Describing People
लोगों का वर्णन
German adjectives only take an ending when they sit directly before a noun — describing someone with sein leaves the adjective in its plain, unmarked form, which is different from Hindi, where adjectives agree with gender everywhere.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Predicative vs. Attributive adjectives — a different path from Hindi here
Er ist groß. (predicative, no ending) vs. der große Mann (attributive, takes an ending)
वह लंबा है। बनाम लंबा आदमी — Hindi changes the adjective in both places (वह लंबी है for feminine)
Hindi adjectives always agree with the noun/subject's gender and number regardless of position (वह लंबा है / वह लंबी है). German takes a different path here: adjectives only take an ending when they sit directly before a noun (attributive: der große Mann); when they describe the subject after sein/werden/bleiben (predicative: Er ist groß), they stay in their plain dictionary form with no ending at all. This is exactly the spot where Hindi's habit (always agreeing) can mislead you — remember that in the predicative position, the German adjective never changes.
Hair and eye color use haben, not sein
Sie hat blaue Augen. (She has blue eyes.)
उसकी आँखें नीली हैं।
To describe someone's eye or hair color, German typically uses haben + accusative. Hindi's "उसकी आँखें नीली हैं" uses a possessive+sein structure, so don't translate word for word here — just remember the adjective takes an accusative plural ending (blaue Augen, not blau Augen), since it's attributive, sitting right before the noun.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| groß | grohs | लंबाlambā | tall |
| klein | klyn | छोटा (कद में) / छोटाchoṭā | short (of a person) / small |
| schlank | shlahnk | छरहराcharharā | slim |
| freundlich | FROYNT-likh | मिलनसारmilansār | friendly |
| lustig | LOOS-tikh | मज़ाकियाmazākiyā | funny |
| schüchtern | SHUEKH-tern | शर्मीलाśarmīlā | shy |
| selbstbewusst | ZELPST-beh-voost | आत्मविश्वासीātmaviśvāsī | confident |
| blaue Augen | BLOW-eh OW-gen | नीली आँखेंnīlī āñkheñ | blue eyes |
| braune Haare | BROW-neh HAH-reh | भूरे बालbhūre bāl | brown hair |
| Er sieht ... aus. | air zeet ... ows | वह ...लगता है।vah ...lagtā hai | He looks... / He appears... |
| nett | net | अच्छा / भलाacchā / bhalā | nice / kind |