जो, जिस, जहाँ
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Identify and describe people, places, objects, and ideas using relative-correlative structures.
- Specify exactly which person, place, or thing you mean, rather than relying on a bare noun alone.
- Combine description and explanation in a single connected sentence.
- Track reference accurately across two linked clauses.
- Recognize expanded relative structures such as जिस, जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके, and जहाँ in reading and listening.
- Write connected descriptions that use at least three controlled relative-correlative structures accurately and naturally.
Communication Scenario
With the parking recommendation delivered, the conversation group's eleventh meeting turns to a new task: Meera Ji has been asked to help write short, precise descriptions for a community directory — of people, places, and services in the neighborhood — so that new residents can find the right person or place quickly. Priya, Aditya, and Kabir soon discover that vague descriptions like "the woman" or "the office" are not precise enough; they need language that pins down exactly which person, place, or thing is meant.
- Notice how the group moves from simple description toward sentences that identify one specific referent among several possibilities.
- Notice how जो and वह, already familiar from Volume II, expand into जिस, जिसका, and जहाँ forms when a postposition or possessive relationship is involved.
- Notice how the group keeps sentences clear rather than piling up clauses simply because the grammar allows it.
Where This Chapter Fits
Chapter 11 opens Unit III, जटिल वाक्य और स्वतंत्र अभिव्यक्ति. Chapters 1-10 built independent B2 narration, opinion, explanation, source attribution, and recommendation. Unit III now develops the complex-sentence tools that make longer, more precise Hindi possible: relative-correlative structures here in Chapter 11, temporal and contrastive clauses in Chapter 12, conditions and possibilities in Chapter 13, and reported speech in Chapter 14.
Coming Into This Chapter
Learners already recognize the controlled pattern जो...वह from Volume II (for example, जो आदमी वहाँ है, वह मेरा दोस्त है) and can track a single pronoun reference across a short discourse.
What This Chapter Does
This chapter expands the familiar जो...वह pattern into three new but closely related forms: जिस...उस for postpositional relationships, जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके...उसका/उसकी/उसके for possession, and जहाँ...वहाँ for place. It stays within description and explanation; it does not introduce reported speech, conditionals, or temporal clauses.
Looking Forward
Chapter 12, जब, जबकि, और जैसे, builds on this chapter's clause-linking skills to connect events by time, contrast, and manner.
Core Vocabulary
This chapter's productive vocabulary supports description, identification, and clarification. Learn each item inside the sentence frame shown, not as an isolated word.
11.1 Description and Identification
| Hindi | Meaning | Gender/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| पहचान | identity, recognition | feminine |
| श्रेणी | category | feminine |
| जगह | place | feminine |
| वस्तु | object, item | feminine |
| विशेषता | feature, characteristic | feminine |
| भूमिका | role | feminine |
| काम, कार्य | function, task | masculine |
| रिश्ता, संबंध | relationship, connection | masculine |
11.2 Relative-Correlative Forms
| Relative | Correlative | Function |
|---|---|---|
| जो | वह | which/who → that (subject/object, review) |
| जिसे/जिसको | उसे/उसको | whom → to/for that person (object of postposition) |
| जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके | उसका/उसकी/उसके | whose → that person's/thing's (possession) |
| जहाँ | वहाँ | where → there (place) |
11.3 Clarification Expressions
| Hindi | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| मेरा मतलब है | I mean | introduces a clarification |
| जिसके बारे में | about whom/which | relative + के बारे में |
| वही | that very one, the same one | emphatic form of वह, formulaic in this chapter |
| कौन-सा/कौन-सी/कौन-से | which one | question form used to request clarification |
Forms such as जिन, जिन्हें, जिनका, जहाँ से, and जहाँ तक appear in this chapter's reading passage for recognition only. You are not expected to produce these plural or extended forms independently yet; treat them as glossed items.
Pronunciation and Listening Focus
Practice reading these forms aloud, paying attention to schwa deletion: जिसका (JIS-kaa, not ji-sa-kaa), उसका (US-kaa), जहाँ (ja-HAA̐, with nasalization on the final vowel), and वहाँ (va-HAA̐). Compare the pair जहाँ / वहाँ aloud several times so the parallel sound pattern becomes automatic.
A relative-correlative sentence has two natural phrase groups: the relative clause (usually first) and the correlative clause (usually second). Pause briefly at the comma between them: जो व्यक्ति लाइब्रेरी चलाता है, || वह हमारी सड़क पर रहता है। Reading straight through without any pause makes long sentences hard to follow, even for a fluent listener.
