Friday, February 15, 2013

HINDI VERBS 7 (Simple Past Tense)


We have learned how to use Simple Imperfective (I used to do) and Past Continuous (I am doing) tenses. In Hindi it would sound:

मैं जाता था
Main jaataa thaa
I used to go.
मैं जा रहा था
Main jaa rahaa thaa
I was going.

In both cases, we added different endings to the verb stem “जा” (जाना – jaanaa – to go without the ending “-na”).

At the Taj Mahal complex in Agra
                                                   
The past continuous and past imperfective tenses were quite easy to learn and the reason why I took so much time posting the simple past or perfective tense was because it’s slightly trickier. Why is it trickier? To be able to use the past simple tense properly, we need to learn to differentiate between intransitive and transitive verbs as well as give more attention to the noun genders. We will also need to learn about postposition “ने” (ne).

WHAT ARE TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS? 

Intransitive verbs are those that don't have an object:
"The boy laughed". (We cannot ask: "What did he laugh?")
Transitive verbs are those that have an object:
"The boy read the book". (We can ask: "What did he read?")

1. INTRANSITIVE VERBS

To simply express a completed action that has no object (“I got up”, “I slept”, “He laughed”, “We ran”, “They arrived”) we will use this formula:

Personal pronoun
Verb stem
Ending
Outcome
मैं
उठ
-
मैं उठा
Main
uThaa
-aa
Main uThaa
I (m)
get up/rise
I got up/rose
मैं
सो
-या
मैं सोया
Main
so
-yaa
Main soya
I (m)
sleep
I slept
वह
हँस
-
वह हँसी 
Vah
hans
-ee
Vah hansee
She
laugh
She laughed
हम
भाग 
-
हम भागे
Ham
bhaag
-e
Ham bhaage
We (m)
run
We ran
वे
पहूँच
-ईँ
वे पहूँचीं
Ve
pahoonch
-een
Ve pahooncheen
They (f)
reach
They reached.

After looking at this table you can work out how intransitive verbs are built. You may notice that the ending varies between -, -, -, -ईँ (-a, -e, -ee, -een). Intransitive verbs agree with the subject, so if the speaker is male, he will say: “Main uthaa” (I got up), a female would say: “Main uthee”, talking about a group of men, we’ll say “Ve uthe” and talking about a group of women, we’ll say: “Ve utheen”, using the nasal sound at the end (I use “n” to note a nasal sound).

लड़का उठा
ladkaa uThaa
A boy got up.
लड़के उठे
ladke uThe
Boys got up.
लड़की उठी
ladkee uThee
A girl got up.
लडकियां उठीं 
ladkiyaan uTheen
Girls got up.

So by learning intransitive verbs you will be able to describe the state and motion that happened in the past such as:

मैं सुबह जल्दी उठा।

Main subah jaldee uThaa.

I woke up early in the morning.

मेरी बहिन सड़क पे दौड़ी।

Meree bahin saDak pe daurhee.

My sister ran in the street.

हमारे रिश्तेदार आये।

Hamaare rishtedaar aaye.

Our relatives came.

मेहमान वहा बेठे।

Mehmaan vahaa beThe.

Guest sat there.

रुचिका थोड़ा मुस्कुरायी।


Ruchikaa thoDaa muskuraayee.

Ruchika smiled a little.


किताब मेज़ पर पड़ी थी 

Kitaab mez par paDee thee.

The book was on the table.

फिर वह यह बोला 

Phir vah yah bola.

Then he said this.

मेरे पति बहार गए थे  
Mere pati bahaar gaye the.
My husband went outside.

You may have noticed that some verbs in the perfective tense end with “-aa”, “-e”, “ee” or “een” but there are some that end in “-yaa”, “-ye”, “yee” and “-yeen”.

So all the verbs that have a stem that ends with a consonant, like हंस+ना (hans+naa – to laugh) orभाग+ना (bhaag+naa – to run), they will use the endings “-aa”, “-e”, “-ee” and “-een”.

These verb stems that end with a vowel will use endings with “ya” in the beginning. For example:सो+ना (so+naa – to sleep) will become सो+या (so+yaa – slept); “+ना (aa+naa – to come) will become +या (aa+yaa – came).

At the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, Rajasthan
                                                   
2. IRREGULAR VERBS IN PERFECTIVE TENSE

Some of the most important and most used Hindi verbs (also called auxiliary verbs) will have irregular form for its perfective tense.

Infinitive
Masculin, sg
Masculine, pl
Feminine, sg
Feminine, pl
आना
aanaa
to come
आया
aayaa
came
आए
aae
came

आई
aaee
came

आईं
aaeen
came

करना
karnaa
to do
किया
kiyaa
did
किए
kie
did

की
kee
did
कीं
keen
did
जाना
jaanaa
to go
गया
gayaa
went
गए
gae
went

गई
gaee
went
गईं
gaeen
went

लेना
lenaa
to take
लिया
liyaa
took  
लिए
lie
took  

ली
lee
took
लीं
leen
took

होना
honaa
to be, occur
हुआ
huaa
was, occurred
हुए
hue
was, occurred
हुई
huee
was, occurred
हुईं
hueen
was, occurred

Also give and drink:

Infinitive
M, sg
M, pl
F, sg
F, pl
देना
denaa
give
दिया
diyaa
gave
दिए
die
gave
दी
dee
gave
दीं
deen
gave
पीना
peenaa
drink
पीया
piyaa
drank
पिए
pie
drank
पी
pee
drank
पीं
peen
drank

EXAMPLES:

पापा कहाँ है?
Papa kahaan hai?
Where is daddy?
पापा बहार गए थे 
Papa bahaar gae the.
Daddy went abroad/outside.
दादी कहाँ गई?
Dadi kahaan gaee?
Where did your grandma go?
दादी बाज़ार गई।
Dadi baazaar gaee.
Grandma went to the market.
क्या हुआ?
Kya hua?
What happened?
कुछ नहीं हुआ।
Kuchh naheen hua.
Nothing (happened).
आप लोग कहाँ तक पहुंचे?
Aap log kahaan tak pahoonche?
Where are you? (Where did you reach?)
हम आगरा तक पहुंचे।
Ham Aagra tak pahoonche.
We reached Agra (We are in Agra).
वह कब उठी?
Vah kab uThee?
When did she wake up?
वह लगभग दस बजे उठी।
Vah lagbhag das baje uThee.
She woke up around ten o'clock.
वह दोनों बहुत हँसीं।
Vah donon bahut hanseen.
They both laughed a lot.
वह रोया नहीं।
Vah roya naheen.
He didn't cry.
तुम कितना बोली?
Tum kitnaa bolee?
How much did you say?
मैं सिर्फ इतना बोली।
Main sirf itnaa bolee.
I only said this much.

* THIS POST IS INCOMPLETE (I will explain the transitive verbs soon)...