Basic Information
Before you can start learning the verbal system of Hindi, it's important to first know a few basic things. Hindi has two genders, masculine and feminine. Hindi verbs distinguish gender. A verb must accord (match up with) in gender with the verb subject (i.e., the subject of the sentence, or the person or thing performing the action of the verb). Additionally, Hindi distinguishes number, singular and plural. Number is the same as in English. Verbs must also accord in number with their verb subject.

It's also important to know the personal pronouns, how to derive the verb stem from the infinitive, the formation of participles, and the conjugation of the verb hon�, and to recognize patterns in the way verbs change. Verb conjugation in Hindi is fairly easy, and there are very few irregular verbs (only about 6 or so very common verbs are irregular).

Personal Pronouns
The Hindi personal pronouns are as follows:

SingularPlural
First Personmain, Iham, we
Second Person Intimatet�, you--
Second Person Familiar--tum, you
Second Person Respectful--�p, you
Third Person Nearyah, he, she, it, thisye, they, these
Third Person Farvah, he, she, it, thatve, they, those

There are two forms of the third person personal pronoun. The near form is used when referring to a person or thing within the vicinity of the speaker, whereas the far form is used when referring to a person or thing not in the vicinity of the speaker. These pronouns do not distinguish gender and can mean he, she, it, this, or that when used in the singular; context must be used to determine which it stands for. The situation is similar for the plural.

Hindi distinguishes levels of respect, hence the three forms of the second person. However, respect can be conveyed in the third person as well. Whenever the third person pronouns are used to refer to individuals deserving of respect, the plural form of the pronouns is used.

The intimate pronoun is used when addressing an individual with whom one has an intimate or close relationship, such as a parent to a child; it is also used when one wishes to address another with contempt or hostility. This form can only be used to address a single individual.

The familiar form is used to address an individual or individuals with whom one has a close, but not intimate, relationship, such as a friend. This form can be used to address both an individual person or more than one person even though grammatically it is always plural. It's not uncommon to follow this pronoun with the word log, the Hindi word meaning people: tum log, you people. This is done only when it's necessary to make clear that more than one person is being addressed. I'm not certain if this technique is permissible in formal writing, but it is in everyday speech.

The respectful form is used to address anyone deserving of respect, such as parents, teachers, and even strangers. Like the familiar form, this one can be used to address one or more people. However, using it with log is not very common.

Infinitive
A Hindi verb is comprised of two elements, the verb stem and the infinitive suffix. The infinitive suffix is n�, which, when removed, leaves the verb stem.

Verb Stem + Infinitive Suffix = Infinitive Form of Verb
bol + n� = boln�, to speak, to say
kar + n� = karn�, to do, to make
likh + n� = likhn�, to write
de + n� = den�, to give
j� + n� = j�n�, to go

Participles
The present (or imperfective) participle is formed by suffixing t� to the verb stem:

boln� (infinitive form) - n� (infinitive suffix) = bol (verb stem)
bol (verb stem) + t� (present participle suffix) = bolt� (present participle of boln�).

The present participle is used in the formation of the present and past indicatives.


The past (or perfective) participle is formed by suffixing to the verb stem:

boln� (infinitive form) - n� (infinitive suffix) = bol (verb stem)
bol (verb stem) + (past participle suffix) = bol� (past participle of boln�).

The past participle is used in the formation of the perfective tenses.

As mentioned previously, a few very common verbs are irregular. These verbs and their past participles are as follows:

Masculine Singular Masculine Plural Feminine Singular Feminine Plural
karn�, to do, makekiy�kiek�k�n
den�, to givediy�died�d�n
len�, to takeliy�liel�l�n
p�n�, to drinkpiy�piep�p�n
j�n�, to gogay�gae, gayega�, gay�ga�n, gay�n
hon�, to behu�huehu�hu�n
�n�, to come�y��e, �ye��, �y���n, �y�n
l�n�, to bringl�y�l�e, l�yel��, l�y�l��n, l�y�n
lagn�, to strike, appeal, seem, catchlag�lagelag�lag�n

�n� and l�n� are not irregular, but are shown because of the way they form their masculine singular forms. Whenever a verb stem ends in a vowel, the masculine singular form requires that a y be inserted before the suffix , and optionally in the masculine plural and feminine forms. Note that j�n� is very irregular in that its stem is changed to ga, and hon� has no optional forms (i.e., y cannot be optionally inserted in any of its forms). lagn� is completely regular and is presented just to show how regular verbs form their past participles.

All these verbs except hon� have regular present participles: kart�, det�, let�, p�t�, j�t�, �t�, l�t�, lagt�. With the exception of p�n�, the above verbs are essential to know because they are used throughout the Hindi language to form numerous verb formations and types of sentence constructions.

Present Tense of hon�
hon� is the Hindi verb meaning to be. It is often used as an auxiliary verb in the formation of many other verb forms. hon� is irregular and is conjugated in the present tense as follows:

SingularPlural
First Personmain h�n, I amham hain, we are
Second Person Intimatet� hai, you are--
Second Person Familiar--tum ho, you are
Second Person Respectful--�p hain, you are
Third Person Nearyah hai, he/she/it isye hain, they are
Third Person Farvah hai, he/she/it isve hain, they are

The first word is the personal pronoun, the second word is the form of hon�. Unlike much of the rest of the verb system, the present tense of hon� does not distinguish gender.

