Hindi/Verbs

This page contains an Indic script. Without sufficient text support you may see irregular vowel placements and no conjuncts. More...

क्रिया (Verb)

In Hindi verbs are inflected basing upon gender, person, number, tense, mood, and aspect. There are three tenses – past, present and future (some linguists include the subjunctive mood in the tenses); three moods - imperative, indicative, and subjective; two aspects: imperfective and perfective. In sentence structuring the verb always comes at the end.

The verb होना which is equivalent of 'be' is used as a copula in simple predicative sentences and as an auxiliary in different types of verbal constructions (just as in English). The verb होना has four sets of verbal forms: present, past, presumptive, and subjunctive. It is one of the most important verbs, and a learner has to learn its different inflected forms before progressing any further for the sake of avoiding confusion.

a)Present (corresponds to the verb 'be')

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	हूँ (मैं एक छात्र हूँ - I'm a student)	हैं (हम मनुष्य हैं - We are humans)
2nd person (casual/intimate)	है (तु एक छात्र है - You are a student)	हो (तुम सब खिलाड़ी हो - You all are players)
2nd person (honorary)	हैं (आप एक शिक्षक हैं - You are a teacher)	हैं (आप लोग काबिल हैं - You people are able)
3rd person	है (वो/वह एक छात्र है - He is a student)	हैं (वे छात्राएं हैं - They are students)

b)Past (corresponds to past form of 'be' I.e - was/were)

Gender	Singular	Plural
Masculine	था (मैं लंदन में था - I was in London)	थे (हम लंदन में थे - We were in London)
Feminine	थी (मैं लंदन में थी - I was in London)	थीं (हम लंदन में थीं - We were in London)

c)Prejunctive form

Person	Masculine (Singular)	Masculine (Plural)	Feminine (Singular)	Feminine (Plural)
1st	हूँगा	होंगे	हूँगी	होंगी
2nd (casual/intimate)	होगा	होगे	होगी	होगी
2nd (honorary)	होंगे	होंगे	होंगी	होंगी
3rd	होगा	होंगे	होगी	होंगी

d)Subjunctive Form

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	होऊँ (मेरी ईच्छा है की मैं राष्ट्रपति होऊँ - My wish is that I be the president)	हों (काश हम लोग चयनित हों - Maybe we be selected)
2nd (Casual/intimate)	हो (तुम जल्द अच्छे हो जाओ (May you get well soon)	हो (अगर तुम लोग खिलाड़ी हो तो कितना अच्छा हो - It'd be so nice if you people were players)
2nd (Honorary)	हों (अगर आप मेरी जगह हों तो आप क्या करेंगे - If you were in my place what will you do)	हों (अगर आप लोग तैयार हों तो अच्छा है - It'd very good if you people are ready)
3rd	हो (काश वो ही मुखिया हो - May only he be the leader)	हों (काश वे ही चयनित हों - May only they be selected)

Verb forms

The lexical form of Hindi verbs I.e – the infinitive form found in dictionaries is always in the form of verb stem ना. For example to sleep = सोना, to eat = खाना, to cook = पकाना. To form other forms we remove ना and add the required suffix (which depends upon tense as well as person). For example 'will sleep' (3rd person sing.) = सोना-ना एगा=सोएगा.

Let us just have a basic idea of how to make and use verbs in present tense. We'd learn more about the modification of verbs basing upon tense and aspect in the lesson on tenses.

To form verbs for describing an action that regularly goes on (the present imperfect), add ता/ते to the verb stem. Example : लिख ता =लिखता/ते. Remember that लिखते is used for plural nouns/pronouns (and the 2nd person singular in honorary form I.e-for आप). So we can say मैं लिखता हूँ (I write), वो किताबें लिखते हैं (They write books) etc.

For changing verb to show present continuous for describing a current ongoing action, add रहा हुँ (1st person sing), रहा है (2nd person sing. intimate,3rd person sing.), रहे हो (2nd person plural intimate) or रहे हैं (all rest plural and 2nd person sing honorary) has to be added to verb stem. So we can have मैं लिख रहा हूँ (I'm writing), वे लिख रहे हैं (They are writing) and so on.

