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How does the verb 'to be' work in Hindi?

Learn this verb properly in week one. Everything else in Hindi grammar leans on it.

The present tense

| Pronoun | Form | Example | |---|---|---| | मैं | हूँ hoon | मैं ठीक हूँ — I am fine | | तू | है hai | तू कहाँ है — where are you | | तुम | हो ho | तुम कैसे हो — how are you | | आप | हैं hain | आप कैसे हैं — how are you (polite) | | वह | है hai | वह डॉक्टर है — he/she is a doctor | | हम / वे | हैं hain | हम तैयार हैं — we are ready |

Five forms, and हैं covers three of the pronouns. This is less than French or Spanish.

It goes at the end

मैं भारत से हूँ — literally "I India from am".

The verb is last. Always. This is the word-order rule that costs English speakers their first few months, and होना is where you first meet it.

Never drop it

Russian and Arabic drop the present tense of "to be" — "I student" is a complete sentence. Hindi does not. मैं छात्र without हूँ is incomplete and sounds wrong.

The past tense, where gender arrives

था / थे / थी / थीं — tha / the / thi / thin

Now the verb agrees with gender, not just number:

• मैं था — I was (man speaking)
• मैं थी — I was (woman speaking)
• वे थे — they were (masculine or mixed)
• वे थीं — they were (all feminine)

This surprises people. In Hindi the verb tells you the speaker's gender, which no European language does in the same way.

It builds every other tense

होना is the helper verb for the continuous and habitual tenses:

• मैं जा रहा हूँ — I am going
• मैं जाता हूँ — I go / I usually go

Get होना wrong and every tense after it is wrong. Get it right and the rest of the verb system is largely regular.

There is no verb "to have"

Possession uses के पास with होना: मेरे पास किताब है — literally "near me a book is". Strange for a week, then straightforward.

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