Professor Emeritus, Asian Studies
These materials, supplied in PDF format and freely available to anyone who finds them useful, have been written primarily to accompany my Complete Hindi (formerly ‘Teach Yourself Hindi’) and Beginner’s Hindi course-books. Some are simple one-page handouts; others are longer documents that follow the structure of the books themselves. Many thanks to Professor Frances Pritchett and Jonathan Seefeldt for moral and practical support, and to Chelsea Aldridge for eagle-eyed proofreading. Any mistakes are all my own work.
Rupert Snell
Glossary of Linguistic Terms
Non-technical explanations of terms used in language books, from ‘Absolutive’ to ‘Vocative’ (didn’t quite make it to ‘Zeugma’!); with Hindi examples.
Skeleton Grammar
Each section of TY Hindi is reduced to a statement of the basic grammatical ‘rule’, with a couple of examples. Useful as an aide-mémoire and as a checklist of things learnt.
TYH Worksheets
A set of exercises for TY Hindi, often beginning with the learner being asked to explain a certain construction — the student becomes the teacher.
TYH New Exercises
Another set of exercises for TY Hindi, useful for private study or for class homework (unlike in the book, ‘answers’ are not supplied!).
Sentence Maker
A very simple four-part matrix to encourage the making of basic sentences with subject, adverb, object and verb.
Verb-Tense Review
A role-play matrix to stimulate class Q-&-A sessions: students respond to everyday questions that involve a wide range of tenses.
The NE Cracker
A table of verbs in two parts, first intransitive and then transitive, showing the form of the perfective participle and giving copious examples of the ne construction.
Pronoun Matrix
Use this cheat-sheet by tracing a pronoun on one axis and a postposition on the other to achieve such combinations as ‘ve + ke lie = unke lie’.
Hindi Grammar Checker
Ten commandments for learners eager to avoid sinfulness in their written Hindi.
Food for Thought
A brief encounter with some of the many Hindi idioms based on food and eating.
Drill Patterns
Some ways of drilling basic phrases and constructions, to be used by individuals or in class. This is an essential step in achieving fluency — like playing scales for a musician.
Hindi “Ko”
A list of common expressions based on the postposition ko.
Hindi Role-play
A suggested outline for a simple but effective role-play in which students talk to a hotel manager. It’s based on English questions, but Hindi ones could be substituted.
Definitions Game
Some Hindi definitions of Hindi words, but with the headwords removed. Read the definition and figure out the headword it describes! Intermediate level & above.
Absolutives
A one-page summary of the working of absolutives (aka conjunctive particles, sunkar/karke construction), and a fill-the-gaps exercise.
Hindi Crossword
A crossword puzzle borrowed from Beginner’s Hindi; useful as a reminder of the syllabic structure of Devanagari. Key also available.
Hindi Crossword Key
No cheating: do the crossword before you check this!
