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Hindi verbs — the first twenty

The verbs that appear in almost every conversation, in the three tenses a beginner needs, with the gender agreement shown rather than hidden.

20 verbs

EnglishVerbPresentPastFuture
to beहोना honaहैथाहोगा
to doकरना karnaकरता हैकियाकरेगा
to goजाना jaanaजाता हैगयाजाएगा
to comeआना aanaआता हैआयाआएगा
to eatखाना khaanaखाता हैखायाखाएगा
to drinkपीना peenaपीता हैपियापिएगा
to speakबोलना bolnaबोलता हैबोलाबोलेगा
to seeदेखना dekhnaदेखता हैदेखादेखेगा
to hearसुनना sunnaसुनता हैसुनासुनेगा
to learnसीखना seekhnaसीखता हैसीखासीखेगा
to understandसमझना samajhnaसमझता हैसमझासमझेगा
to writeलिखना likhnaलिखता हैलिखालिखेगा
to readपढ़ना padhnaपढ़ता हैपढ़ापढ़ेगा
to live / stayरहना rehnaरहता हैरहारहेगा
to giveदेना denaदेता हैदियादेगा
to takeलेना lenaलेता हैलियालेगा
to wantचाहना chaahnaचाहता हैचाहाचाहेगा
to meetमिलना milnaमिलता हैमिलामिलेगा
to sleepसोना sonaसोता हैसोयासोएगा
to walk / moveचलना chalnaचलता हैचलाचलेगा
All forms above are masculine singular

This is the citation form, and it is not the only form. A woman says करती है, not करता है; a plural or respectful subject takes करते हैं. Learning only the masculine form means being wrong a great deal of the time, so treat the table as a starting point rather than a complete paradigm.

How the three tenses are built

Present habitual: stem + ता/ती/ते + the right form of होना. बोलना becomes बोलता हूँ, बोलती हूँ, बोलते हैं.

Past perfective: stem + आ/ई/ए. बोला, बोली, बोले. If the verb is transitive, the subject takes ने and the verb agrees with the object — this is the part that needs a teacher.

Future: stem + ऊँगा/एगा/एँगे. बोलूँगा, बोलेगा, बोलेंगे. The most regular of the three and a good place to build confidence.

The noun-plus-करना trick

Hindi builds an enormous number of expressions as a noun followed by करना: काम करना (to work), बात करना (to talk), मदद करना (to help), इंतज़ार करना (to wait), पसंद करना (to like). Learn करना properly and you get several hundred expressions almost free, which is the single highest-leverage thing a beginner can do with verbs.

A note on the Hindi spellings

Devanagari is easy to get slightly wrong when it is typed by hand — a missing matra, the wrong nukta. If something here looks off to you, trust a native speaker over this page and please tell us so it gets fixed — it takes a moment and a real person reads it. Romanised spellings are a guide to the sound, not a standard: there is no single official way to write Hindi in Latin letters.

Questions

Why do Hindi verbs change with gender?

Because the verb agrees with its subject in gender and number, not only in person. मैं बोलता हूँ from a man, मैं बोलती हूँ from a woman. It is the same principle as adjective agreement in Spanish or French, extended to the verb.

What is the ने construction?

In the perfective — completed — form of a transitive verb, the subject takes ने and the verb agrees with the OBJECT instead of the subject. मैंने किताब पढ़ी: the verb is feminine because किताब is, not because the speaker is. This is called split ergativity and it is the single hardest structural feature of Hindi for most learners.

Which verbs should I learn first?

होना (to be) before anything else, then करना, जाना, आना and चाहना. Those five carry an enormous share of everyday speech, partly because Hindi builds many expressions as noun plus करना.

The ने construction is the one to get taught

Everything else on this page can be learned from a table. Split ergativity cannot — the rule is short and the exceptions are the whole subject, and self-taught learners generally fossilise a wrong version of it before they notice.

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