Page:Craven-Grey - Hindustani manual.djvu/33

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

(e) The following interrogative is applicable, either to the singular or plural.

Nom. kyá, what ?

Inflec. káhe-ká, -ke, -kí, of what ? &c.

In pure Urdú, however, the oblique cases of kaun are used for those of kyá. The forms, káhe-ká, and káhe-ko, may occasionally occur, but not the others.

(f) The word áp, self, gives, as a possessive adjective, ap-ná, -ne, -ní, of or relating to self, own. The word áp is also employed when addressing respectable persons of any position in life, or speaking of a superior, in the sense of Your Honour, Your Worship, His Honour, &c. Vide p. 106.

(g) The indefinites are ko,í and kuchh, some, a, any. The inflection of ko,í is kisí or kisú, of which kisú is the older form. The plural is ka,í or ka,í ek, some, several. To these may be added har, or har-ek, every, which has no inflection. Sab, every, or all, when accompanied by its substantive, is indeclinable ; but when used by itself, in an emphatic sense, it has sabhoN (or sab) for the oblique cases plural ; as, sab log kahte haiN, all people say; sabhoN ne kahá, by all it was said ; but in modern Urdu sab ne or sabhí ne kahá is preferred. The compound jo-ko,í, whosoever, has a double inflection, jis-kisí-ká, -ke, -kí.

V. VERBS.

(a) The Hindustani verb is very regular. The infinitive or verbal noun always ends in ná ; as, girná, to fall, also falling, a masculine noun subject to inflection ; as, girne ká. of falling ; girne ko, to or for falling. By striking off the syllable ná we have the root of the verb, which is also the -second person singular of the imperative ; as, gir, fall thou.