Before listening, remind yourself that a relative clause almost always has a matching correlative clause somewhere in the sentence. If you hear जिस, listen for उस; if you hear जहाँ, listen for वहाँ. Missing the correlative half is the most common reason learners lose the meaning of these sentences.
Grammar: Expanding जो...वह
You already know the basic relative-correlative pattern from Volume II: जो introduces a description, and वह picks it back up in the main clause. This chapter expands that same logic into three related pairs, each triggered by a different grammatical relationship.
11.4 Review: जो...वह
Form: जो + noun/description + comma + वह + main clause. Use: identifying a specific person, place, or thing as the subject or object of the sentence.
11.5 जिस...उस — Postpositional Relationships
When the person or thing being described is connected to the rest of the sentence through a postposition — से, को, पर, में, and so on — जो becomes जिस, and वह becomes the matching oblique form उस plus the same postposition.
Form: जिस + noun + postposition + clause + comma + उस + noun + postposition + main clause. Meaning: the noun described plays a specific role (source, recipient, location) marked by the postposition. Use: giving precise, single-referent descriptions in formal or careful speech and writing.
Note: The noun (दुकान above) may repeat with उस, or be dropped if context is clear: जिस दुकान से मैंने यह किताब ख़रीदी, उसका मालिक बहुत मददगार है।
11.6 जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके...उसका/उसकी/उसके — Possession
When the description involves possession — whose book, whose house, whose idea — use जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके, agreeing with the possessed noun exactly as का/की/के would.
Form: जिस + noun + जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके + possessed noun + clause + comma + उसका/उसकी/उसके + main clause. Meaning: identifies a person or thing by what belongs to them. Use: precise identification in descriptions, directories, and introductions — exactly the task Meera Ji's group is working on in this chapter's scenario.
Agreement reminder: जिसका/उसका agrees with the possessed noun's gender and number, not with the person being described: जिस आदमी की बेटियाँ... (feminine plural possessed noun) takes जिसकी, even though आदमी is masculine.
11.7 जहाँ...वहाँ — Place
Form: जहाँ + clause + comma + वहाँ + main clause. Use: identifying or describing a specific location, often useful in the community-directory task of this chapter's scenario.
11.8 Reference Tracking Across the Sentence
In all three expanded patterns, the relative clause normally comes first and the correlative clause second, but natural spoken Hindi sometimes reverses the order or drops the repeated noun. Keep two clauses per sentence at this stage; do not chain three or four relative clauses together, even though advanced Hindi permits denser structures. Clarity matters more than complexity.
Do not translate English "that" or "which" as a single fixed Hindi word in every context. जो, जिस, जिसका, and जहाँ each depend on the grammatical role of the noun being described, not on the English relative pronoun used to translate it.
Model Dialogue
Setting: At the group's eleventh meeting, Meera Ji, Priya, Aditya, and Kabir draft entries for the community directory, discovering that vague descriptions need to become precise ones.
समझ के प्रश्न — Comprehension questions:
- पुस्तकालय चलाने वाली औरत कहाँ रहती है? (Where does the woman who runs the library live?)
- साइकिल की दुकान के बारे में कौन-सा परसर्ग वाक्य में इस्तेमाल हुआ है? (Which postposition is used in the sentence about the bicycle shop?)
- जिसका का इस्तेमाल कब किया जाता है, कबीर के अनुसार? (When is jiskaa used, according to Kabir?)
Listening Practice
Ask your instructor, a study partner, or a fluent Hindi speaker to read the passage below aloud at a natural pace, pausing briefly at each comma. If no speaker is available, this is a Listening Script for Independent Use: read it slowly first, then at a natural pace. Any spoken model should be verified by a fluent Hindi speaker before being treated as a pronunciation standard.
