"He reads from his book."

Translation: वह अपनी किताब से पढ़ता है।

[Thorsten781499]

I think I am still not sure what the difference between उसके and अपनी is. Can someone try to make it clear?

[ScottKBeck]

उसका, उसकी, उसके mean his/her when the person the item(s) belong to is not the subject. अपना, अपनी, अपने are reflexive pronouns and literally mean "own"; so they are used when the object belongs to the subject. ie I read my (own) book मैं अपनी किताब पढ़ता हूँ. He eats his (own) apple वह अपना सेब खाता है. You live in your (own) house तुम अपने घर में रहता हो.
I hope that helps.

[Thorsten781499]

Thank you, that makes it clear!

[ClareBryan3]

Possibly the clearest explanation of oblique I have read, and I've read a great deal. Thank you!

[juhani.juurik]

Except that this is not the explanation of oblique...

[Rodrigo188394]

Thanks ,excellent reply !

[BriannaBir4]

why would it not be "aapne kitab se"? Doesn't the "se" put "kitab" in the oblique and therefore require aapne?

[ScottKBeck]

किताब is feminine and does not change in the oblique so it remains अपनी किताब when followed by postpositions including से

[Thorsten781499]

I am not 100% sure, but I think it is in the oblique case, but for female nouns ending with i it is the same.

[ScottKBeck]

Correct

[Owen-Benjambavan]

how would one know that किताब was feminine other than memorizing that?

[OJFord]

One wouldn't. Nouns ending -ii are mostly feminine, and -a mostly masculine, but there are exceptions (mostly if not all where they're 'loan words' from e.g. Sanskrit or English), but with other endings I don't think there's even a rough rule of thumb like that.

Hardly a problem unique to Hindi though!

[Vishal.SJ]

Why are we using अपनी instead of अपना here?

[ScottKBeck]

Because किताब is a feminine noun

[whimslcott]

Then why are we using पढ़ता and not पढ़ती ?

[Thorsten781499]

Because the verb termination is according to the subject (he), not the object.

[raz.musaviyan]

what is the difference between अपनी and अपकी?

[nkidambi]

Can we not use यह for “he”?

[Yuv1702]

No you can't as यह means This. वह means he/she but dont get confused वह can mean That aswell

[mango_]

But the Tips & Notes section for Basics 1 (as well as other sources such as https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Hindi_Lessons/Lesson_3) state that यह can be used for he/she as well.

[Sam362597]

I'm confused by this too - I was taught that it was a question of proximity: that yah can mean he/she/it/this (for nearby subjects) and vah can mean he/she/it/that (for more distant subjects). But it seems to be exclusively vah for he/she here, and a few people in the comments seem to confirm that.

[aaditsingh8]

Generally, वह is better accepted for he/she, living 'this' as a more appropriate pronunciation for यह. However, both should be accepted.

[RavenDarke]

I believe it is because the "he", that is referred to in this sentence, is not nearby so vah would be correct

[0LxyGItT]

There was not " parta" among the possibilities! !!!

[JakeDsouza6771]

what's वह अपनी किताब से पढ़ता है। mean

[sriram301296]

In another sentence in the lesson,
"Julia goes to her sister's house", since 'her sister' was Feminine, oblique case was 'Apni'

Here, since 'book' is Feminine, oblique case is 'Apni'.

My question here - Comparing the sentences,
1. Where does Julia go? - her sister's - house
2. From where does he read? - his - book

In first sentence the oblique transformation was because of first part(her sister), and in second the oblique transformation was because of second part (book). What's the rule here?

[akalkata]

Why do you use apani instead of apane? I thought using the apani is for the female?

[Sam362597]

Possessives agree with the thing possessed, not with the subject - kitab is feminine.

[Steve648677]

What is the purpose of 'Se' ? And what does it translate as because it can't mean 'from'

[Gili838461]

It does mesn from. He reads from his book