This grammar is a reference grammar of the modern Hindi language as it is written, spoken and taught in the Hindi-speaking areas of North India. It describes the phonological, morphological and grammatical features of the Hindi language as clearly as possible, without making them conform to any particular linguistic theory. Its principal aim is thus practical: to enable students to understand how the Hindi language functions. Tables of nominal and pronominal declensions and of the verbal system are provided for quick reference. A system of grammatical interpretation (syntagmatical analysis) is described in the syntax part of this grammar in order to facilitate correct understanding and translation of both simple and complex texts, both fiction and non-fiction. The combined verbs (conventionally called compound verbs) are presented in alphabetical order. As Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same language, born of the same soil, the grammatical features described are also valid for Urdu, even though it uses a different script.
Stella Sandahl, who was educated in Sweden, completed her doctoral studies in Paris with a thesis analysing the language and metres of the medieval Sanskrit text, the Gitagovinda. She was an instructor in comparative Indo-Aryan linguistics at the Universite de Paris before moving to the University of Toronto in 1977.