HINDI VERBS 7 (Simple Past Tense)

We have learned how to use Simple Imperfective (I used to do) and Past Continuous (I am doing) tenses. In Hindi it would sound:

मैं जाता था	Main jaataa thaa	I used to go.
मैं जा रहा था	Main jaa rahaa thaa	I was going.

In both cases, we added different endings to the verb stem “जा” (जाना – jaanaa – to go without the ending “-na”).

At the Taj Mahal complex in Agra

                                                   

The past continuous and past imperfective tenses were quite easy to learn and the reason why I took so much time posting the simple past or perfective tense was because it’s slightly trickier. Why is it trickier? To be able to use the past simple tense properly, we need to learn to differentiate between intransitive and transitive verbs as well as give more attention to the noun genders. We will also need to learn about postposition “ने” (ne).

WHAT ARE TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS? 

Intransitive verbs are those that don't have an object:
'The boy laughed'. (We cannot ask: 'What did he laugh?')
Transitive verbs are those that have an object:
'The boy read the book'. (We can ask: 'What did he read?')

1. INTRANSITIVE VERBS

To simply express a completed action that has no object (“I got up”, “I slept”, “He laughed”, “We ran”, “They arrived”) we will use this formula:

Personal pronoun	Verb stem	Ending	Outcome
मैं	उठ	-आ	मैं उठा
Main	uThaa	-aa	Main uThaa
I (m)	get up/rise		I got up/rose
मैं	सो	-या	मैं सोया
Main	so	-yaa	Main soya
I (m)	sleep		I slept
वह	हँस	-ई	वह हँसी
Vah	hans	-ee	Vah hansee
She	laugh		She laughed
हम	भाग	-ए	हम भागे
Ham	bhaag	-e	Ham bhaage
We (m)	run		We ran
वे	पहूँच	-ईँ	वे पहूँचीं
Ve	pahoonch	-een	Ve pahooncheen
They (f)	reach		They reached.

After looking at this table you can work out how intransitive verbs are built. You may notice that the ending varies between -आ, -ए, -ई, -ईँ (-a, -e, -ee, -een). Intransitive verbsagree with the subject, so if the speaker is male, he will say: “Main uthaa”(I got up), a female would say: “Main uthee”, talking about a group of men, we’ll say “Ve uthe” and talking about a group of women, we’ll say: “Ve utheen”, using the nasal sound at the end (I use “n” to note a nasal sound).

लड़का उठा	ladkaa uThaa	A boy got up.
लड़के उठे	ladke uThe	Boys got up.
लड़की उठी	ladkee uThee	A girl got up.
लडकियां उठीं	ladkiyaan uTheen	Girls got up.

So by learning intransitive verbs you will be able to describe the state and motion that happened in the past such as:

मैं सुबह जल्दी उठा।		Main subah jaldee uThaa.		I woke up early in the morning.
मेरी बहिन सड़क पे दौड़ी।		Meree bahin saDak pe daurhee.		My sister ran in the street.
हमारे रिश्तेदार आये।		Hamaare rishtedaar aaye.		Our relatives came.
मेहमान वहा बेठे।		Mehmaan vahaa beThe.		Guest sat there.
रुचिका थोड़ा मुस्कुरायी।		Ruchikaa thoDaa muskuraayee.		Ruchika smiled a little.
किताब मेज़ पर पड़ी थी ।		Kitaab mez par paDee thee.		The book was on the table.
फिर वह यह बोला।		Phir vah yah bola.		Then he said this.
मेरे पति बहार गए थे  ।		Mere pati bahaar gaye the.		My husband went outside.

You may have noticed that some verbs in the perfective tense end with “-aa”, “-e”, “ee” or “een” but there are some that end in “-yaa”, “-ye”, “yee” and “-yeen”.

So all the verbs that have a stem that ends with a consonant, like “हंस+ना” (hans+naa – to laugh) or “भाग+ना” (bhaag+naa – to run), they will use the endings “-aa”, “-e”, “-ee” and “-een”.

These verb stems that end with a vowel will use endings with “ya” in the beginning. For example: “सो+ना” (so+naa – to sleep) will become सो+या (so+yaa – slept); “आ+ना” (aa+naa – to come) will become “आ+या“(aa+yaa – came).

At the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur, Rajasthan

                                                   

2. IRREGULAR VERBS IN PERFECTIVE TENSE

Some of the most important and most used Hindi verbs (also called auxiliary verbs) will have irregular form for its perfective tense.

Infinitive	Masculin, sg	Masculine, pl	Feminine, sg	Feminine, pl
आना aanaa to come	आया aayaa came	आए aae came	आई aaee came	आईं aaeen came
करना karnaa to do	किया kiyaa did	किए kie did	की kee did	कीं keen did
जाना jaanaa to go	गया gayaa went	गए gae went	गई gaee went	गईं gaeen went
लेना lenaa to take	लिया liyaa took	लिए lie took	ली lee took	लीं leen took
होना honaa to be, occur	हुआ huaa was, occurred	हुए hue was, occurred	हुई huee was, occurred	हुईं hueen was, occurred

Also give and drink:

Infinitive	M, sg	M, pl	F, sg	F, pl
देना denaa give	दिया diyaa gave	दिए die gave	दी dee gave	दीं deen gave
पीना peenaa drink	पीया piyaa drank	पिए pie drank	पी pee drank	पीं peen drank

EXAMPLES:

पापा कहाँ है?	Papa kahaan hai?	Where is daddy?
पापा बहार गए थे ।	Papa bahaar gae the.	Daddy went abroad/outside.
दादी कहाँ गई?	Dadi kahaan gaee?	Where did your grandma go?
दादी बाज़ार गई।	Dadi baazaar gaee.	Grandma went to the market.
क्या हुआ?	Kya hua?	What happened?
कुछ नहीं हुआ।	Kuchh naheen hua.	Nothing (happened).
आप लोग कहाँ तक पहुंचे?	Aap log kahaan tak pahoonche?	Where are you? (Where did you reach?)
हम आगरा तक पहुंचे।	Ham Aagra tak pahoonche.	We reached Agra (We are in Agra).
वह कब उठी?	Vah kab uThee?	When did she wake up?
वह लगभग दस बजे उठी।	Vah lagbhag das baje uThee.	She woke up around ten o'clock.
वह दोनों बहुत हँसीं।	Vah donon bahut hanseen.	They both laughed a lot.
वह रोया नहीं।	Vah roya naheen.	He didn't cry.
तुम कितना बोली?	Tum kitnaa bolee?	How much did you say?
मैं सिर्फ इतना बोली।	Main sirf itnaa bolee.	I only said this much.