A1 · The basic sentence
Who, what, where, when, why, how, how much
question words
Almost every question word starts with क, and it stands where the answer will stand.
At a glance
- Remember
- Almost every question word starts with k, and it goes where the answer will go.
- Form
- कौनwho
- Signal words
- कौन
- क्या
- कहाँ
- कब
- क्यों
- कैसे
- कितना
- कौन-सा
- Trap
- Wrong:आपके कितना बच्चे हैं?Right:आपके कितने बच्चे हैं?
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Hindi.
| who | कौन |
| what | क्या |
| where | कहाँ |
| when | कब |
| why | क्यों |
| how | कैसे |
| what kind of, what … like | कैसा, कैसी, कैसे |
| how much, how many | कितना, कितनी, कितने |
| which | कौन-सा, कौन-सी, कौन-से |
| whose | किसका, किसकी, किसके |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The question word stands where the answer would stand, usually just before the verb.
आप कहाँ रहते हैं?Where do you live?
कितना, कैसा and कौन-सा agree with their noun like adjectives.
आपके कितने बच्चे हैं?How many children do you have?
कैसे asks how something is done; कैसा asks what something is like.
आप दफ़्तर कैसे जाते हैं?How do you get to the office?
Before a postposition कौन becomes किस.
यह किसका फ़ोन है?Whose phone is this?
Example sentences
वह लड़की कौन है?Who is that girl?
आपका नाम क्या है?What is your name?
ट्रेन कब आएगी?When will the train come?
आप क्यों हँस रहे हैं?Why are you laughing?
आज मौसम कैसा है?What is the weather like today?
आपको कौन-सी किताब चाहिए?Which book do you need?
6 more example sentences
बाथरूम कहाँ है?Where is the bathroom?
यह कितने का है?How much is this?
आप कैसे हैं?How are you?
आप किससे बात कर रहे थे?Who were you talking to?
मीटिंग कितने बजे है?What time is the meeting?
आप कौन हैं?Who are you?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
कितना is the form learners meet first, but it agrees like any adjective in -ā. Children are masculine plural, so it is कितने बच्चे; with a feminine noun it is कितनी किताबें.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
The Hindi question words nearly all begin with k: कौन (who), क्या (what), कहाँ (where), कब (when), क्यों (why), कैसे (how), कितना (how much, how many) and कौन-सा (which).
They do not move to the front as in English. A question word goes where the answer will go, which is usually just before the verb: आप कहाँ रहते हैं? — मैं दिल्ली में रहता हूँ। Swap the answer in for the question word and you have the reply.
Three of them behave like adjectives in -ā and agree with their noun: कितना, कितनी, कितने; कैसा, कैसी, कैसे; कौन-सा, कौन-सी, कौन-से. So “how many children” is कितने बच्चे and “which book” कौन-सी किताब.
कैसा asks what something is like (मौसम कैसा है?, what is the weather like?); कैसे as an adverb asks how something is done (आप कैसे जाते हैं?, how do you go?). Before a postposition, कौन becomes किस, written together with it: किसका(whose)किससे(from whom)
A closer look
The k-words and their partners
The question words belong to small families. Next to कहाँ (where) stand यहाँ (here), वहाँ (there) and जहाँ (where, in a relative clause); next to कब (when) stand अब (now), तब (then) and जब; next to कैसा stand ऐसा (like this) and वैसा (like that). Learn one and the others follow.
Questions in the middle of a sentence
Because the question word stays where the answer goes, it can sit deep inside a long sentence: आप कल शाम को किसके साथ बाज़ार गए थे?, “who did you go to the market with yesterday evening?”. English would pull “who” to the front; Hindi leaves it in place.
Worth knowing (2)
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आप कैसे हैं, आप कैसी हैं
“How are you?” uses कैसा as an adjective, so it agrees with the person asked: कैसे for a man or for आप in general, कैसी for a woman.
आप कैसी हैं?How are you? (to a woman)
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कौन in the plural
कौन does not change for the plural in the direct case; the verb shows it. With a postposition the plural is किन.
वे लोग कौन हैं?Who are those people?
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