Hydridosilapyrroles and hydridosilaazapyrrole are a new class of heterocyclic compounds having a silicon bound to carbon and nitrogen atoms within the ring system and one or two hydrogen atoms on the silicon atom. The compounds have formula (I): in which R is a substituted or unsubstituted organic group and R′ is an alkyl group. These compounds react with a variety of organic and inorganic hydroxyl groups by a ring-opening reaction and may be used to produce silicon nitride or silicon carbonitride films.