Nepali Language and Grammar
What this section tests
Nepali language and grammar questions test Devanagari spelling, शब्दभण्डार (vocabulary), पदवर्ग, लिङ्ग, वचन, आदर, कारक, काल and sentence correction. Most stems are short; the marks are lost on spelling and agreement.
Core rules
- Nepali is SOV: subject + object + verb. The verb agrees with the subject in person, number and honorific level.
- The Nepali वर्णमाला has 11 स्वर and 33 व्यञ्जन; क्ष, त्र and ज्ञ are conjuncts, not separate basic consonants.
- Gender is पुलिङ्ग or स्त्रीलिङ्ग; number is एकवचन or बहुवचन. Plural is often marked by -हरू (मानिस → मानिसहरू).
- Honorific levels: निम्न (तँ), मध्यम (तिमी), उच्च (तपाईं/उहाँ). Verb forms must match: तिमी जान्छौ; तपाईं जानुहुन्छ; उहाँ जानुहुन्छ.
- Case relations are shown by postpositions: ले (agent/instrument), लाई (dative/accusative), बाट (ablative), को/का/की (genitive), मा (locative).
Worked example
Choose the correct sentence: (a) उहाँ हिजो आयो। (b) उहाँ हिजो आउनुभयो। Reasoning: उहाँ is an उच्च-आदर pronoun. The verb must carry the honorific ending -नुभयो, not the ordinary past -यो. So (b) is correct. The same logic applies to तपाईं: तपाईं आउनुभयो, not तपाईं आयो.
Traps
- Spelling pairs such as माथि/माथी, श/ष/स and ि/ी.
- Using a निम्न verb with an उच्च pronoun.
- Wrong case marker: रामले भात खायो (agent) vs रामलाई भात दियो (recipient).
- Overusing -हरू where context already shows plurality.