Present Indicative
The present indicative is formed by changing the verb into the present participle and following it with the present tense of the verb hon�:

SingularPlural
First Personmain bolt� h�n, I speakham bolte hain, we speak
Second Person Intimatet� bolt� hai, you speak--
Second Person Familiar--tum bolte ho, you speak
Second Person Respectful--�p bolte hain, you speak
Third Person Nearyah bolt� hai, he/it speaksye bolte hain, they speak
Third Person Farvah bolt� hai, he/it speaksve bolte hain, they speak

The first word is the personal pronoun, the second word the present participle of the verb, and the third the present tense of hon�. The above is the conjugation of the present indicative for masculine nouns. Verbs accord in gender with their verb subjects, thus when a masculine noun is the subject of a sentence, the verb will be conjugated to reflect masculine gender. t� is the ending used for masculine singular, te for masculine plural. The feminine singular and plural is formed simply by replacing the ending with t�.

Present Continuous
The present continuous consists of three parts: the verb stem, the word rah�, and the present tense of hon�.

SingularPlural
First Personmain bol rah� h�n, I am speakingham bol rahe hain, we are speaking
Second Person Intimatet� bol rah� hai, you are speaking--
Second Person Familiar--tum bol rahe ho, you are speaking
Second Person Respectful--�p bol rahe hain, you are speaking
Third Person Nearyah bol rah� hai, he/it is speakingye bol rahe hain, they are speaking
Third Person Farvah bol rah� hai, he/it is speakingve bol rahe hain, they are speaking

rah� is used when the verb subject is masculine singular, but is changed to rahe for masculine plural. The feminine singular and plural is rah�.

Perfect (Present Perfective)

Past Tense of hon�
The past tense of hon� is regular and is conjugated as follows:

SingularPlural
First Personmain th�, I washam the, we were
Second Person Intimatet� th�, you were--
Second Person Familiar--tum the, you were
Second Person Respectful--�p the, you were
Third Person Nearyah th�, he/it wasye the, they were
Third Person Farvah th�, he/it wasve the, they were

The above is for masculine gender. For feminine gender, the singular past tense form of hon� is th�, the plural th�n.

Past Indicative
The past indicative is formed in the same way the present indicative is, but with the past tense of hon� instead of the present.

SingularPlural
First Personmain bolt� th�, I spokeham bolte the, we spoke
Second Person Intimatet� bolt� th�, you spoke--
Second Person Familiar--tum bolte the, you spoke
Second Person Respectful--�p bolte the, you spoke
Third Person Nearyah bolt� th�, he/it spokeye bolte the, they spoke
Third Person Farvah bolt� th�, he/it spokeve bolte the, they spoke

The feminine is formed by replacing the masculine forms of the past tense of hon� with the feminine forms (th� with th�, the with th�n).

Past Continuous
The past continuous is formed in the same way the present continuous is, but with the past tense of hon� instead of the present.

SingularPlural
First Personmain bol rah� th�, I was speakingham bol rahe the, we were speaking
Second Person Intimatet� bol rah� th�, you were speaking--
Second Person Familiar--tum bol rahe the, you were speaking
Second Person Respectful--�p bol rahe the, you were speaking
Third Person Nearyah bol rah� th�, he/it was speakingye bol rahe the, they were speaking
Third Person Farvah bol rah� th�, he/it was speakingve bol rahe the, they were speaking

As with the present continuous, the feminine singular and plural takes rah�. Additionally, th� and the must be replaced with th� and th�n, respectively.

Pluperfect (Past Perfective)

Future Indicative
The future indicative is unlike the present and past indicatives in that a verb takes unique endings instead of using the present participle, and is not followed by the auxiliary verb hon�.

SingularPlural
First Personmain bol�ng�, I will speakham bolenge, we will speak
Second Person Intimatet� boleg�, you will speak--
Second Person Familiar--tum bologe, you will speak
Second Person Respectful--�p bolenge, you will speak
Third Person Nearyah boleg�, he/it will speakye bolenge, they will speak
Third Person Farvah boleg�, he/it will speakve bolenge, they will speak

The feminine singular and plural is formed simply by replacing the final or e with .

Future Tense of hon�
The future tense of hon� is irregular and conjugated as follows:

SingularPlural
First Personmain h�ng�, I shall beham honge, we shall be
Second Person Intimatet� hog�, you will be--
Second Person Familiar--tum hoge, you will be
Second Person Respectful--�p honge, you will be
Third Person Nearyah hog�, he/it will beye honge, they will be
Third Person Farvah hog�, he/it will beve honge, they will be

As is the case with the future indicative, the feminine singular and plural is formed simply by replacing the final or e with .

Future Continuous
The future continuous is formed in the same way the present and past continuous tenses are, but with the future tense of hon� used as an auxiliary.

SingularPlural
First Personmain bol rah� h�ng�, I shall be speakingham bol rahe honge, we shall be speaking
Second Person Intimatet� bol rah� hog�, you will be speaking--
Second Person Familiar--tum bol rahe hoge, you will be speaking
Second Person Respectful--�p bol rahe honge, you will be speaking
Third Person Nearyah bol rah� hog�, he/it will be speakingye bol rahe honge, they will be speaking
Third Person Farvah bol rah� hog�, he/it will be speakingve bol rahe honge, they will be speaking

Gender agreement must occur throughout, just as in the past continuous tense.

Future Perfect(ive)

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