"हमारे मोहल्ले में कई ऐसे लोग और जगहें हैं जिन्हें नए निवासियों को जानना चाहिए। जो आदमी कोने की परचून की दुकान चलाता है, वह हर सामान बहुत वाजिब दाम पर देता है। जिस इमारत में डाकघर है, उस इमारत के पास एक बड़ा पेड़ भी है, जो गर्मियों में छाया देता है। जिस औरत की क्लीनिक मुख्य सड़क पर है, उसका नाम डॉक्टर सुनीता है, और वह शनिवार को भी मरीज़ देखती हैं। जहाँ बच्चे शाम को खेलते हैं, वहाँ एक छोटा पार्क है, जिसे नगर निगम ने पिछले साल बनवाया था।"
सुनने का काम — Listening task:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| कोने की दुकान चलाने वाला आदमी सामान किस दाम पर देता है? (At what price does the man who runs the corner shop sell things?) | ______ |
| डाकघर वाली इमारत के पास और क्या है? (What else is near the building with the post office?) | ______ |
| डॉक्टर सुनीता किस दिन भी मरीज़ देखती हैं? (On which day does Dr. Sunita also see patients?) | ______ |
| पार्क कब बनाया गया था? (When was the park built?) | ______ |
Note: The forms जिन्हें and जिसे in this passage are receptive only; you do not need to produce them independently at this stage.
Reading Practice
Read the adapted community-directory excerpt below, drafted by Meera Ji's group, and then answer the questions.
समझ के प्रश्न — Comprehension questions:
- Identify one example each of जो...वह, जिस...उस, जिसका...उसका, and जहाँ...वहाँ in the text.
- Where does the committee head hold the monthly meeting?
- Why do many people buy vegetables from the woman near the bus stop?
- What is held at the old temple every year, and who enjoys it?
Writing Workshop
Write three or four community-directory entries, मोहल्ला निर्देशिका की प्रविष्टियाँ ("Neighborhood Directory Entries"), about real or invented people, places, or services in a neighborhood, campus, or community you know.
लेखन कार्य — Writing task: Write a connected 120-160 word text in standard Devanagari that includes:
- At least one जो...वह sentence identifying a person by what they do.
- At least one जिस...उस sentence using a postposition such as से, को, or पर.
- At least one जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके...उसका/उसकी/उसके sentence identifying someone by a possessive relationship.
- At least one जहाँ...वहाँ sentence identifying a specific place.
संपादन सूची — Editing checklist:
- Each relative clause has a matching correlative clause; no relative form is left without its pair.
- जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके agrees with the possessed noun, not with the person being described.
- No sentence chains more than two clauses together.
- A comma separates the relative clause from the correlative clause.
- Gender, number, agreement, and oblique forms are applied correctly throughout.
- Spelling, matras, conjuncts, word spacing, and dandas are correct throughout.
Speaking Practice
नियंत्रित अभ्यास — Controlled practice: चार प्रकार पहचानना
With a partner, take turns describing a person, place, or object from your own life using one of the four patterns. Your partner should say which pattern (जो, जिस, जिसका, or जहाँ) you used and why.
संचार कार्य — Communicative task: मोहल्ला निर्देशिका
Present two or three directory entries from your Writing Workshop text aloud. Your partner should ask one clarification question using कौन-सा/कौन-सी/कौन-से ("which one do you mean?") for each entry.
अकेले अभ्यास — Solo alternative
Record yourself describing four people, places, or things you know well, using each of the four relative-correlative patterns once. Listen back and check that every relative clause has a correlative match.
Culture and Communication
Community directories, notice boards, and word-of-mouth introductions across many Hindi-speaking neighborhoods often rely on precisely this kind of relative description — identifying someone by what they do, whom they are related to, or where they are found — rather than by a formal title or address alone. Learning to build these sentences accurately is directly useful for everyday orientation in a new community.
As the chapter scope notes, denser relative-correlative sentences tend to sound more formal than everyday conversation. In casual speech, many speakers prefer two shorter sentences over one long relative-correlative construction. Reserve denser structures for writing, directories, and more formal spoken contexts, and default to simpler phrasing in relaxed conversation.
Common Mistakes
Error: जो दुकान से मैंने यह किताब ख़रीदी...
Correction: जिस दुकान से मैंने यह किताब ख़रीदी... — because से is present, जो must become जिस.
Error: जिस आदमी की बेटा... (agreeing with आदमी instead of the possessed noun).
Correction: जिस आदमी का बेटा... — जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके agrees with what is possessed (बेटा, masculine), not with the person being described.
Error: जहाँ हर रविवार को सामान बेचा जाता है, सुबह जल्दी पहुँचना बेहतर है। (missing वहाँ)
Correction: जहाँ हर रविवार को सामान बेचा जाता है, वहाँ सुबह जल्दी पहुँचना बेहतर है। — the correlative वहाँ completes the pair and keeps the sentence from sounding unfinished.
