Pronouns, familiarity, respect and verb agreement

② Nepali grammar rules

1. Six basic person groups

Use म, हामी, तपाईं, तपाईंहरू, उहाँ, उहाँहरू as the basic set.
Respectful तपाईं/उहाँ take हुनुहुन्छ/गर्नुहुन्छ; adding plural हरू does not change these honorific endings.

2. उ/ऊ versus उनी

उ/ऊ is a familiar singular third-person pronoun, with low-grade छ/गर्छ forms. उनी can refer to one person with a more considerate grade, taking छन्/गर्छन्. उनी alone does not guarantee a plural referent.

3. उनीहरू versus उहाँहरू

उनीहरू is plural and commonly takes छन्/गर्छन्.
Respectful plural उहाँहरू takes हुनुहुन्छ/गर्नुहुन्छ.
Translation as they does not encode which Nepali respect grade is intended.

4. तँ, तिमी and तपाईं

Compare तँ गर्छस् (you do it, intimate/low respect) / तिमी गर्छौ (you do it, familiar) / तपाईं गर्नुहुन्छ (you do it, respectful). तँ is restricted to very close relationships and can offend; तिमी is familiar.
Plural तिमीहरू still takes गर्छौ, not third-person गर्छन्.

5. Pronouns with case markers

Learn म→मैले/मलाई/मेरो, उ/ऊ→उसले/उसलाई/उसको, उनी→उनले/उनलाई/उनको, and respectful उहाँले/उहाँलाई/उहाँको.
Case-marked pronouns are not always formed by attaching a marker to the citation form unchanged.

उ, उनी and उहाँ distinguish respect, not male versus female

Explicitly feminine verbs include छिन्, गर्छिन् and गइन्.

This does not make उनी a female-only pronoun. उनीहरू refers to they; उहाँहरू is respectful plural. तपाईंहरू is respectful plural you and retains respectful verb agreement.

उ and ऊ here represent spellings of the same low-respect third-person pronoun. आफू refers back as self; आफ्नो means own.

तँ is appropriate only in particular relationships.

When unsure, use तपाईं and match it with a respectful verb form.