The Suffix -ता

In Hindi, many words that end with आ are masculine, such as कमरा, लड़का, जूता, केला, बेटा.

However, not every word that ends with आ is masculine, such as चर्चा, which is feminine.

A common suffix in Hindi is -ता. This suffix comes from Sanskrit, and so it usually applies to Sanskrit loanwords. This suffix is usually preceded with अ.

An example of this suffix on a word is सुन्दरता (“beauty”).

This suffix basically abstracts a word. In other words, it converts an adjective to a noun (e.g., “beautiful” to “beauty”), or a concrete noun to an abstract noun (e.g., “friend” to “friendship”), etc.

Generally, words that have the suffix -ता are feminine.

Note that not every word that ends in -ता has the suffix -ता. For instance, the word तोता (“parrot”) is masculine, but removing the -ता produces तो, which is not a related noun or adjective (although incidentally it is a word). However, सुन्दरता (“beauty”) does have the suffix -ता because सुन्दर (“beautiful”) is a related adjective.

Consider the following examples. All of the following words are feminine.

सफलता (सफल “successful”+ ता = सफलता “success”)

सहायता (सहाय “assisting” + ता = सहायता “assistance”)

क्षमता (क्षम “capable” + ता = क्षमता “capability”)

सदस्यता (सदस्य “member”+ ता = सदस्यता “membership”)

राष्ट्रीयता (राष्ट्रीय “national” + ता = राष्ट्रीयता “nationality”)

योग्यता (योग्य “qualified”+ ता = योग्यता “qualification”)

सुन्दरता (सुन्दर “beautiful” + ता = सुन्दरता “beauty”)

आवश्यकता (आवश्यक “necessary” + ता = आवश्यकता “necessity”)

मित्रता (मित्र “friend”+ ता = मित्रता “friendship”)

एकता (एक “one” + ता = “oneness” / “unity”)