लेना → निर्णय; विकसित होना → विकास; धोना → धुलाई; जन्म लेना → जन्म; संभव → संभावना
French has several noun-forming suffixes, each attaching to a different set of verbs or adjectives: -tion (décider → décision), -ment (développer → développement), -age (laver → lavage, often physical or repeated actions), -ance/-ence (naître → naissance), and -ité (attached to adjectives: possible → possibilité, réel → réalité). Hindi builds its own formal nouns through separate mechanisms — often a distinct word altogether (निर्णय for 'decision' isn't transparently built from लेना) — but one suffix lines up almost exactly with French: Hindi's -ता attaches to an adjective to build an abstract noun the same way -ité does, वास्तविक ('real') → वास्तविकता ('reality'), a direct structural echo of réel → réalité. Where that one match gives you a genuine shortcut, most of French's other suffixes will need to be learned as their own vocabulary, since Hindi's formal nouns are more often distinct words than transparent derivations.
Why formal French reaches for nominalization — Hindi formal writing does the same
Le gouvernement a décidé de... (verbal, ordinary) → La décision du gouvernement de... (nominal, more formal/written)
सरकार ने फ़ैसला किया कि... → सरकार का फ़ैसला...
As in formal and administrative Hindi writing, French compresses a verb clause into a noun phrase for a more formal register — la décision du gouvernement instead of le gouvernement a décidé, mirroring the same shift Hindi makes from सरकार ने फ़ैसला किया कि ('the government decided that') to सरकार का फ़ैसला ('the government's decision'). This isn't a new habit to learn from scratch, just one to recognize in French: spotting the noun (une décision) as coming from a verb you already know (décider) is often the fastest way to unlock an unfamiliar-looking formal sentence.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- निर्णय/फ़ैसलाnirṇay/faislā
- English
- the decision
- Hindi
- विकासvikās
- English
- the development
- Hindi
- जानकारी/सूचनाjānkārī/sūcnā
- English
- the information
- Hindi
- भुगतानbhugtān
- English
- the payment
- Hindi
- धुलाईdhulāī
- English
- the washing
- Hindi
- सफ़ाईsafāī
- English
- the cleaning
- Hindi
- जन्मjanma
- English
- the birth
- Hindi
- प्रतिरोधpratirodh
- English
- the resistance
- Hindi
- संभावनाsambhāvnā
- English
- the possibility
- Hindi
- वास्तविकताvāstavikatā
- English
- the reality