The verb लगना has a range of meanings and is used in a number
of idiomatic expressions. Most
expressions with लगना take the dative case.
A. Use लगना to express feelings of cold, heat, thirst,
hunger, etc.
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मुझे ठण्ड लग रही है।
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I am (feeling) cold.
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मुझे गर्मी लग रही है।
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I am (feeling) hot.
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मुझे भूख लग रही है।
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I am feeling hunger / I am hungry.
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मुझे प्यास लग रही है।
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I am feeling thirst / I am thirsty.
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मुझे डर लग रहा है।
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I am feeling fear / I am frightened / I’m scared.
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Of course लगना can
be used in any tense:
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मुझे ठण्ड लगती है।
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I feel cold (generally).
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मुझे गर्मी लगेगी।
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I will feel hot.
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मुझे भूख लग रही थी।
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I was feeling hunger / I was hungry.
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Occasionally the present perfect tense is used with लगना to
express a present feeling:
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मुझे ठण्ड लगी है।
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I am (feeling) cold.
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मुझे भूख लगी है।
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I am feeling hunger / I am hungry.
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B. Use चोट लगना to express an injury:
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मुझे चोट लगी।
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I was injured.
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मुझे चोट लगेगी।
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I will be injured.
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C. लगना can also express how something affects you:
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मुझे यह गाना अच्छा लग रहा है।
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I like this song / I find this song pleasing.
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तुम को हिन्दी कैसी लगती है?
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How do you like Hindi?
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आप को यह कैसा लगता है?
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How does this look to you / How do you like this?
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मुझे उसकी बात बहुत बुरी लगी।
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His words seemed very bad to me / I didn’t like what he
said.
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D. By itself, लगना means “to seem”, “to
look like”:
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लगता है कि ....
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It seems that… / It looks like…
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मुझे लगता है
कि ....
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It seems to me that…
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E. लगना is used to talk about
how long something takes:
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कितनी देर लगेगी?
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How long will it take?
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कितना वक़्त लगेगा?
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How much time will it take?
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इस काम के लिये तीन घण्टे लगेंगे।
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It will take three hours for this work.
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मुझे हिन्दी होमवर्क करने में दो दिन लगे।
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It took me two days to do my Hindi homework.
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F. लगना can also be used to talk
about how much something costs:
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कितना पैसा लगेगा?
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How much will it cost?
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इस काम के लिये चालीस रुपये लगेंगे।
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It will take forty rupees for this work.
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G. With an infinitive verb in the
oblique case, लगना means “to begin” / “to start”:
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हम आठ बजे खाने लगते हैं।
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We start to eat at 8 o’clock.
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लड़की नाचने लगी।
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The girl began to dance.
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बच्चा रोने लगा।
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The child started to cry.
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मुझे तुम से प्यार होने लगा।
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I have begun to love you.
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आप मुझे अच्छे लगने लगे।
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You started to look good to me / I started to like you.
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Note that in this kind of sentence
लगना always
functions as an intransitive verb: the ने construction should not
be used even when the verb with लगना is transitive:
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हम खाने लगे।
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We started to eat.
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H. लगना is also used to express
personal relationships:
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वे मेरी चाची लगती हैं।
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She is related to me as my aunt (father’s younger
brother’s sister).
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