Hindi Possessive Agreement

Hindi nouns have genders. Every single one of them! Even a spoon or a table has a gender. The possessive markers ka, ke, and ki are obsessed with these genders. They do not care if the owner is a king or a queen. They only care about the noun that follows them. If you are talking about a boy's book, you look at the word "book". If you are talking about a girl's brother, you look at the word "brother". It is a total shift in perspective. Imagine you are at a cafe in Delhi. You want to ask for your friend's tea. You look at the word for tea (chai), which is feminine. Even if your friend is the most masculine guy on earth, you will use ki. It is all about the object's identity, not the owner's ego.

1. 1Follow these four simple steps to get it right every time:
2. 2Identify the Owner (The person or thing that has something).
3. 3Identify the Object (The thing being possessed).
4. 4Determine the Gender and Number of the Object.
5. 5Apply the correct marker based on the Object:
6. 6Use ka if the object is Masculine Singular.
7. 7Use ke if the object is Masculine Plural or in the Oblique case.
8. 8Use ki if the object is Feminine (Singular or Plural).
9. 9Think of it as a matching game. If the object is ladka (boy), use ka. If the object is ladke (boys), use ke. If the object is ladki (girl), use ki. Yes, even native speakers mess this up when they are tired, so do not sweat it too much!

You will use this pattern constantly. It is the glue of the Hindi language. Use it when:

• Showing Ownership: Like "Raj's house" (Raj ka ghar).
• Describing Relationships: Like "Sarah's mother" (Sarah ki ma).
• Talking About Parts: Like "The car's door" (Gaadi ka darwaza).
• Indicating Origin: Like "The water of India" (Bharat ka paani).
• Professional Settings: During a job interview, you might say "My company's name" (Meri company ka naam).
• Ordering Food: Asking for the "Price of the pizza" (Pizza ka daam).

Do not use ka, ke, or ki when you are using personal pronouns like "I", "You", or "We". These have their own built-in possessive forms. For example, instead of saying "I ka house," you say mera ghar. However, the ending of mera, mere, and meri follows the exact same agreement rules! Also, avoid using these markers with verbs. They only sit between two nouns or a noun and an adjective. If you find yourself putting ka before a verb, stop! You have likely taken a wrong turn at the grammar junction.

The biggest mistake is matching the owner. A male student might say mera behan because he is male. Wrong! Since behan (sister) is feminine, he must say meri behan. Another classic error is forgetting the plural ke. If you have many brothers, it is mere bhai, not mera bhai. Think of it like a puzzle. If the pieces do not match in gender and number, the sentence will look a bit "clunky" to a native ear. Don't worry, though; people will still understand you. It’s like wearing one blue sock and one black sock—noticeable, but not a disaster.

In English, we just add an 's or use "of". It is very static. In Spanish or French, you have "de" or "du", which also changes slightly, but Hindi is more rigorous about the gender match. Compared to the word ko (which means "to"), ka/ke/ki is strictly about possession. Ko marks the object of a verb, while ka marks the owner of a noun. Do not mix them up! If you say Raj ko ghar, you are saying "To Raj house," which sounds like you are a confused GPS.