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:
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main, I | ham, we |
Second Person Intimate | t�, you | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum, you |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p, you |
Third Person Near | yah, he, she, it, this | ye, they, these |
Third Person Far | vah, he, she, it, that | ve, 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.
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, make | kiy� | kie | k� | k�n |
den�, to give | diy� | die | d� | d�n |
len�, to take | liy� | lie | l� | l�n |
p�n�, to drink | piy� | pie | p� | p�n |
j�n�, to go | gay� | gae, gaye | ga�, gay� | ga�n, gay�n |
hon�, to be | hu� | hue | hu� | hu�n | �n�, to come | �y� | �e, �ye | ��, �y� | ��n, �y�n |
l�n�, to bring | l�y� | l�e, l�ye | l��, l�y� | l��n, l�y�n |
lagn�, to strike, appeal, seem, catch | lag� | lage | lag� | 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:
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main h�n, I am | ham hain, we are |
Second Person Intimate | t� hai, you are | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum ho, you are |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p hain, you are |
Third Person Near | yah hai, he/she/it is | ye hain, they are |
Third Person Far | vah hai, he/she/it is | ve 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�:
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main bolt� h�n, I speak | ham bolte hain, we speak |
Second Person Intimate | t� bolt� hai, you speak | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum bolte ho, you speak |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p bolte hain, you speak |
Third Person Near | yah bolt� hai, he/it speaks | ye bolte hain, they speak |
Third Person Far | vah bolt� hai, he/it speaks | ve 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�.
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main bol rah� h�n, I am speaking | ham bol rahe hain, we are speaking |
Second Person Intimate | t� 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 Near | yah bol rah� hai, he/it is speaking | ye bol rahe hain, they are speaking |
Third Person Far | vah bol rah� hai, he/it is speaking | ve 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:
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main th�, I was | ham the, we were |
Second Person Intimate | t� th�, you were | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum the, you were |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p the, you were |
Third Person Near | yah th�, he/it was | ye the, they were |
Third Person Far | vah th�, he/it was | ve 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.
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main bolt� th�, I spoke | ham bolte the, we spoke |
Second Person Intimate | t� bolt� th�, you spoke | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum bolte the, you spoke |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p bolte the, you spoke |
Third Person Near | yah bolt� th�, he/it spoke | ye bolte the, they spoke |
Third Person Far | vah bolt� th�, he/it spoke | ve 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.
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main bol rah� th�, I was speaking | ham bol rahe the, we were speaking |
Second Person Intimate | t� 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 Near | yah bol rah� th�, he/it was speaking | ye bol rahe the, they were speaking |
Third Person Far | vah bol rah� th�, he/it was speaking | ve 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�.
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main bol�ng�, I will speak | ham bolenge, we will speak |
Second Person Intimate | t� boleg�, you will speak | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum bologe, you will speak |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p bolenge, you will speak |
Third Person Near | yah boleg�, he/it will speak | ye bolenge, they will speak |
Third Person Far | vah boleg�, he/it will speak | ve 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:
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main h�ng�, I shall be | ham honge, we shall be |
Second Person Intimate | t� hog�, you will be | -- |
Second Person Familiar | -- | tum hoge, you will be |
Second Person Respectful | -- | �p honge, you will be |
Third Person Near | yah hog�, he/it will be | ye honge, they will be |
Third Person Far | vah hog�, he/it will be | ve 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.
Singular | Plural | |
First Person | main bol rah� h�ng�, I shall be speaking | ham bol rahe honge, we shall be speaking |
Second Person Intimate | t� 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 Near | yah bol rah� hog�, he/it will be speaking | ye bol rahe honge, they will be speaking |
Third Person Far | vah bol rah� hog�, he/it will be speaking | ve bol rahe honge, they will be speaking |
Gender agreement must occur throughout, just as in the past continuous tense.
Future Perfect(ive)