Appendix:Hindi verbs

Main category: Hindi verbs

Types edit

In Hindi, there are only two main verb types: regular and irregular.

Regular edit

Regular verbs all follow the same pattern. Most verbs are regular, the exceptions being some two-syllable words with stems ending in vowels.

Vowel shortening edit

Verbs with stems ending in a long ū or ī regularly shorten this vowel to u or i, respectively, when the ending begins with a vowel.

Irregular edit

There are two types of irregular verbs: those with a different polite second-person imperative, and the rest.

Irregular Imperative edit

Some words deviate from the regular polite imperative -īe, -īye, instead using jīe, jīye. In some words, the stem also changes.

Others edit

Some words undergo other changes. The most prominent one is होना (honā, to be), which seemingly follows no pattern, retaining the old Sanskrit and Prakrit conjugations.

Causatives edit

Most verbs have two causative forms, a first-level and a second-level. The first-level causative is either a transitive form of the original verb or of the form "to cause X". The second-level causative takes this one step further, having the meaning "to cause X to do Y". Here are some examples of causatives:

Origins edit

Some elements of the Hindi conjugation system descent from parts of the older, complicated Sanskrit conjugation system. The "enlarged form" refers to the usage of Indo-Aryan pleonastic suffixes (also called extensions), most notably Middle Indo-Aryan -𑀓- (-ka-). These seem to have little semantic content of their own; rather, they serve to disambiguate terms that have collapsed into one following sound changes from OIA to MIA.

  • The infinitive originates from an enlarged form of the Sanskrit verbal noun in -अन (-ana).
Sanskrit चरण (caraṇa) → Hindi चलना (calnā)
Sanskrit कथन (kathana) → Hindi कहना (kahnā)
Sanskrit वसन (vasana) → Hindi बसना (basnā)
  • The present participle originates from an enlarged form of the Sanskrit present participle in -अत् (-at) (singular accusative -अन्तम् (-antam)).1
Sanskrit चरत् (carat) → Hindi चलता (caltā)
Sanskrit भरत् (bharat) → Hindi भरता (bhartā)
Sanskrit कथयत् (kathayat) → Hindi कहता (kahtā)
  • The perfect participle originates from an enlarged form of the Sanskrit past participle in -इत (-ita) or -त (-ta). The linking Hindi -y- between a stem ending in a vowel and the perfect participle ending is a reflex of the Sanskrit -t-; otherwise, this -t- was lost.
Sanskrit चरित (carita) → Hindi चला (calā)
Sanskrit कृत (kṛta) → Hindi किया (kiyā)
Sanskrit गत (gata) → Hindi गया (gayā)
Sanskrit दित (dita) → Hindi दिया (diyā)
  • The Hindi subjunctive, also the base of the future tense, originates from the Sanskrit indicative present.2
Sanskrit चरामि (carāmi, I walk) → Hindi चलूँ (calū̃)
Sanskrit चरसि (carasi, You walk) → Hindi चले (cale)
Sanskrit चरति (carati, He/she/it walks) → Hindi चले (cale)
Sanskrit चरथ (caratha, You all walk) → Hindi चलो (calo)
  • The Hindi future tense derives from the above with -गा (-gā), a simplified form of the enlarged Sanskrit गत (gata) (whence Hindi गया (gayā))
  • The Hindi imperative singular (i.e. for तू (), least respectful) derives from the Sanskrit second person singular active imperative.
Sanskrit चर (cara) → Hindi चल (cal)
  • The imperative plural (i.e. for तुम (tum), mid-respectful) derives from the Sanskrit second person plural active imperative.
Sanskrit चरथ (caratha) → Hindi चलो (calo)
  • The most respectful imperative (i.e. for आप (āp)) derives from the Sanskrit third-person present passive form, ending in -यते (-yate). In a handful of common words, the -y- was geminated before the Prakrit-stage, leading to -jj- in Prakrit and thus -(ī)ji(y)e in Hindi (as in कीजिए (kījie) or दीजिए (dījie)).
Sanskrit चर्यते (caryate) → Hindi चलिए (calie), Hindi चलिएगा (caliegā)
  • The Sanskrit third-person imperative passive ending -यतु (-yatu) regularly gives Hindi -इयो (-iyo), a less common imperative ending. The infinitive as an imperative is a usage seen since the Apabhramsa time.
Sanskrit चर्यतु (caryatu) → Hindi चलियो (caliyo)

Notes:

  1. The Hindi -t- cannot go back to Sanskrit intervocalic -t-, since that would have left no trace in Hindi (e.g. the perfect participle). Hence, it must go back to Sanskrit -nt- (cf. ਕਹਿੰਦਾ (kahindā), cognate to कहता (kahtā), retaining the original nasal).[1]
  2. The origin of Hindi चलें (calẽ) for the first-person and third-person plural is less clear. Probably, the Apabhramsa first-person plural -ahuṁ ending was later replaced by the third-person plural ending -ahiṃ. The Apabhramsa third-person plural -ahiṁ, in turn, was formed from the third-person singular -ai on the analogy of the first-person plural -ahuṁ and first-person singular -auṁ. Hence, the Hindi forms do not originate clearly from Sanskrit चरामः (carāmaḥ, We walk) and चरन्ति (caranti, They walk).[2]

References edit

  1. ^ Masica, Colin P. (1993) The Indo-Aryan Languages (Cambridge Language Surveys), Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 281
  2. ^ Oberlies, Thomas (2005) A Historical Grammar of Hindi, Grazer Vergleichende Arbeiten, →ISBN

See also edit