A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 6

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6.5

Imperatives


Each Hindi verb has two commonly used "imperative" or command forms.
The "familiar" form, corresponding to the pronoun
तुम, should be used with friends, people you know well, and people who are younger than you.
The "polite" form, corresponding to the pronoun
आप, should be used with everyone else.

Formula

Familiar Imperative:

Root Verb +

Polite Imperative

Root Verb + इये or इए

 Examples:

Inifinitive

Familiar Imperative

Polite Imperative

जाना

जाओ

जाइये

आना

आओ

आइये

ख़रीदना

ख़रीदो

ख़रीदिये

देखना

देखो

देखिये

सुनना

सुनो

सुनिये

 There are three verbs so far that have irregular imperatives:

Inifinitive

Familiar Imperative

Polite Imperative

देना

दो

दीजिये

लेना

लो

लीजिये

करना

करो

कीजिये

 Examples:

यहाँ से जाइये।

Go from here. (polite)

घर आओ।

Come home. (familiar)

ये सन्तरे ख़रीदिये।

Buy these oranges. (polite)

मुझे अपनी किताब दीजिये।

Give your (own) book to me. (polite)

उस आदमी को देखो।

Look at that man. (familiar)

Negation: In English we use the word “don’t” to create a negative command: in Hindi we use the word मत before the imperative verb.   Examples:

यहाँ से मत जाइये।

Don’t go from here.

उस आदमी को मत देखो!

Don’t look at that man!

See Snell's Teach Yourself Hindi (2000)
Section 5.2 page 63