Another point to be noted is that these are all masculine forms. For agreement with a feminine noun/pronoun the last 'आ/ए’ mātrā must be replaced by the mātrā 'ई’. Examples : गीता जाती है (Geeta goes), वो लिखती है (She writes), हम जा रही हैं (We are going) etc. VERB in short related to just two words simply -> 1. TO BEING ( hona ) , 2. TO DO ( karna )

Hindustani has a peculiarity that not only the number, but also the gender of the noun or the pronoun may be shown by the verb. The infinitive form of any verb ends with ना / نا / na. As in many other languages, this form can be used as a noun (masculine gender, and declined likewise). There are three main tenses: present, past and future. Hindustani uses both end-inflections in the verb-stem and auxiliary verbs for conjugation. It is interesting to note that like English, but unlike Sanskrit, Latin, French, German, Russian, etc., Hindustani possesses the continuous tense for all—present, past and future. Similarly, the perfect tense can be formed using a number of auxiliaries. The present and the past participles can be used as adjectives (they undergo declination). The imperative mood and equivalents for English can / should / must / have to can also be found. Verbs can be transitive or intransitive. Hindustani demonstrates very regular verb conjugation, with the only major irregular verb being होना / ہونا / hona "to be." Three other verbs, करना / کرنا / karna "to do," लेना / لینا / lena "to take," देना / دینا / dena "to give," break from the pattern only in the perfect aspect. Aside from these, however, conjugation is very regular, with rules even governing conversion of a verb into its causative and double causative. But on the whole, the verbal conjugation can be very, very complicated for English speakers.

Conjugation

The following table gives the conjugation for the verb करना / کرنا / karna "to do" —indicative mood. The root morpheme of करना / کرنا / karna is कर / کر / kar. The second column gives the conjugation in the 2nd person with तुम / تم / tum. To conjugate the verb with तू / تو / tu, use the 3rd person singular form. To conjugate the verb with आप / آپ / ap, use the 3rd person plural form.

