Until 2014, in India, the parent culture of Hindi, only 2 genders, male and female, were legally recognized. Transgender, non-binary, transsexual, genderqueer and gender-questioning people were forced to identify themselves within a binary gender classification. Hindi being a gendered language, we see this traditional binary gender classification in verb conjugations and in a certain class of nouns and adjectives. Personal pronouns on the other hand are gender neutral in Hindi.

In April 2014, in a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of India formally recognized the rights of transgender, non-binary, genderqueer and gender-questioning people to determine their gender identification as going beyond the existing binary classifications of male or female, thereby affirming the existence of a third gender (sic!), and ending traditional binary gender classifications.

This supreme court ruling has had a tremendous impact on accepting the existing diversity in gender identification. However, as far as the Hindi language is concerned, other than being able to choose a “third box” which is neither exclusively male nor female on official forms, gender expression in Hindi remains binary. For lack of an alternative, non-binary transgender individuals are still forced to express themselves as either transgender male or transgender female.

The Making Hindi Grammar Inclusive project is an avant-garde grassroots effort to address the limitations posed by the gendered nature of verb conjugations in Hindi. It offers a formula for a third or non-binary conjugation of verbs, which can eventually be transferred on to certain classes of nouns and adjectives.

The proposed non-binary transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, gender-questioning conjugation is not (yet ;-)) part of the Hindi language. The hope is that this grassroots effort will, at the very least, start the much needed conversation about the gendered nature of Hindi and ground realities of gender identity.

How would this work?

Most verb conjugations in Hindi as currently used are binary, with options being the “male voice” or the “female voice”. The only exception is the imperative/command form which is non-gendered. The subjunctive mood too is non-gendered.

In the gendered binary option: - male voice conjugations end in आ ā for masculine singular conjugations and ए e for masculine plural conjugations. - female voice conjugations end in ई ī for both, feminine singular and plural conjugations, with ई ī sometimes being nasalized to ईं ī̃ for plural conjugations. For a non-binary voice option, we suggest conjugations end in ओ o for both, non-binary singular and plural conjugations, with ओ o sometimes being nasalized to ओं õ for plural conjugations, along principles similar to conjugations for the female voice.

So, for example, the Imperfective Habitual aspect of the verb खाना / khānā “to eat”, would be conjugated as:

[MS = masculine singular, MP = masculine plural, FS = feminine singular, FP = feminine plural, NBS = non-binary singular, NBP = non-binary plural]

Present day binary conjugation:

MS-Present:   मैं खाता हूँ* mãĩ  khātā hū̃ (I eat- male voice) MS-Past:   मैं खाता था mãĩ khātā thā (I used to eat - male voice) MP-Present: हम खाते हैं ham khāte hãĩ  (we eat- male voice) MP-Past:   हम खाते थे  ham khāte the (we used to eat - male voice)

FS-Present: मैं खाती हूँ* mãĩ  khātī hū̃  (I eat - female voice)   FS-Past: मैं खाती थी mãĩ  khātī thī   (I used to eat - female voice) FP-Present: हम  खाती हैं ham khātī hãĩ (we eat - female voice)    FP-Past: हम  खाती थीं ham khātī thī̃ (we used to eat - female voice)

Suggested non-binary conjugation for inclusion:

NBS-Present: मैं खातो हूँ* mãĩ khāto hū̃  (I eat - suggested non-binary voice)   NBS-Past: मैं खातो थो  mãĩ khāto tho (I used to eat - suggested non-binary voice) NBP-Present: हम  खातो हैं  ham khāto hãĩ (I eat - suggested non-binary voice) NBP-Past:  हम  खातो थों   ham khāto thõ (we used to eat - suggested non-binary voice)

Adopting ओ o/ओं õ for a non-binary voice verb conjugation seems to be a straightforward approach without any disruption to the principles of Hindi verb conjugations. The same principle of using ओ o/ओं õ for a non-binary voice, when transferred on to certain classes of nouns and adjectives, may make one pause to ponder over how it may affect other parts of speech, specifically, possession (particularly the possessive particles in Hindi), the plural oblique case, and in some instances, overlap between the imperative/command construction and the one-time perfective or completed action past aspect. However, going deeper, one realizes that interference is minimal, if at all. Just as some other parts of speech in Hindi grammar, which on the surface seem the same, being clearly context and/or marker dependent become non-issues, this too, being clearly either context and/or marker dependent would not pose a problem. Also, having the ओ o/ओं õ sound ending to indicate possession is not alien in Hindi as observed in various varieties like Braj Bhāshā, to name one. Besides, for now this point is quite mute, given that currently there is no class of non-binary nouns in Hindi! The grassroots non-binary conjugations suggested, for now would largely apply only to people according to their gender-identification.

For a detailed view of how the proposed non-binary verb conjugations would work, please check out in depth explanations offered for some tenses and aspects listed under the links.

[*हूँ should be with a ऊ dependent vowel sign ("long u sound"), but we are facing a technical issue in the web program right now - we shall correct it once the program is up and working]