A1 · Postpositions
का, की, के: “of”, agreeing with what follows
the possessive postposition
The owner comes first, then का, की or के, then the thing owned — and का agrees with the thing owned.
At a glance
- Remember
- Ka, ki, ke look forward to the thing owned, never back at the owner.
- Form
- राम का भाईRam’s brother
- Signal words
- का
- की
- के
- Trap
- Wrong:सीता की भाई डॉक्टर है।Right:सीता का भाई डॉक्टर है।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| Ram’s brother | राम का भाई |
| Ram’s sister | राम की बहन |
| Ram’s brothers | राम के भाई |
| to Ram’s brother | राम के भाई को |
| the boy’s book | लड़के की किताब |
| a wooden table | लकड़ी की मेज़ |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The owner comes first, then का, की or के, then what is owned.
यह अनु की किताब है।This is Anu’s book.
का, की, के agree with what is owned, not with the owner.
सीता का भाई डॉक्टर है।Sita’s brother is a doctor.
Before a masculine plural or another postposition, का becomes के.
राम के बच्चे स्कूल जाते हैं।Ram’s children go to school.
The owner takes its oblique form.
लड़के की माँ आई हैं।The boy’s mother has come.
का also says what something is made of or how old it is.
यह लकड़ी की मेज़ है।This is a wooden table.
Example sentences
यह मेरे दोस्त का घर है।This is my friend’s house.
भारत की राजधानी दिल्ली है।The capital of India is Delhi.
कमरे की चाबी कहाँ है?Where is the key to the room?
यह सोने की अंगूठी है।This is a gold ring.
मेरी बहन के दो बेटे हैं।My sister has two sons.
वह दस साल का लड़का है।He is a ten-year-old boy.
6 more example sentences
यह किसकी गाड़ी है?Whose car is this?
बच्चों का कमरा ऊपर है।The children’s room is upstairs.
मेरे दोस्त के भाई की गाड़ी नई है।My friend’s brother’s car is new.
यह हिंदी की किताब है।This is a Hindi book.
गाँव के लोग खेती करते हैं।The people of the village are farmers.
कल शाम का खाना बहुत अच्छा था।Yesterday evening’s meal was very good.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Sita is a woman, so learners choose की. But का looks forward, at the brother, and a brother is masculine: सीता का भाई. In the same way a man’s sister is राम की बहन.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English says “Ram’s brother” or “the brother of Ram”. Hindi always puts the owner first, then का, then what is owned: राम का भाई. The order is the same as English “’s”, and the word is a postposition after the owner.
Unlike English “’s”, का changes, and it changes with what follows it — the thing owned — exactly like an adjective in -ā. का before a masculine singular noun: राम का भाई. की before any feminine noun: राम की बहन, राम की बहनें. के before a masculine plural, and before a masculine noun followed by another postposition: राम के भाई(Ram’s brothers)राम के भाई को(to Ram’s brother)
Because का is a postposition, the owner before it takes the oblique form: लड़के की माँ(the boy’s mother)बच्चों का कमरा(the children’s room) With pronouns the two fuse into the possessives: मेरा, आपका, उसका.
का covers much more than ownership: what something is made of (लकड़ी की मेज़, a wooden table), what it is for or about (हिंदी की किताब, a Hindi book), how old it is (दस साल का लड़का), and when it is (रात का खाना, dinner).
A closer look
Having relatives
Hindi has no verb “to have”, and relatives and parts of the body are “had” with का: मेरे दो भाई हैं, “I have two brothers”, literally “my two brothers are”; उसकी एक बेटी है, “she has a daughter”. Things you own are different: they take के पास.
Chains of का
Possessives can be stacked, each one agreeing with the noun after it: मेरे दोस्त के भाई की गाड़ी, “my friend’s brother’s car”. Read from the end: the car (feminine, की) of the brother (masculine before a postposition, के) of my friend.
Worth knowing (2)
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Pronouns have their own forms
A pronoun does not take a separate का: it is मेरा, not मैं का, and उसका, written as one word.
यह मेरा फ़ोन है, उसका नहीं।This is my phone, not his.
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Meals and times of day
A meal is named by its time with का: सुबह का नाश्ता, दोपहर का खाना, रात का खाना.
रात का खाना आठ बजे है।Dinner is at eight.
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