Template:hi-ndecl/documentation

Parameters

Normally there is only one parameter to specify, e.g. for लड़का (laṛkā, “boy”), on that page:

{{hi-ndecl|<M>}}

which produces

Declension of लड़का (masc ā-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	लड़का laṛkā	लड़के laṛke
oblique	लड़के laṛke	लड़कों laṛkõ
vocative	लड़के laṛke	लड़को laṛko

The general format is a lemma followed by angle brackets, within which are declensional properties. The lemma can be omitted when it's the same as the page title, as in the above example.

For almost all nouns, at least the gender needs to be given within angle brackets: M for masculine, F for feminine. Some nouns need additional properties, e.g. पिता (pitā, “father”), which follows the "unmarked" declension (i.e. there is no direct masculine ending to be removed; instead, endings are added onto the full lemma):

{{hi-ndecl|<M.unmarked>}}

which produces

Declension of पिता (masc unmarked ā-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	पिता pitā	पिता pitā
oblique	पिता pitā	पिताओं pitāõ
vocative	पिता pitā	पिताओ pitāo

Declension

Normally, it is enough to specify the gender of a noun, and the declension will be deduced based on the ending. However, there are two cases where the same ending can have two possible declensions: 1. Masculine nouns in -ā. By default the direct plural ends in -ē and the oblique plural in -õ, which is correct for most nouns. However, some nouns, such as पिता (pitā, “father”), have the direct plural in -ā and the oblique plural in -āõ. These "unmarked" nouns need the unmarked indicator, as described above. 2. Feminine nouns in -iyā. By default, these are treated like any other feminine noun in -ā, with the direct plural in -āẽ and the oblique plural in -āõ. An example of such a noun is कनिया (kaniyā, “girl”). Some such nouns, however, have the direct plural in -iyã and the oblique plural in -iyõ. An example is गुड़िया (guṛiyā, “doll”). These nouns need the iyā indicator:

{{hi-ndecl|<F.iyā>}}

which produces

Declension of तौलिया (fem iyā-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	तौलिया tauliyā	तौलियाँ tauliyā̃
oblique	तौलिया tauliyā	तौलियों tauliyõ
vocative	तौलिया tauliyā	तौलियो tauliyo

Explicit term

You can explicitly specify the term to decline. This allows you, for example, to decline a term on a different page from the page of the term being declined. It is also necessary when more than one part of a term declines (see below), or when one word of a multiword term needs phonetic respelling (see multiword terms below). For example, the above declension of पिता (pitā, “father”) could be specified as follows:

{{hi-ndecl|पिता<M.unmarked>}}

Phonetic respelling

Some terms have nonstandard transliterations. This can be indicated using phonetic respelling, i.e. spell out the word phonetically in Devanagari, using virama to force no a in a given position and * to force an a in a given position. To specify this, use // followed by the phonetic respelling, e.g. for अंतराल (antarāl, “interval”):

{{hi-ndecl|//अंत*राल<M>}}

which produces

Declension of अंतराल (masc cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	अंतराल antarāl	अंतराल antarāl
oblique	अंतराल antarāl	अंतरालों antarālõ
vocative	अंतराल antarāl	अंतरालो antarālo

Here, we use phonetic respelling with a * in it to force the transliteration antarāl instead of the default antrāl.

You can also specify the transliteration directly after //, but using respelling is preferred, e.g. the above could be written as

{{hi-ndecl|//antarāl<M>}}

In addition, you can explicitly specify the term to decline along with the respelling, e.g. the above could also be written as

{{hi-ndecl|अंतराल//अंत*राल<M>}}

See the section on explicit terms above.

Singular-only, plural-only

Use the indicator sg for singular-only nouns, and pl for plural-only nouns. An example is मायने (māyne, “meaning(s), nuance(s)”):

{{hi-ndecl|<M.pl>}}

which produces

Declension of मायने (pl-only masc ā-stem)

	plural
direct	मायने māyne
oblique	मायनों māynõ
vocative	मायनो māyno

Multiword terms

Multiword terms like अदला-बदला (adlā-badlā, “exchange, swapping”) can be declined by placing <...> after each word, e.g.:

{{hi-ndecl|अदला<M.sg>-बदला<M.sg>}}

which produces

Declension of अदला-बदला (sg-only masc ā-stem)

	singular
direct	अदला-बदला adlā-badlā
oblique	अदले-बदले adle-badle
vocative	अदले-बदले adle-badle

Words are separated by spaces or hyphens, and <...> indicators apply to individual words. Words without any indicators following them are assumed to be invariable. For example, the term काली मिर्च (kālī mirc, “black pepper”) would be specified as follows:

{{hi-ndecl|काली मिर्च<F>}}

or simply

{{hi-ndecl|<F>}}

since omitting the term is equivalent to specifying the page name as the term. Both produce the following:

Declension of काली मिर्च (fem cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	काली मिर्च kālī mirc	काली मिर्चें kālī mircẽ
oblique	काली मिर्च kālī mirc	काली मिर्चों kālī mircõ
vocative	काली मिर्च kālī mirc	काली मिर्चो kālī mirco

Phonetic respelling applies to individual words. For example, for बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण (bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇ, “habeas corpus”), which requires phonetic respelling of the last word, use the following:

{{hi-ndecl|बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण//प्रत्यक्षीक*रण<M>}}

which produces

Declension of बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण (masc cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇ	बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇ
oblique	बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇ	बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरणों bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇõ
vocative	बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरण bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇ	बंदी प्रत्यक्षीकरणो bandī pratyakṣīkaraṇo

Here only the last word is respelled.

