You should be completely familiar with the use of the direct and oblique singular forms of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives:

   

	Singular:	Plural:
Direct:	km:ra,   m:òø,   y:h	km:rð,   hm:,   y:ð
Oblique:	km:rð,   m:ØJ:,   Es:	km:raðø,   hm:,   En:

      In addition you should know the vocative form of nouns:

   

	Singular:	Plural:
Direct:	l:_ka,   l:_ki	l:_kñ,   l:_eky:aú
Oblique:	l:_kñ,   l:_ki	l:_kað,   l:_eky:að

For some speakers the vocative plural ending is nasalized -Aaðø :   l:_kaðø,   l:_eky:aðø.
      The vocative is used when calling out to someone:

  1.     O b:cc:að ( b:cc:aðø ),  ED:r AaAað !                   'Hey boys, come here!'

      m:lhar presupposes a knowledge of the following tenses and moods of the verb:
   

Past:	v:h khaú g:I ?	Where did she go?
Future:	Aap: Vy:a krðøg:ð ?	What will you do?
Subjunctive:	hm: kb: em:l:ðø ?	When shall we meet?
Imperative:	( Aap: )   s:Øen:y:ð !	Listen!
	( t:Øm: )   y:h dðK:að !	See here!
Present habitual:	t:Øm: khaú rht:i hað ?	Where do you live?
Past habitual:	hm: ehndi b:aðl:t:ð T:ð.	We used to speak Hindi.
Present progressive:	m:òø el:K: rha hÜú.	I am writing.
Past progressive:	b:cc:ð g:a rhð T:ð.	The kids were singing.
Present perfect:	v:h Aaj: g:y:a hò.	He has gone today.
Past perfect:	b:s: dað b:j:ð AaI T:i.	The bus had come at two.

      Remember that  haðn:a  can mean either 'to be' or 'to become'; 'to happen'.  As 'to be' it has no progressive forms.  Instead there are special stative forms:

Present stative:	v:ð m:ðrð daðst: hòø.	They are my friends.
Past stative:	us:ka n:am: Vy:a T:a ?	What was his name?

Stative  haðn:a  has habitual forms:

Present habitual:	y:haú kñ l:aðg: AcCð haðt:ð hòø.	People here are nice.
Past habitual:	dÜD: s:st:a haðt:a T:a.	Milk used to be cheap.

Subjects of such habitual statives are usually non-specific:

  2.     kñl:ð p:il:ð haðt:ð hòø.                             'Bananas are yellow.'
  3.     y:h kñl:a l:al: haðt:a hò.                   'This (type of) banana is red.'
  4.     y:h kñl:a hra hò.                             'This (particular) banana is green.'

In the perfect stative, the root  hað- of  haðn:a  is replaced by the root  rh- of  rhn:a:

  5.     p:hl:ð Es:ka n:am: Vy:a rha T:a ?
          'What had been the name of this before?'

  6.     us:m:ðø Aaòr m:ØJ:m:ðø hm:ðS:a b:hØt: frq rha hò.
          'There has always been a lot of difference between him and me.'

Exercise.

English to Hindi translation exercise.

To index of grammatical notes.

To index of m:lhar.

Keyed in and posted 5 Sept 2001.