Chapter Review
भाग A — समझ (Comprehension)
1. Return to the Model Dialogue and Reading passage and answer in English:
- Give one example each of जो...वह and जिस...उस from the Model Dialogue.
- Explain, in your own words, why जिसका was needed for the man whose son teaches cricket.
भाग B — व्याकरण (Grammar)
1. Fill in the blank with जो, जिस, or जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके as appropriate:
- ______ लड़की गा रही है, वह मेरी बहन है।
- ______ दफ़्तर में मैं काम करता हूँ, उस दफ़्तर का नाम "सूर्य कंपनी" है।
- ______ आदमी की बेटी डॉक्टर है, उसका घर यहाँ से दूर नहीं है।
- ______ किताब मेज़ पर है, वह मेरी नहीं है।
2. Combine each pair of sentences into one relative-correlative sentence: वह औरत गा रही है। वह औरत मेरी शिक्षिका है।
भाग C — पठन (Reading)
1. Return to the neighborhood-directory reading and identify the sentence that uses जहाँ...वहाँ. What does it describe?
भाग D — लेखन (Writing)
1. Write your complete set of directory entries, following all requirements from the Writing Workshop above.
भाग E — वाचन (Speaking)
1. Complete the communicative speaking task described in the Speaking Practice section above.
Cumulative Review
This chapter recycles Volume II's जो...वह pattern, demonstrative and pronoun reference tracking, postpositions and oblique forms, and descriptive vocabulary, while expanding them into जिस, जिसका, and जहाँ forms. It prepares learners for Chapter 12's temporal and contrastive clauses, which build on the same two-clause sentence-linking skills.
Practical Performance Task
मोहल्ला निर्देशिका — The Neighborhood Directory
Complete the following connected tasks in order.
- Listen to the neighborhood-directory passage above and complete the listening table.
- Read the directory excerpt and answer the comprehension questions.
- Speak three or four directory entries aloud, using each of the four relative-correlative patterns at least once, and respond to your partner's clarification questions.
- Write your complete 120-160 word set of directory entries, following the Writing Workshop checklist.
- Edit your written text for correct pairing of relative and correlative clauses, correct agreement in जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके, and clear, uncluttered sentence structure.
| Criterion | What is assessed |
|---|---|
| Task completion | All four relative-correlative patterns (जो...वह, जिस...उस, जिसका...उसका, जहाँ...वहाँ) are present and used accurately. |
| Reference tracking | Every relative clause has a clear, matching correlative clause. |
| Agreement accuracy | Possessive agreement in जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके matches the possessed noun, not the person described. |
| Clarity | Sentences remain limited to two clauses; description supports clarity rather than unnecessary complexity. |
| Comprehensibility and pronunciation | Intelligible spoken delivery with clear phrase grouping; accurate Devanagari spelling and punctuation in writing. |
This task evaluates control of expanded relative-correlative structures for precise, natural description. Prioritize accurate pairing and agreement over sentence length or complexity.
Answer Key
Model Dialogue — Comprehension
- She lives at the end of their street.
- से ("from") is used, because people rent bicycles from the shop.
- जिसका is used because the sentence describes a possessive relationship — whose son it is — rather than a simple subject/object or a postpositional relationship.
Listening
- He sells things at a very reasonable price.
- A large tree that gives shade in summer.
- Saturday.
- Last year, by the municipal corporation.
Reading — Comprehension
- Sample: जो व्यक्ति... प्रमुख है, वह...बुलाता है (jo...vah); जिस पार्क में यह बैठक होती है, उस पार्क का नाम... (jis...us); जिस महिला की दुकान...है, उसका सामान... (jiskaa...uskaa); जहाँ पुराना मंदिर है, वहाँ...मेला भी लगता है (jahaa̐...vahaa̐).
- In Azadi Park.
- Because her goods are considered the freshest.
- A small fair is held every year, which many children enjoy.
Chapter Review — भाग B
- (a) जो; (b) जिस; (c) जिसकी; (d) जो.
- Sample answer: जो औरत गा रही है, वह मेरी शिक्षिका है।
Looking Ahead
अब आप क्या कर सकते हैं — What you can do now
You can identify and describe people, places, objects, and ideas precisely using जो...वह, जिस...उस, जिसका/जिसकी/जिसके...उसका/उसकी/उसके, and जहाँ...वहाँ, tracking reference accurately across two connected clauses.