The task is to form the antonym of "asha" (hope)
The task is to form the antonym of "asha" (hope). Vikram writes "anaasha", thinking adding "a-" always creates the opposite. His sister says the correct word here is different. Who is right?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: His sister is right, the correct word is "niraasha"
Why
Vikram has spotted a real pattern — many Hindi antonyms are formed by adding 'अ-', like 'न्याय→अन्याय'. But Hindi uses more than one prefix to show negation or opposition — 'अ-', 'निर्/नि-', 'वि-' — and which prefix attaches to which word is fixed word-by-word, not by one single rule. 'आशा' traditionally takes the 'निर्' prefix, giving 'निराशा' (the absence of hope, i.e. despair) — 'अनाशा' is not a word used in Hindi. Test it: 'अ-' works for 'न्याय→अन्याय', but applying that same prefix to 'आशा' to get 'अनाशा' sounds as wrong as attaching the wrong prefix in any language. His sister is right: the correct antonym of 'आशा' is 'निराशा', formed with 'निर्-', not 'अ-'.
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