Nouns - संज्ञा

Lesson - 1 Nouns -  संज्ञा

Gender (लिंग) of Nouns in Hindi

There are two genders in Hindi.... Masculine (पुंलिंग) and Feminine (स्त्रीलिंग).

पुंलिंग - 

मैं खाना दूंगा। - I will give food. दूंगा (masculine future first person singular 'to give', will learn in further lessons) indicates that मैं is masculine.

स्त्रीलिंग -

मैं खाना दूंगी।  I will give food. दूंगी (feminine future first person singular 'to give' , will learn in further lessons) indicates that मैं is feminine.

In Hindi we even give genders to non-living things...  they are mostly irregular but for some we can follow some rules....

Masculine nouns - पुंलिंग 

1. Electronic items (टीवी, कम्पुटर, मोबाइल)
2. Most of the trees (अशोक, नीम)
3. Hills and mountains (हिमालय, अरावली, सतपुरा, विन्ध्याचल, माउंट फूजी)
4. Collective nouns (झुण्ड (crowd), समूह (group) , exception – जनता (people))
5. Seas and oceans (प्रशांत (Pacific), हिन्द (Indian) etc.)
6. Body organs – सर (head) , बाल (hair) , माथा (forehead) , कान (ear) , गाल (cheek) , मूह  (mouth), दात (teeth) , कन्धा (shoulder), अंगूठा (thumb) , पेट (stomach) , पांव (leg) , नाखून (nail) , हाथ (arm) , घुटना (knee) , गला (neck) , पैर (foot) etc.
7. Countries (श्री लंका exception – feminine)
8. Grains and pulses (उरद , मूंग , अरहर , मसूर , चना etc.)
9. Materials and Gems (सोना (gold) , चांदी (silver) , ताम्बा (copper), हीरा (diamond)  etc.)
10. Planets
11. Months of lunar calendar (eg. चैत्र , वैशाख , ज्येष्ठ etc.)
12. Sanskrit words ending in ‘a’, (बालक (boy) , वृक्ष (tree) , दिवस (day) etc.)
13. Name of the letters of Hindi and English alphabets.
14. Watery areas and parts of the Earth [समुद्र (sea), भारत (India), देश (country), नगर (city), द्वीप (island), आकाश (sky), पाताल (inferno), घर (house), सरोवर (lake)]
15. Words with suffix "आ, आव, पा, पन, न" [मोटा (fat), चढ़ाव (upswing), बुढ़ापा (senility), लड़कपन (boyhood), लेन-देन (transaction)]

There are 9 planets:

1. Mercury – बुध
2. Venus – शुक्र
3. Earth – पृथ्वी (Exception Feminine)
4. Mars – मंगल
5. Jupiter – बृहस्पति
6. Saturn – शनि
7. Uranus- अरुण
8. Neptune – वरुण
9. Pluto - यम

There are 12 months in Hindu lunar Calendar:

1. Chaitra (चैत्र)
2. Vaiśākha (वैशाख)
3. Jyaiṣṭha (ज्येष्ठ)
4. Āṣāḍha (आषाढ )
5. Śrāvaṇa (श्रावण)
6. Bhādrapada or Bhādra also Proṣṭhapada  (भाद्रपद,भाद्र,प्रोष्ठपद)
7. Āśvina in, sometimes Aśvayuja (आश्विन, अश्वयुज)
8. Kārtika (कार्तिक)
9. Agrahāyaṇa or, Mārgaśīrṣa (मार्गशीर्ष, अग्रहाण)
10. Pauṣa (पौष)
11. Māgha (माघ)
12. Phālguna (फाल्गुन)

