A Door Into Hindi: Lesson 9

1.Optative / Subjunctive

2. Future Tense

3. Telling time

4. Parts of the day

5. RV + कर = having V-ed

Culture Notes

Supplemental Materials

Devanagari Writing System

Digital Dictionaries

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9.1	Optative / Subjunctive

The optative tense (also called the subjunctive or conditional tense) is used to express an action that has not happened yet which is in doubt, or subject to conditions, or uncertain.

The optative tense is useful for sentences like:

क्या मैं जाऊँ? "Should I go?"

क्या कहूँ? "What should [I] say?"

Formula:

Root Verb

+ "Auxiliary Sound"

The "auxiliary sounds" that are to be attached to the root verb are given in the table below with their corresponding pronouns:

Pronoun	Aux. sound
मैं	ऊँ
तुम	ओ
वह, यह	ए
हम	एँ
आप	एँ
वे, ये	एँ

Note that of the auxiliary sounds correspond approximately to the normal auxiliary verbs ( हूँ, हो, है, हैं ) with the letter ह removed.

		Regular verbs		Irregular verbs
Pronoun	Aux. sound	जाना	देखना	लेना	देना	होना
मैं	RV + ऊँ	जाऊँ	देखूँ	लूँ	दूँ	हूँ, होऊँ
तुम	RV + ओ	जाओ	देखो	लो	दो	हो
वह, यह	RV + ए	जाए	देखे	ले	दे	हो
हम	RV + एँ	जाएँ	देखें	लें	दें	हों
आप	RV + एँ	जाएँ	देखें	लें	दें	हों
वे, ये	RV + एँ	जाएँ	देखें	लें	दें	हों

See Snell's Teach Yourself Hindi (2000)
Section 10.1 page 125