Simple Present
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Masc. Sing.	करता हूँ / کرتا ہوں / karta hun	करते हो / کرتے ہو / karte ho	करता है / کرتا ہے / karta hai
Masc. Pl.	करते हैं / کرتے ہیں / karte hain	करते हो / کرتے ہو / karte ho	करते हैं / کرتے ہیں / karte hain
Fem. Sing.	करती हूँ / کرتی ہوں / karti hun	करती हो / کرتی ہو / karti ho	करती है / کرتی ہے / karti hai
Fem. Pl.	करते हैं / کرتے ہیں / karte hain	करती हो / کرتی ہو / karti ho	करती हैं / کرتی ہیں / karti hain
Present Continuous
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Masc. Sing.	कर रहा हूँ / کر رہا ہوں / kar raha hun	कर रहे हो / کر رہے ہو / kar rahe ho	कर रहा है / کر رہا ہے / kar raha hai
Masc. Pl.	कर रहे हैं / کر رہے ہیں / kar rahe hain	कर रहे हो / کر رہے ہو / kar rahe ho	कर रहे हैं / کر رہے ہیں / kar rahe hain
Fem. Sing.	कर रही हूँ / کر رہی ہوں / kar rahi hun	कर रही हो / کر رہی ہو / kar rahi ho	कर रही है / کر رہی ہے / kar rahi hai
Fem. Pl.	कर रहे हैं / کر رہے ہیں / kar rahe hain	कर रही हो / کر رہی ہو / kar rahi ho	कर रही हैं / کر رہی ہیں / kar rahi hain
Present Perfect
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Replace the second auxiliary रहा / رہا / raha - रही / رہی / rahi - रहे / رہے / rahe in Present Continuous with the auxiliary चुका / چکا / chuka - चुकी / چکی / chuki - चुके / چکے / chuke or with लिया / لیا / liya - ली / لی / li - लिये / لیۓ / liye. The third auxiliary has to be kept as it is. Some other auxiliaries are also allowable in the place of the second auxiliary.
Simple Past
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Replace the auxiliary हूँ / ہوں / hun - हो / ہو / ho - है / ہے / hai - हैं / ہیں / hain in Simple Present with the auxiliary था / تھا / tha (masc. sing.) - थे / تھے / the (masc. pl.) - थी / تھی / thi (fem. sing.) - थीं / تھیں / thin (fem. pl.)۔
Past Continuous
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Replace the third auxiliary हूँ / ہوں / hun - हो / ہو / ho - है / ہے / hai - हैं / ہیں / hain from Present Continuous with the auxiliary था / تھا / tha (masc. sing.) - थे / تھے / the (masc. pl.) - थी / تھی / thi (fem. sing.) - थीं / تھیں / thin (fem. pl.)۔ The second auxiliary has to be kept as it is.
Past Perfect
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Replace the third auxiliary हूँ / ہوں / hun - हो / ہو / ho - है / ہے / hai - हैं / ہیں / hain in Present Perfect with the auxiliary था / تھا / tha (masc. sing.) - थे / تھے / the (masc. pl.) - थी / تھی / thi (fem. sing.) - थीं / تھیں / thin (fem. pl.). The second auxiliary has to be kept as it is.
Simple Future
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Masc. Sing.	करूंगा / کروں گا / karun-ga	करोगे / کرو گے / karo-ge	करेगा / کرے گا / kare-ga
Masc. Pl.	करेंगे / کریں گے / karen-ge	करोगे / کرو گے / karo-ge	करेंगे / کریں گے / karen-ge
Fem. Sing.	करूंगी / کروں گی / karun-gi	करोगी / کرو گی / karo-gi	करेगी / کرے گی / kare-gi
Fem. Pl.	करेंगे / کریں گے / karen-ge	करोगी / کرو گی / karo-gi	करेंगी / کریں گی / karen-gi
Future Continuous
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Conjugate the auxiliary रहना / رہنا / rahna in Simple Future, just like in above and use it after the declined present participle करता / کرتا / karta.
Future Perfect
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Replace the third auxiliary हूँ / ہوں / hun - हो / ہو / ho - है / ہے / hai - हैं / ہیں / hain of Present Perfect with the auxiliary रहना / رہنا / rahna conjugated in Simple Future. The second auxiliary shall stay.
Imperative Mood / Subjunctive (wish/command)
	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Masc. Sing.	करूँ / کروں / karun	करो / کرو / karo	करे / کرے / kare
Masc. Pl.	करें / کریں / karen	करो / کرو / karo	करें / کریں / karen
Fem. Sing.	करूँ / کروں / karun	करो / کرو / karo	करे / کرے / kare
Fem. Pl.	करें / کریں / karen	करो / کرو / karo	करें / کریں / karen

The present participle here is करता /karta/ and the past participle is किया /kiya/ (with variant in this case as करा /karo/ — not considered as standard) — both must be declined like adjectives when needed (see ff.). The Imperative Mood is an exception for all verbs because it has entirely different conjugal forms for /tu/ and /ap/. For the former, it is कर /kar/, and for the latter, it is कीजिये /kijiey/ (with variations in this case as करिये /kijiey/ and करें /karo/ — not considered as standard). The future also has two other conditional forms, not listed here.

Hindustani has two voices—active and passive.

A stem change in the penultimate syllable of the infinitive form can lead to a semantic change in many verbs. e.g., बनना /banna/ (to be made, to become) → बनाना /bana-na/ (to make) → / बनवाना /banva-nɑ/ (to cause to be made). See ff.

In much of Punjabi-influenced region of north west India, Pakistan, and the Indian state of Rajasthan, the pronoun आप / آپ / /ap/ is used with verbs conjugated for the तुम / تم / /tum/ form. e.g, आप / آپ / ap .... करोगे / کرو گے / karo-ge, आप करो / آپ کرو / ap karo.

There is another class of perfectives unique to Hindustani. These are used if the noun or pronoun is followed by the subject-case postposition ने / نے /ne/ (and rarely in the absence of ने / نےे too). For करना / کرنا / karna, these would be :

किया /kiya/ (Simple perfective)
किया है /kiya hai/ (Present perfective)
किया था /kiya tha/ (Past perfective)
किया होगा /kiya hoga/ —expressing doubt or possibility in the future.

