Family
परिवार
Family vocabulary is a natural place to start practicing gendered articles and possessives, since every family member's noun has a fixed, often intuitive, gender.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Most family nouns have 'natural' gender — with one famous exception
der Vater, die Mutter, der Bruder, die Schwester — but das Mädchen (girl)
पिता, माता, भाई, बहन — पर das Mädchen (लड़की)
Unlike most German nouns, family words are refreshingly intuitive: male relatives take der, female relatives take die. The classic trap is Mädchen ("girl") — it's das, neuter, purely because it ends in -chen (a diminutive suffix), which is always neuter regardless of who it refers to. In Hindi, gender is biological (लड़की stays feminine), but in German grammar can override biology — a good first lesson in how the German gender system actually works.
mein / dein: possessives take ein-like endings
mein Vater, meine Mutter, mein Kind
मेरे पिता, मेरी माता, मेरा बच्चा
German possessives (mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser...) change their ending to match the gender of the noun that follows them, not the gender of the owner — exactly like Hindi's मेरा/मेरी/मेरे, which agree with the noun's gender and number, not the speaker's gender! This is unlike English, where "my" never changes — so this concept should already feel familiar to Hindi speakers. The full possessive table comes in a later lesson — for now, just notice how mein becomes meine to match a feminine noun.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| die Familie | dee fah-MEE-lee-eh | परिवारparivār | the family |
| der Vater | dair FAH-ter | पिताpitā | the father |
| die Mutter | dee MOOT-ter | माताmātā | the mother |
| der Bruder | dair BROO-der | भाईbhāī | the brother |
| die Schwester | dee SHVES-ter | बहनbahan | the sister |
| der Sohn | dair zohn | बेटाbeṭā | the son |
| die Tochter | dee TOKH-ter | बेटीbeṭī | the daughter |
| die Eltern | dee EL-tern | माता-पिताmātā-pitā | the parents |
| die Großmutter | dee GROHS-moot-ter | दादी / नानीdādī / nānī | the grandmother |
| der Großvater | dair GROHS-fah-ter | दादा / नानाdādā / nānā | the grandfather |
| das Mädchen | dahs MAYT-khen | लड़कीlaṛkī | the girl |
| der Junge | dair YOONG-eh | लड़काlaṛkā | the boy |