A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 2

2. The verb होना and auxiliary verbs

3. Verb infinitive and verb root

4. Present imperfect tense

5.Present Progressive Tense

6."To Want To V"

7. Postpositions (Prevew)

8. "To a place"

Culture Notes

Exercises

Quiz

Supplemental Materials

Devanagari Writing System

Digital Dictionaries

Other Resources

2.4

Present Imperfect Tense

The present imperfect tense is used for actions that are performed regularly or often, or for statements about an existing condition. It is also sometimes called the present habitual tense .

Examples: I go to school. They eat vegetables. She wants to buy a necklace.

Formula:

root verb +

verb ending

ता / ते / ती

auxiliary verb

The verb ending must agree with the subject in number and gender as follows:

-ता is for masculine singular (m-s)

-ते is for masculine plural (m-p)

-ती is for feminine singular and plural (f-s/p)

- Once again, the root verb is the infinitive of the verb without the ना ending.

- The auxiliary verb is the same as the simple conjugation of the verb होना ("to be") as given in the chart in 2.2 above. The auxiliary verb agrees with the subject.

Some Examples: with the verb जाना ("to go")

a. A male says:

मैं

जाता

हूँ ।

"I go."

subject

(masculine)

root verb + masculine singular ending

first person singular auxiliary verb

b. A female says:

मैं

जाती

हूँ ।

"I go."

subject

(feminine)

root verb + feminine ending

first person singular auxiliary verb

c. About a female someone says:

वह

जाती

है ।

"She goes."

subject

(feminine)

root verb + feminine ending

third person singular auxiliary verb

d. A group says:

हम

जाते

हैं ।

"We go."

subject

(masculine plural)

root verb + masculine plural ending

first person plural auxiliary verb

e. You say to your friend(s) (familiar):

तुम

जाते

हो ।

"You go."

subject

(masculine)

root verb + masculine plural ending

second person plural (familiar) auxiliary verb

f. You say to your friend(s) (polite):

आप

जाते

हैं ।

"You go."

subject

(masculine)

root verb + masculine plural ending

second person plural (polite) auxiliary verb

Note: you can change any of the masculine examples above into feminine by using the feminine verb ending ती instead of the masculine endings ता or ते .

Here is the present imperfect conjugation chart for the verb जाना "to go":

Feminine	Singular		Plural
First person	I go	मैं जाती हूँ	we go	हम जाती हैं
Second person (familiar)	you go	तू जाती है	you go	तुम जाती हो
Second Person (polite)	---	---	you go	आप जाती हैं
Third person (near)	he/that/it goes	वह जाती है	they/those go	वे जाती हैं
Third person (far)	he/this/it goes	यह जाती है	they/these go	ये जाती हैं
Masculine
First person	I go	मैं जाता हूँ	we go	हम जाते हैं
Second person (familiar)	you go	तू जाता है	you go	तुम जाते हो
Second Person (polite)	---	---	you go	आप जाते हैं
Third person (near)	he/that/it goes	वह जाता है	they/those go	वे जाते हैं
Third person (far)	he/this/it goes	यह जाता है	they/these go	ये जाते हैं

Remember:

a. You can use आप and तुम for one person or many.

b. Please don't use for anyone: it could be considered derogatory or insulting. You should know it, however, in case someone uses it. Sometimes it can be used by elder people to show particular love or closeness for their juniors.

See Snell's Teach Yourself Hindi (2000)
Section 6.1 page 25

A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 2

Plural