Hindi Vyakaran: Sarvanam (सर्वनाम) — 6 Types, Pronoun Declensions & Practical Examples

संज्ञा के स्थान पर प्रयुक्त होने वाले शब्दों को सर्वनाम कहते हैं (Pronouns are words used in place of nouns to prevent monotonous repetition).

Consider the clumsy sentence: 'रमेश ने कहा कि रमेश आज रमेश के घर जाकर रमेश के भाई से मिलेगा'. By substituting appropriate pronouns, the sentence becomes natural and articulate: 'रमेश ने कहा कि वह आज अपने घर जाकर अपने भाई से मिलेगा'.

In Hindi administrative drafting, judicial petitions, and literary writing, mastery of pronouns is critical to ensuring clear referencing and grammatically sound sentence clauses.

Because pronouns take over the semantic role of the noun, they inherit the noun's case relationships, leading to rich, multi-form inflections when postpositions attach to them.

Hindi grammar classifies all pronouns into six distinct structural categories:

Each category serves a unique syntactical function in speech and written literature:

When pronouns combine with grammatical case markers (कारकीय परसर्ग), their stem forms inflect systematically:

Observe how the pronoun stem modifies completely before assimilating the case marker (e.g. 'मैं' becomes 'मुझ' in oblique positions):

Hindi possesses a three-tier honorific hierarchy for second-person pronouns that must be strictly observed in professional typing:

Confusing these tiers in official correspondence creates serious protocol breaches:

• •1. 'तू' (Intimate / Disparaging): Reserved exclusively for deities in prayer (e.g. 'हे ईश्वर, तू दयालु है') or extreme intimacy with close childhood friends. Never use in administrative or office writing.
• •2. 'तुम' (Informal / Equal): Used between peers, colleagues of equal rank, or addressing younger family members.
• •3. 'आप' (Formal / Respectful): Grammatically plural, requiring plural verb agreement (e.g. 'आप कब पधारे?', not 'आप कब आया?'). Mandatory in official government communications, legal drafting, and public discourse.