"यह उनकी किताब है।"
Translation:This is their book.
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why would you use उनकी for both their and her? Shouldn't you use उनके for their, and उनकी for her???
उनकी only means "their", not "her". It's in feminine form because किताब is feminine.
Actually उनकी can have a meaning of all these - "her", "his" and "their"
So how do you know the difference between "their book" and "her book"?
Unki can be used for their, his or her. It is used for his or her when the person concerned is being referred to formally / respectfully (For casual or informal reference "uski" would be used) And since kitab is feminine gender, Unki is used and not unka or unke(these are used respectively for singular and plural masculine genders)
The sound clip for यह sounds more like यहा, which could be confusing for learners as it changes the meaning from "this is their book" to "here is their book"
The two sounds do sound somewhat similar, but यहाँ has a more nasal 'ahn' sound at the end, which gives it away. Also यहाँ doesn't often come at the beginning of the sentence (though it can). A more natural translation of "Here is their book" would be (I think) उनकी किताब यहाँ है।
My question was "Yaha ___ kitab hai" so I did not see why I needed to use a plural form 'unkee' and not just 'unka'. What was the clue that I missed?
Unkee (उनकी) is not plural, it's feminine. Kitaab is feminine, so the preceeding pronoun must accommodate that by using the feminine ending ki (की)
why would you use उनकी for both their and her? Shouldn't you use उनके for their, and उनकी for her??
Given the right context इनकी, इनका, इनके, उनकी, उनका, and उनके can all mean her, his or their.
You can't use उनका because it has masculine inflection whereas उनकी has feminine inflection which is in accordance with the gender of किताब. How do you know that किताब is feminine? You just have to remember it.
