Today we’re going to learn all about two very common little Hindi words! These are; कुछ kuch - which means Something, and कोई koee - Someone. They also have a few other uses that we’ll see as we go through! As usual there’s some questions as the end of the lesson so after you’ve read it see if you can answer them!

So are you ready to get straight into an example? अच्छा acchaa - great! We can use these words just like normal Pronouns in the exact same way as English…

कुछ पलंग पर है
kuch palang par hai
- Something is on the bed

कोई पलंग पर है
koee palang par hai
- Someone is on the bed

Can you see the difference between these two examples? It’s easy! It’s exactly like the English; we use कुछ kuch - Something for objects and कोई koee - Someone for people! Are you ready for another example? 

Now if you want to say “nothing” or “nobody” then you literally say “something not”, or “someone not”. For example; 

कमरे में कुछ नहीं है
kamre men kuch naheen hai
- Theres nothing in the room

कमरे में कोई नहीं है
kamre men koee naheen hai
&- Theres nobody in the room

Can you see? We are literally saying “In the room something not”, and “In the room someone not” to mean “There is nothing in the room” and “There is nobody / no one in the room”.

Another use for the word कोई koee is as an adjective meaning ‘some’, in the singular, as in 'a specific’ or 'certain’ one.  For example;

कोई लड़का अच्छा खाना खा रहा है
koee larkaa acchaa khaanaa khaa rahaa hai
- Some boy is eating good food. 

 So here we use कोई लड़का koee larkaa to mean 'some boy’. This is where the phrase कोई बात नहीं koee baat naheen - it’s no problem, comes from. We are literally saying - some (singular) problem not!

Similarly we use कुछ kuch as an adjective to mean 'some’ in the plural, as in 'a group of’. For example; 

कुछ लड़के केले खाते हैं
kuch larke kele khaate hain 
- Some boys eat bananas. 

And here we use कुछ लड़के kuch larke to mean 'some boys’. See it’s easy! 

Finally for today, in the Oblique case the word कोई koee beecoms किसी kisee. So remember that we must use the Oblique case whenever a Postposition follows the word (for more info on the Oblique case have a look at the Postpositions section on the Beginners Grammar page). For example; 

किसी ने शब्दकोश ख़रीदा
kisee ne shabdkosh khareedaa 
- Someone bought a dictionary

(Remember ने ne is treated as a postposition - for more information on ने ne see the Verbs section in Intermediate Grammar).

There are in fact a few more uses of कुछ kuch and कोई koee but we’ll learn about them another time, I don’t want to bore you to death today! 

This has been a very long so sorry! Well done if you’ve read all the way through. Don’t forget to ask me if you have any questions at all! Now for extra bonus points, do you think you can try and translate these sentences into Hindi by simply using what we’ve learnt today?

1. Someone is in the house
2. Something is under the bed (Remember from Lesson #96 that के नीचे ke neeche - means 'under’) 
3. There’s nothing on the table
4. Some girls like to sing (Hint Lesson #63)
5. Someone drank water

Give it a go, even if you aren’t completely sure - I’m here to help! Leave a comment below with your answers!

Back to Beginners Grammar.