What Is a Pad?
A word used in a sentence is called a pad. Bengali grammar has five kinds of pad: noun (bishesho), adjective (bishoshon), pronoun (sorbonam), verb (kriya) and indeclinable (obyoy).
Nouns
Nouns may be proper (Dhaka, Rabindranath), common (manush, nodi), material (boi, kolom), quality (sotota, soundorjo), action (bhromon, gomon) or collective (dol, shobha, bahini).
Pronouns
A pronoun takes the place of a noun. Personal ones are ami, tumi, she and tini. Demonstrative ones are e, o, ei and oi. Indefinite ones are keu and kichhu. Interrogative ones are ke and ki. Relative ones come as pairs such as je and she, as in je porishrom kore, she safol hoy. Reflexive ones are nije and apni, and universal ones are sobai and sokole. By person, first person is ami, second person is tumi, apni or tui, and third person is she or tini.
Adjectives
A noun adjective describes a noun or pronoun, as in shundor phul. An adverb, called bhab bishoshon, describes a verb or another adjective, as in she dhire haate, where dhire is an adverb.
Verbs
A finite verb ends the sentence, as in she school-e gelo. A non-finite verb does not end the sentence, as in bhat kheye she school-e gelo, where kheye is non-finite. A transitive verb takes an object; an intransitive verb does not.
Indeclinables
An indeclinable does not change with gender, number, person or case. Conjunctions are o, ebong, kimba and kintu. Interjections are hay, aha, bah and chhi. Postpositions are theke, diye and cheye.
Shortcut
If it names something, it is a noun; if it replaces a noun, it is a pronoun; if it describes, it is an adjective; if it shows action, it is a verb; if it never changes, it is an indeclinable.
Worked Examples
Example 1: What is 'sotota' in 'Sotota manushke mohot kore'?
Solution: It names a quality, so it is an abstract or quality noun.
Example 2: Find the non-finite verb in 'Rahim bhat kheye shuye porlo'.
Solution: 'Kheye' does not end the sentence, so it is non-finite. 'Porlo' is finite.
Quick Check
Question 1: How many kinds of pad are there?
Answer: Five.
Question 2: What kind of pronoun is 'keu'?
Answer: Indefinite.
Question 3: Is 'hay' an interjection?
Answer: Yes, an emotion-expressing indeclinable.