Other equivalents with English areː

should : infinitive चाहिये /Chahiye/ (The subject must be followed by the postposition को . If the subject is a pronoun, then the accusative case for it without any postposition is also allowed.) E.g., मुझे .... करना चाहिये or मुझको .... करना चाहिये .
may / can: root-morpheme सकना /sakna/—conjugated in the Simple Present tense. e.g., मैं .... कर सकता हूँ .

Some facts about Hindustani verbs

The root morpheme of any verb can be made by removing the suffix /na/ from the corresponding infinitive form. The imperative form for /tu/ will also give the same root morpheme. The number of single-word root morpheme is very few in Hindustani, and so a lot of the so-called compound roots are used. Note that the existence of the so-called compound verbs in Hindustani has been denied by some eminent linguists like Prof. Rajendra Singh (Université de Montréal).

The auxiliary verbs in Hindustani can be listed under the following six categories (Tiwari [1966] 2004):

Tense marker. (i.e., है /hai/ and था /tha/ — the present and past tense markers; forms of the verb होना /hona/ — to be). These come at the end of the verbal phrase. E.g., मैं जाता हूँ । तुम खा रहे थे |
Voice-marking verb. E.g., the verb जाना /jana/; किताब पढ़ी जाती है, indicating the passive voice.
Aspect-marking verb. The verb रहना /rehna/ indicates the continuous or progressive aspect. It comes just before the tense marker. E.g., आप लिख रहे हैं ।
Modal verb. These include a variety of verb to express the mood or viewpoint of the speaker. E.g., पड़ना /parhna/ and होना /hona/ denote compulsion or requirement, चाहिये /Chahiye/ (not conjugated) denotes advice or need, चुकना /tʃuknaː/ indicates completeness of action — the perfective, पाना /pana/ and सकना /sakna/ indicate capability. E.g., उसे एक लाख रुपये ख़र्च करने पड़े ।
Explicator/vector/intensifier. Such auxiliaries colorize or intensify the main verb. E.g., लेना /lena/, देना /dena/, मारना /marna/, etc. For instance, मैंने काम कर लिया । मैंने पत्र लिख दिया | Such verbs sometimes additionally denote the perfective aspect.
Verbalizer. This kind of auxiliary creates a verb from a noun or an adjective that precedes it. करना /karna/ is the most important such verb. Most verbs listed under intensifier may also act as verbalizer, and so does होना /hona/. E.g., मैं तुमसे प्यार करता हूँ ।

The root of the first causative verb can be made from the basic verbal root morpheme by adding the suffix /a/ or /la/. The root of the second causative verb can be made from the basic verbal root morpheme by adding the suffix /va/ or /Ivaː/. Both cases may additionally involve ablaut gradation in the root morpheme's vowel or even a change in the consonants. E.g., बोलना — बुलाना — बुलवाना.

Hindustani participles and verbal derivative forms (कृदन्त):

Present participle: It is made by the root morpheme /t/ (present suffix) /a/. The word must be declined properly as given below. It is also called the imperfective derivative. E.g., करता, चलता, etc. It is used as a noun, verb (including as a part of the conjugation), adjective and adverb.
Past participle: It is made by the root morpheme /a/. The word must be declined properly as given below. It is also called the perfective derivative. E.g., मरा, चला, etc. It also has numerous exceptions. It is used as a noun, verb (including as a part of the conjugation), adjective and adverb.
Verbal noun or infinitive: It is made by the root morpheme /n/ (infinitive suffix) /a/. When used as a noun, it must be declined as the long-a ending adjectives. It also comes in verbal conjugations and imperatives. E.g., करना, चलना, etc.
Pluperfect: It is made by the root morpheme /kar/ or /karke/ or null. If the root morpheme itself is /kar/ (but not otherwise), the form is /karke/. E.g., खाकर, दौड़कर, etc. It is used as a verb and adverb.

The declension/conjugation for the Present and past participles is given below along with the suffixes for the verb root. As as example, use the verb root चल / چَل / /chal/ — to go. It would not work for कर / کَر / /kar/ because it has exceptions.

	Present participle		Past participle
Gender	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	/ ta / चलता	/ te / चलते	/ a / चला	/ e / चले
Feminine	/ te / चलती	/ ti / चलतीं	/ i / चली	/ i / चलीं