A1 · Adjectives
Adjectives that agree, and those that never change
adjective agreement
An adjective in -ā has three forms, -ā, -e and -ī; every other adjective has only one.
At a glance
- Remember
- An adjective in -a follows its noun everywhere — -a, -e or -i — and every other adjective stays as it is.
- Form
- अच्छा लड़काmasculine singular
- Signal words
- अच्छा
- अच्छे
- अच्छी
- बड़ा
- नया
- Trap
- Wrong:मैं बड़ा शहर में रहता हूँ।Right:मैं बड़े शहर में रहता हूँ।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| masculine singular | अच्छा लड़का |
| masculine plural | अच्छे लड़के |
| masculine before a postposition | अच्छे लड़के को, अच्छे लड़कों को |
| feminine, everywhere | अच्छी लड़की, अच्छी लड़कियाँ |
| new | नया, नए, नई |
| never changes | सुंदर, लाल, साफ़ |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
An adjective in -ā agrees with its noun: -ā, -e or -ī.
यह अच्छा होटल है।This is a good hotel.
The -e form serves the masculine plural and every masculine noun before a postposition.
मैं बड़े शहर में रहता हूँ।I live in a big city.
The feminine has one form, -ī, singular and plural.
ये छोटी गाड़ियाँ हैं।These are small cars.
Adjectives that do not end in -ā never change.
उसकी आँखें सुंदर हैं।Her eyes are beautiful.
An adjective after है agrees too.
चाय ठंडी है।The tea is cold.
Example sentences
यह नया घर है।This is a new house.
मेरी नई घड़ी सुनहरी है।My new watch is gold.
छोटे बच्चे सो रहे हैं।The little children are asleep.
वह लाल साड़ी पहनती है।She wears a red sari.
ये आम मीठे हैं।These mangoes are sweet.
कल मैं एक पुराने दोस्त से मिला।Yesterday I met an old friend.
6 more example sentences
यह कमरा गंदा है।This room is dirty.
ये कमरे गंदे हैं।These rooms are dirty.
मेरी दादी बूढ़ी हैं।My grandmother is old.
ताज़ी सब्ज़ियाँ कहाँ मिलती हैं?Where can you get fresh vegetables?
ऊँचे पहाड़ों पर बर्फ़ है।There is snow on the high mountains.
यह बढ़िया खाना है।This is excellent food.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The noun शहर does not change before में, so learners leave the adjective alone too. But an adjective in -ā always takes -e before a postposition, whatever the noun does: बड़े शहर में, पुराने घर से.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
An adjective ending in -ा agrees with its noun in gender, number and case. It has only three forms. -ा goes with a masculine singular noun in its plain form: अच्छा लड़का. -ी goes with every feminine noun, singular or plural, plain or oblique: अच्छी लड़की, अच्छी लड़कियाँ, अच्छी लड़कियों को.
-े does the rest of the masculine work: the plural (अच्छे लड़के), the singular before a postposition (अच्छे लड़के को) and the plural before a postposition (अच्छे लड़कों को). So “in a big city” is बड़े शहर में, although शहर itself does not change.
Adjectives that do not end in -ा do not change at all: सुंदर लड़का, सुंदर लड़की, सुंदर घरों में. Many colours (लाल, सफ़ेद, गुलाबी), साफ़, ख़राब, गरम and ईमानदार are of this kind.
The same agreement holds when the adjective comes after है: चाय ठंडी है(the tea is cold)ये आम मीठे हैं(these mangoes are sweet) Adjectives in -ā that end in -या follow the -ए/-ई spelling: नया, नए, नई.
A closer look
Only the -ā kind changes
The test is the ending of the masculine singular form, as it stands in a dictionary. अच्छा, बड़ा, लंबा, नीला change; सुंदर, लाल, मुश्किल, आसान do not. An adjective ending in -ी, such as गुलाबी (pink) or ज़रूरी (necessary), does not change either.
Adjectives as nouns
An adjective can stand without a noun and act as one: बड़ेare “the elders”छोटे“the young ones”अमीर“the rich” It keeps its endings: बड़ों का आदर करो, “respect your elders”.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
-
an adjective ends in -iyā, like बढ़िया (excellent) or घटिया (shoddy)
it does not change: बढ़िया खाना, बढ़िया चाय, बढ़िया कपड़े.
यहाँ की चाय बढ़िया है।The tea here is excellent.
These words came from a different word-building pattern and behave like सुंदर, not like अच्छा.
Worth knowing (2)
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Respect makes the adjective plural
Speaking of one respected person, an adjective in -ā takes the plural form, like the verb: मेरे पिताजी बहुत अच्छे हैं.
हमारे अध्यापक बहुत अच्छे हैं।Our teacher is very good.
-
Colours of both kinds
काला (black), नीला (blue), पीला (yellow) and हरा (green) end in -ā and agree; लाल (red), सफ़ेद (white) and गुलाबी (pink) do not change.
उसकी क़मीज़ नीली है और पैंट सफ़ेद है।His shirt is blue and his trousers are white.
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