"मेरे बेटे का नाम पीटर है।"

Translation: My son's name is Peter.

[MarcinM85]

Why is it not मेरा बेटा? Is it oblique case?

[erichiggins95]

Yes, when the noun phrase is the object of a preposition as it is here, it changes into the oblique case. Marked singular masculine nouns like मेरा बेटा change to मेरे बेटे

[Sninguistics]

How can you tell if this is singular oblique or plural oblique, then? Is there a different inflection for plural oblique nouns?

[lmundy98]

It's based on context. For example, its unlikely that many sons are named Peter, so we can derive that we are only talking about a single son.

[JerryCurry3]

Moreover, in the odd case of multiple sons named "Peter", "name" would also be pluralized. I.e. "My sons' names are Peter." So the verb would be plural हैं and the singular oblique बेटे would be replaced by the plural form बेटों. So, George Foreman might say

मेरे बेटों के नाम जॉर्ज हैं

Mind you, take that with a grain of salt. Someone who actually already knows the language may end up correcting me. :-)

[Nikesan3]

I like your example.:-)

[kirangarewal]

I think that would be 'mere beton ke.'

[Xephren]

if it was plural it would be
मेरे बेटे के नाम (mere beʈe ke nām)
singular is
मेरे बेटे का नाम (mere beʈe kā nām)

[JerryCurry3]

That's true if the "it" in your statement refers to the name.

• मेरे बेटे के नाम (mere beʈe ke nām) -> my son's names
• मेरे बेटे का नाम (mere beʈe kā nām) -> my son's name
• मेरे बेटों के नाम (mere beto~ ke nām) -> my sons' names

[William835200]

What do you mean by oblique case? How can I tell that this is oblique case? What would a sentence using, "मेर बेटा," look like?

[Dyveke794501]

I have boiled it down to this. Oblique case is what happens to the words in front of the postposition. When using 'ke', something must happen to mera beta. If not it will sound wrong.
So whenever there is a postposition there will be an oblique case.
I am still learning. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[SMENAHA]

I am so confused about it. Now this will surely help :) Thanks!

[pradeepan90]

Is it the same case for postpositions like ka, ki as well?

[Dyveke794501]

Yes. Every postposition will make an oblique case. So it is the same case when using पर and से as well.

What I have found helpful is to search on "postpositions Hindi" and "oblique case Hindi" on YouTube.

[SoXAu]

I translated it into " The name of my son is Peter." Would this be acceptable?

[G.J.Vijay]

What's the difference between ke and ka

[ArnoNyhm2]

Why is मेरे बेते का नाम पीटर हैं। wrong?

[JerryCurry3]

It's never wrong to use the honorific plural. But when Duolingo is expecting singular, it usually doesn't accept plural.

Note that the statement you gave has two errors.

• I think you mean बेटे, not बेते.
• But if you use a plural verb, you also have to pluralize "son". And because of का नाम it needs to be oblique. So you'd need to use the oblique plural बेटों.

[E.Tamilselvi]

what is oblique singular and oblique plural

[JerryCurry3]

"direct" and "oblique" are references to different cases. These are covered in the tips to a couple of the early skills. I forget which.

"plural" and "singular" refer to how many.

Also see the reply I just posted to Sunnymonie's question, "So how do I know if we're talking about my son or sons?"

[ChromateX]

Does oblique case tend to end with ए (or ओ?) like in this sentence?

[Meenakshik720977]

Is it not merey beta why betay

[JerryCurry3]

It's in the oblique case because of the postposition का.

• My son -> मेरा बेटा
• My son's ... -> मेरे बेटे का ...

[Sunnymonie]

I still don't understand why not mera beta

[JerryCurry3]

You should read the top-voted response on the thread.

[Sunnymonie]

So how do I know if we're talking about my son or sons?

[JerryCurry3]

I found this confusing too. I feel your pain. :-)

I'll start with examples:

• मेरा बेटा - My son
• मेरे बेटे - My sons
• मेरे बेटे का दोस्त - My son's friend
• मेरे बेटों का दोस्त - My sons' friend

What makes it hard is that there are four ways to inflect बेटा, but two of them happen to be the same. So there are only three different words.

• बेटा - This is the direct singular. E.g. "son" without any postposition.
• बेटे - This could be direct plural. E.g. "sons" without any postpostion.
• बेटे - This could also be oblique singular. E.g. "son" with a postposition.
• बेटों - This is oblique plural. E.g. "sons" with a postposition.

If there's no postposition, बेटे has to be direct plural.

If there is a postposition, बेटे has to be oblique singular.

Caveat: above is oversimplified. There are multiple things to watch out for. The big two are:

• Honorific plural.
• Implied postpositions (a.k.a. "ghostpositions")

[ara611]

I do not understand why it's मेरे वेटे and not मेरा वेटा

Very frustrated.
I wish the Hindi course had little intro chapters/tips like French and Spanish do

[JerryCurry3]

I agree with you 100%. Tips would be really helpful.

But read the rest of the thread. I've been trying to help people out on this particular issue. Search this page for the entries with "George Foreman" and "I feel your pain".

[meena1705]

Is kid not taken into accout

[Owen-Benjambavan]

What if you only use singular articles instead of plural ones in this sentence? Will no one know what you were trying to say?