Prepositions of Place & Time
स्थान और समय के परसर्ग
French locates things with prepositions placed before the noun — sur la table ('on the table') — the reverse of Hindi, where the equivalent postposition comes after the noun (मेज़ पर, 'table on'). This word-order flip is worth flagging clearly before diving into the individual words.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Prepositions come before the noun — the mirror image of Hindi's postpositions
sur la table (on the table) — preposition first
मेज़ पर — यहाँ पर संज्ञा के बाद आता है
French prepositions — à, dans, sur, sous, chez, devant, derrière, entre, avant, après — always come before the noun they govern, like English 'on', 'under', 'behind'. Hindi does the opposite: its equivalent words (पर, में, के नीचे, के सामने, के पीछे, के बीच) are postpositions, attached after the noun they govern — मेज़ पर ('table on'), घर में ('house in'). The single biggest adjustment here isn't the meaning of any individual word, it's remembering to flip the order every time: French puts the locator first, Hindi puts it last.
chez: no single Hindi postposition covers it either
chez moi (at my place), chez le médecin (at the doctor's)
मेरे घर पर, डॉक्टर के पास
chez means 'at the home/place/practice of' — used only before a person or a profession, never a plain location noun (you can't say chez l'école). Hindi has to paraphrase it too: मेरे घर पर ('at my house') or डॉक्टर के पास ('at the doctor's', literally 'near the doctor') — using a possessive or the postposition के पास ('near') plus an implied noun, rather than one dedicated word. Treat chez as its own small category with no direct one-word translation in either language.
avant / après: before nouns and clauses alike
avant le dîner (before dinner) / après avoir mangé (after having eaten)
खाने से पहले / खाने के बाद
avant and après work with a plain noun (avant le dîner) or with an infinitive clause. Note the asymmetry: avant takes a plain infinitive (avant de manger, 'before eating'), while après takes a past infinitive (après avoir mangé, 'after having eaten'). Hindi treats से पहले ('before') and के बाद ('after') more symmetrically — both simply attach to the plain verbal noun खाना ('eating'): खाने से पहले, खाने के बाद — so unlike French, Hindi doesn't force a special 'having done' form after के बाद the way French does after après; that asymmetry is a genuinely French-specific wrinkle to memorize.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- पर / कोpar/ko
- English
- at / to
- Hindi
- मेंmeñ
- English
- in / inside
- Hindi
- परpar
- English
- on
- Hindi
- के नीचेke nīce
- English
- under
- Hindi
- के यहाँ / के पासke yahāñ/ke pās
- English
- at the place of
- Hindi
- के सामनेke sāmne
- English
- in front of
- Hindi
- के पीछेke pīche
- English
- behind
- Hindi
- के बीचke bīc
- English
- between
- Hindi
- से पहलेse pahle
- English
- before
- Hindi
- के बादke bād
- English
- after