Hindi Verb Conjugations and Postpositions: A Flashcard Study Guide

Hindi verbs follow three rules: the verb agrees with gender, ne takes over in the transitive past, and postpositions come after the noun. The Hindi Verb Conjugations & Postpositions deck (code YE8706, 60 cards) has 40 verb cards and 20 postposition cards, all in Devanagari with romanization.

Sample cards

What's inside

Hona (to be) in the present (हूँ, है, हो, हैं), past (था/थी/थे/थीं) and future (होऊँगा, होंगे). You also get the three levels of "you": तू, तुम, आप. Karna, jana and aana come in habitual present, perfective past and future. Ten more verbs appear as infinitives only: खाना, पीना, बोलना, देखना, सुनना, पढ़ना, लिखना, समझना, चाहना. The postpositions: में, को, का/की/के, से, पर, तक, के साथ, के बिना, के लिए, के नीचे, के अंदर, के बाहर, के पास, से दूर, के सामने, के पीछे, के बीच, के बाद, की ओर.

Two patterns to pull out

• Cards 19-21 against 25 and 29 is the key contrast. Maine kiya, tumne kiya and usne kiya all take ने, and the verb doesn't change with the subject. Main gaya/gayi and main aaya/aayi have no ने and agree with the subject. That's because करना is transitive and जाना/आना are intransitive. Make one card for the rule: "transitive verb + perfective past → subject + ने, verb agrees with the object".
• Group the compound postpositions by their first word. Most start with के (के साथ, के पीछे). Three start with से (से दूर, से पहले, se + noun). Only one starts with की: की ओर, because ओर is feminine. Then add the step the deck never teaches: a pronoun before a postposition changes form. It's मेरे साथ, not मैं के साथ, and मुझे or मुझको, not मैं को.

Small corrections

Card 1 says "I am (masculine)", but मैं हूँ is the same for both genders; gender only shows up in था/थी and करता/करती. Card 42 should also mention that को marks the indirect object and specific direct objects (राम को किताब दो). For card 40, learners meet चाहिए (मुझे पानी चाहिए) far more often than चाहना. The deck also leaves out the continuous tense (कर रहा हूँ) and imperatives (करो, कीजिए). Write those 6-8 cards yourself, and conjugate the ten bare infinitives on the karna pattern.

Find YE8706 in the Flip It library. Need to read the script first? Start with Devanagari Script & Pronunciation.