Padbandh (Phrases)

What is Padbandh?

When two or more pada (words in their grammatical form) come together in a fixed order to do the job of a single pada (such as a noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, or adverb), that group is called a padbandh (Phrase). For example, 'भारत के प्रधानमंत्री' — here several pada together are doing exactly the work of a noun, so this is a noun-padbandh.

A shabd (word) is an independent unit with no fixed grammatical form. When that same word is used in a sentence with case-endings, number, gender, etc., it is called a pada. When several pada together do the job of a single word, that's a padbandh, and when a group of pada expresses a complete meaning (including subject + verb), that's a vakya (sentence). Remember this sequence: word → pada → padbandh → sentence.

The Five Types of Padbandh

A padbandh's type is decided by the type of its head (main) word.

More Examples

Another example of a noun-padbandh is 'राजस्थान की राजधानी जयपुर एक ऐतिहासिक नगर है' — here the whole phrase 'राजस्थान की राजधानी जयपुर' together does the work of a noun. An example of an adjective-padbandh is 'फूलों से लदा हुआ बगीचा सुंदर लगता है' — here 'फूलों से लदा हुआ' is describing a quality of the garden.

Another example of a verb-padbandh can be seen in 'बच्चे खेल चुके होंगे', where 'खेल चुके होंगे' combines several verb-forms into a single verb-unit. Another example of a pronoun-padbandh is 'जो कोई भी वहाँ गया', in which the whole phrase 'जो कोई भी' is doing the work of a pronoun.

Why This Topic Matters for REET

Understanding padbandh is a foundational understanding of sentence-structure (syntax), which helps a teacher correct sentences and give correct grammatical feedback in children's essays and answers. In the classes 6-8 Hindi syllabus, activities like sentence-expansion and sentence-condensation need an understanding of padbandh, so REET asks this topic as a core part of grammar.

Besides this, other syntax and composition topics, like sentence-types and sentence-transformation, are based on this same foundational understanding of padbandh — so understanding this topic well makes several other parts of Hindi grammar easier too.

Method of Identification

To identify the type of a padbandh, first see what pada's place the whole phrase is taking in the sentence — if it's answering 'who/what', it's a noun or pronoun padbandh; if it's describing a quality of some noun, it's an adjective-padbandh; if it's doing the work of a verb, it's a verb-padbandh; and if it's telling 'how/when/where', it's an adverb-padbandh.

In REET, similar-looking phrases often change type when the head word changes — so paying attention to the phrase's last or main (head) word is the most reliable approach, as in 'भारत के प्रधानमंत्री' where the head word 'प्रधानमंत्री' (a noun) makes this a noun-padbandh.

One useful exercise is to temporarily replace the phrase with a single word and see what happens — if the meaning stays roughly the same, the phrase is a padbandh of that same type. For example, 'भारत के प्रधानमंत्री बोले' can be replaced with 'वे बोले' (in place of the noun/pronoun), while replacing 'तेज चलने वाली गाड़ियाँ' with 'तेज गाड़ियाँ' also keeps doing the work of an adjective.

How to Teach This to Children

Questions Asked in REET 2024 (Solved)

Practice Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Read Next