Hindi Patterns

Compound Verbs

If you follow the rules for verb conjugation and try to translate the English phrase “you will get the money”, it would translate to “apko pase milege”. However, if you speak to a native Hindi speaker, they will say “apko pase mil jaege.”

“mil jaege” is what is known as a compound verb.

Compound verbs consist of a main verb in its root form followed by a light verb in the conjugated form. The light verb, when used in a compound, loses its own independent meaning, and instead lends a certain shade of meaning to the main verb, which comprises the core meaning of the compound.

While almost any verb can act as the main verb, there is a limited set of light verbs that are used. The most commonly used light verbs are:

• janaa (to go)
• lenaa (to take)
• denaa (to give)
• anaa (to come)
• chuknaa (to finish)

Janaa

Janaa means to go.

When janaa is used as the light verb, it adds a sense of finality, or completion.

For example:

Main verb	Definition	Phrase	Meaning
khanaa	to eat	vo khana kha jata hai	he at up everything
milnaa	to get	mil gaya	found it
anaa	to come	a gaya	it came

Remember, janaa is irregular in the past tense!

Lenaa

Lenaa means to take.

When lenaa used as the light verb, it indicates that the benefit of the action of the main verb is toward the doer. It is also used with polite imperatives to add a polite, suggestive tone.

Example:

Main verb	Definition	Phrase	Meaning
parhnaa	to read	vo kitab parh leta	he read the book to his own desire
karnaa	to do	kar lejie	you should do this

Denaa

Denaa means to give.

When denaa i used as the light verb, it indicates that the benefit of the action of the main verb is away from the doer rather than toward him.

For example:

Main verb	Definition	Phrase	Meaning
parhnaa	to read	vo kitaben parh deta	he read the books out loud
karnaa	to do	kar dejie	you should do this for him

Anaa

Anaa means to come.

When anaa is used as the light verb, it conveys that the doer went somewhere to do something and came back after completing the action.

For example:

Main verb	Definition	Phrase	Meaning
karnaa	to do	kar ata	finish and return
nikalnaa	to come out	nikal ati	escape
deknaa	to see	sab dek ate	saw them all

Chuknaa

Chuknaa means to finish.

When chuknaa is used as the light verb, it shows a completeness of the action by the doer in the past.

For example:

Main verb	Definition	Phrase	Meaning
marnaa	to die	mar chukte	they have already died
jitnaa	to win	jit chukta	he already won

Special Secondary Verb

Chahnaa

Chahnaa means to want.

When chahnaa is used as the light verb, the main verb is always used in the infinitive form janaa, anaa, ganaa, and so on.

For example:

Main verb	Definition	Phrase	Meaning
penaa	to drink	main chai penaa chahta hoon	i want to drink tea
sunanaa	to hear	main apka gana sunanaa chahti hoon	i want to hear you sing