Respelling can be used on words without indicators, for example in पंचायती राज (pañcāytī rāj, “village council”), where the first word is invariable and needs respelling:

{{hi-ndecl|पंचायती//पंचाय*ती राज<M>}}

which produces

Declension of पंचायती राज (masc cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	पंचायती राज pañcāyatīrāj	पंचायती राज pañcāyatīrāj
oblique	पंचायती राज pañcāyatīrāj	पंचायती राजों pañcāyatīrājõ
vocative	पंचायती राज pañcāyatīrāj	पंचायती राजो pañcāyatīrājo

Adjectival declensions

Use <+> after a word to indicate that it should be declined as an adjective. This is particularly useful in adjective-noun multiword terms such as कच्चा लोहा (kaccā lohā, “pig iron”):

{{hi-ndecl|कच्चा<+> लोहा<M>}}

which produces

Declension of कच्चा लोहा (masc ā-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	कच्चा लोहा kaccālohā	कच्चे लोहे kaccelohe
oblique	कच्चे लोहे kaccelohe	कच्चे लोहों kaccelohõ
vocative	कच्चे लोहे kaccelohe	कच्चे लोहो kacceloho

You can use the same notation even with an adjective-noun combination is written as a single word, e.g. कालाधन (kālādhan, “black money”):

{{hi-ndecl|काला<+>धन<M>}}

which produces

Declension of कालाधन (masc cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	कालाधन kālādhan	कालेधन kāledhan
oblique	कालेधन kāledhan	कालेधनों kāledhanõ
vocative	कालेधन kāledhan	कालेधनो kāledhano

Alternations

Some nouns have more than one possible declension. An example is ख़लीफ़ा (xalīfā, “caliph”), which can be declined either as an "unmarked" noun in -ā (direct plural ख़लीफ़ा, oblique plural ख़लीफ़ाओं) or a regular noun in -ā (direct plural ख़लीफ़े, oblique plural ख़लीफ़ों). To specify this, use the following notation:

{{hi-ndecl|((<M.unmarked>,<M>))}}

which produces

Declension of ख़लीफ़ा (masc unmarked ā-stem // masc ā-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	ख़लीफ़ा xalīfā	ख़लीफ़ा, ख़लीफ़े xalīfā, xalīfe
oblique	ख़लीफ़ा, ख़लीफ़े xalīfā, xalīfe	ख़लीफ़ाओं, ख़लीफ़ों xalīfāõ, xalīfõ
vocative	ख़लीफ़ा, ख़लीफ़े xalīfā, xalīfe	ख़लीफ़ाओ, ख़लीफ़ो xalīfāo, xalīfo

The general syntax is comma-separated alternatives inside of double parentheses.

There are almost no restrictions on what can be used as an alternative. The genders do not have to agree; for example, to decline the word टिकट (ṭikaṭ, “ticket”), which can be either masculine or feminine, use the following:

{{hi-ndecl|((<M>,<F>))}}

which produces

Declension of टिकट (masc cons-stem // fem cons-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	टिकट ṭikaṭ	टिकट, टिकटें ṭikaṭ, ṭikaṭẽ
oblique	टिकट ṭikaṭ	टिकटों ṭikaṭõ
vocative	टिकट ṭikaṭ	टिकटो ṭikaṭo

It is even allowed to include a multiword term as an alternative. An example where this is useful is कीड़ा-मकोड़ा (kīṛā-makoṛā, “insect, creepy-crawly”), where the first part can either decline or be used invariably:

{{hi-ndecl|((कीड़ा<M>-मकोड़ा<M>,<M>))}}

which produces

Declension of कीड़ा-मकोड़ा (masc ā-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	कीड़ा-मकोड़ा kīṛā-makoṛā	कीड़े-मकोड़े, कीड़ा-मकोड़े kīṛe-makoṛe, kīṛā-makoṛe
oblique	कीड़े-मकोड़े, कीड़ा-मकोड़े kīṛe-makoṛe, kīṛā-makoṛe	कीड़ों-मकोड़ों, कीड़ा-मकोड़ों kīṛõ-makoṛõ, kīṛā-makoṛõ
vocative	कीड़े-मकोड़े, कीड़ा-मकोड़े kīṛe-makoṛe, kīṛā-makoṛe	कीड़ो-मकोड़ो, कीड़ा-मकोड़ो kīṛo-makoṛo, kīṛā-makoṛo

Overrides

Some words are irregular in some of their forms. Syntax is provided to override individual forms. [document more]