Hive Data Definition Language (DDL) is a subset of Hive SQL statements that describe the data structure in Hive by creating, deleting, or altering schema objects such as databases, tables, views, partitions, and buckets. Most Hive DDL statements start with the keywords CREATE, DROP, or ALTER. The syntax of Hive DDL is very similar to the DDL in SQL. The comments in Hive start from --.