Page:Craven-Grey - Hindustani manual.djvu/29

 Exception 2. Masculine nouns ending in A or áN, if purely Indian, and many masculines ending in the unmarked a or imperceptible h (chiefly from the Persian and often written with a long á), change their final vowel into e in the oblique cases singular and nominative plural, and into oN for the oblique cases plural. Thus, kuttá a dog ; gen. sing. kutte-ká,-ke,-kí &c. ; nom. plur. kutte ; gen. plur. &c. kuttoN-ká, -ke,-kí. ; voc. plur. kutto. So, banda, a slave ; gen. sing. bande-ká,-ke,-kí ; nom. plural bande ; gen. bandoN-ká, &c- Masculine nouns in á, which are not purely Hindi, but are borrowed from the Arabic, Persian, or Sanskrit, are not necessarily subject to this inflection. For example, dáná P.,a sage, pitá S., a father, are not inflected; thus gen. sing, dáná-ká, &c. ; nom. plur. dáná ; gen. plur. dáná,oN ká &c. Again dádá, paternal grandfather, may or may not be inflected; as, gen. sing. dáde-ká or dádá-ká ; plur. dádoN-ká or dádá,oN-ká, &c. ; but the inflected form is now rarely used.

III. ADJECTIVES.

(a) Adjectives are generally placed before their substan- tives. Adjectives ending in any letter except á, are indeclinable. Bechárí (f.) is an exception to this rule.

(b) The termination á is used before a masculine noun only, and in the nominative case singular (or the accusative case, if under a nominative form). The termination e is used before a substantive masculine, in any case singular, where a postposition or interjection is used or understood, or before any masculine in the plural number. Lastly, í is used always before a feminine noun. Thus, baRá ghar, a large house ; baRe ghar ká, of a large house ; plur. baRe ghar, large houses ; baRe