Feminine nouns - स्त्रीलिंग 

1. Most ‘ई ending', 'ख ending', 'अनुस्वार ending', 'ऊ ending', 'त ending', 'इया ending' and 'स ending' words. (eg. लड़की (girl), भूख (hunger), सरसों (mustard), दारू (wine), रात (night), कुटिया (cottage) प्यास (thirst) etc.)
2. Rivers, (गंगा, यमुना, कावेरी , नर्मदा , ब्रह्मपुत्र  etc.)
3. Languages and Scripts (फ़्रांसिसी (French), हिंदी (Hindi), अंग्रेजी (English), बंगाली (Bengali), तमिल (Tamil), गुजराती (Gujarati) etc.)
4. Dialects (मगधी , मारवारी , ब्रज , अवधी , भोजपुरी  etc.)
5. Months of English calendar (eg. जनवरी (January), फरवरी  (February) etc.)
6. Ornaments (exceptions – गहना (ornament) , आभूषण (ornament), बाली (earring), टिका (head jewel) , मंगलसूत्र (necklace of married women) ) (Exception - झुमका (earring))
7. Indian eatables (सब्जी (vegetable) , पाव भाजी , गोभी (cauliflower)   etc. “करेला (bitter guard)  , डोसा , परांठा  and most ‘आ’ endings are masculine)
8. Vessels (थाली (plate) , कटोरी (bowl), चम्मच (spoon) exception – बर्तन , थाल , and many ‘अ’ ending)
9. Grocery items (eg. इलायची (cardamom), मिर्च (chilly) , हींग (asafoetida), सौंफ (aniseed) , चीनी (sugar) etc.)
10. Weapons (तलवार (sword) , मिसाइल , ढाल (shield) , बन्दूक (gun)  exception – विस्फोटक (bomb) , कवच (shield), खंजर (dagger) )
11. Body organs – आँख (eye) , पलक (eyelid) , नाक (nose) , गर्दन ( neck) , मूंछ (mustache) , छाती (chest) , बांह (arm) , हथेली (hand, palm), अंगुली (finger) , टांग (leg), एडी (ankle) etc.
12. Vehicles – कार, बस , ट्रेन , टैक्सी , साइकिल , बग्गी (Tonga) , गाड़ी [vehical (many time used for car)]  , मोटरबाइक , exceptions – स्कूटर , ट्रेक्टर , हवाई जहाज़ (aeroplane) , ऑटो (Auto-Rikshaw)
13. Name of Dates.... [पहली (first), दूसरी (second), प्रतिपदा, पूर्णिमा (full moon)]
14. Name of Constellations (अश्विनी, भरणी, रोहिणी etc.)
15. Name of Abstract Nouns ending with "ट, वट and हट" (झंझट (mess), आहट (light sound), चिकनाहट (lubricity), बनावट (design), सजावट (decoration))

*Remember some words may be synonyms, that is, have same meaning but their gender can be different.
There can be more nouns to be understood for masculine and feminine which can only be understood by having experience of speaking in Hindi.

Number (वचन) of Nouns in Hindi

	Singular - एकवचन		Plural - बहुवचन
1.            eye	आँख (अ ending)		आँखें
2.            road	सड़क (अ ending)		सड़कें
3.            horse	घोड़ा (आ ending masculine)		घोड़े
4.            donkey	गधा  (आ ending masculine)		गधे
5.            white man	गोरा  (आ ending masculine)		गोरे
6.            girl	कन्या (आ ending feminine)		कन्याएं
7.            art	कला  (आ ending  feminine)		कलाएं
8.            verb	क्रिया (आ ending  feminine)		क्रियाएँ
9.            river	नदी (ई ending feminine)		नदियाँ
10.       washer-man	धोबी  (ई ending masculine)		धोबी (लोग)
11.       bird	चिड़िया (इया ending)		चिड़ियाँ
12.       couch	खटिया  (इया ending)		खटियाँ
13.       cow	गौ  (औ ending)		गौएँ
14.       bride	वधू  (ऊ ending feminine)		वधुएँ
15.       sage	साधू (ऊ ending masculine)		साधू (जन)
16.       teacher (male)	अध्यापक (irregular)		अध्यापकवृंद
17.       student	विद्यार्थी (irregular)		विद्यार्थीगण
18.       poor	गरीब (irregular)		गरीब लोग
19.       master	गुरु (irregular)		गुरुजन
20.       friend	मित्र (irregular)		मित्रवर्ग
21.       army	सेना (irregular)		सेनादल
22.       king	राजा (आ ending masculine irregular)		राजा (जन)

Some Nouns never change in singular and plural..... These are some points to remember them...

1. Most of them are masculine.
2. All अ ending masculine words are of this kind.
3. Most the English words used in Hindi, and considered masculine, no matter by which vowel they end, will come under this type.
4. The feminine nouns that come under this type are generally abstract nouns, which don't change the meaning much by becoming plural.

   For Example...............

1. क्षमा (forgiveness) (It is one of those 'feminine' abstract nouns that don't have a plural form)
2. जल  (water)
3. गिरि (mountain)
4. राजा (ruler)
5. नेता (leader)
6. झुण्ड (crowd)
7. क्रोध (rage)
8. पानी (water)
9. तोड़ (cure)
10. घर (house)

etc.........................

*While talking of plurals it must be mentioned that the masculine plural is also used for the things you can't determine the gender of.... like "children" - If there is a class of children having both boys and girls we'll use बच्चे (plural of बच्चा). Until each and every child in the class is a girl one can't use बच्चियां (plural of बच्ची). 
I mean, only those nouns who have a grammatical version with both genders in Hindi, that is to say,
for example जनता- Which means people is plural by its sense but is grammatically singular therefore acts like any singular feminine noun, and it does not have a masculine version so what the gender of the singular form be, the same will the gender of the plural form, i.e. जनताएं is feminine. It will be used as 'people' or 'peoples - in the sense of races' whether there be men in the 'crowd' or not... the female word जनता or जनताएं will be used anyways.
So in all.. 
So first check if the gender of the thing can be determined or not, then decide which version of the word you need to use... if gender can't be decided and the word being used have its version in both genders then of-course you will use the masculine version and the same will be the gender of the plural form, if it only has a feminine version then you have no choice.