hindilanguage.

info Home | About | Contact

Information about the Hindi language Search

Start Learning Devanagari Grammar Lessons Vocabulary Notes Blogs More

GRAMMAR SECTIONS
Show All | Collapse All
Infinitives
Syntax
Grammar » Verbals
Possession
[-] Particles
Emphatic Particles April 20, 2012

Negative Particles
तो Infinitives are verbal nouns.
भी
यूँ They have characteristics of both verbs and nouns.

ही
Like verbs, infinitives express an action or a state, and have gender and number.
[-] Miscellaneous
[-] Affixes
Like nouns, infinitives have gender, number, and case. Infinitives can be used in manners similar to nouns as well.
वाला
Echo Words Infinitives in English are formed with the word “to” followed by a verb stem: “to go”, “to be”, “to run”, etc.
Pair Words
Interjections
Adverbs Form
Conditional Sentences
[-] Postpositions Hindi infinitives are formed by suffixing an infinitive suffix to a verb stem. The infinitive suffixes are as follows:
को
GENDER NUMBER SUFFIX
Conjunctions
[-] Verbals Masculine Singular ना
[-] Participles
Verb Stem + रहा Masculine Plural ने
Habitual Participles
Feminine Singular नी
Future Participles
Passive Participles Feminine Plural नी
Perfect Participles
Imperfective Participles
The following table summarizes the infinitive forms of खाना as an example:
Conjunctive Participles
Infinitives GENDER NUMBER SUFFIX

[-] Verbs
Participle + जाना
Masculine Singular खाना
Compulsion Idioms
Masculine Plural खाने
Infinitive + होना
Modality Feminine Singular खानी
[-] Mood
Imperative Mood Feminine Plural खानी
Presumptive Mood
Subjunctive Mood In the oblique case, the infinitive suffix is ने, as in खाने.
Aspect
Tense
Negation The Oblique Infinitive
[-] Idiomatic Verbs
जाना The oblique infinitive has a variety of uses. Since infinitives are verbal nouns, these usages are similar to the usages of oblique
चुकना nouns.
िमलना
चाहना
चािहये
The Oblique Infinitive With Postpositions
सकना
The oblique infinitive, just like an oblique noun, is employed when the infinitive is the object of a postposition. A “gerund” is simply
देना
a verb which is used as a noun. Thus, in this instance, the oblique infinitive is functioning as a gerund.
पाना
लगना
होना Examples of Oblique Infinitives with Postpositions
[-] Voice
Passive Voice वो लोग घर गए खाना खाने के िलए (“They went home to eat food”). In this sentence, the oblique infinitive खाने is used with the
Causative Verbs postposition के िलए to indicate purpose (“they went home for the purpose of eating”). This is a common idiom in Hindi. The oblique
Iterative Constructions infinitive can be used with a variety of postpositions: खाने के बाद (“after eating”), खाने के पहले (“before eating”), खाने के िबना
Continuity
(“without eating”), or even मुझे िमठाइयाँ खाने का मन है (“I feel like eating some sweets” – literally “to me there is a desire of eating
Multiple Subjects
sweets”).
Ergativity
Transitivity
The infinitive + postposition can be translated literally into English by converting the oblique infinitive to a gerund and the
Indirect Verb Constructions
postposition into a preposition:
Compound Verbs
Conjunct Verbs खाना खाने के िलए – literally “for eating food”; however, it is usually better style to convert the postpositional phrase into more
[-] Basic Verb Forms
idiomatic English.
Future Perfect
Future Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous The Oblique Infinitive Without Pospositions
Past Perfect Continuous
Present Perfect Continuous The oblique infinitive may appear without a postposition.
Future
Past Perfective
Past Perfect The Oblique Infinitive in Idioms
Present Perfect
Additionally, the oblique infinitive is used in several idioms.
Past Continuous
Present Continuous
मुझे जाने दो (“let me go”) – the oblique infinitive + form of देना (“to give”) is used to express “to allow, to let, to permit”, etc.
Past Habitual
Present Habitual
वो लोग हँ सने लगे – “those people began to laugh” – the oblique infinitive + form of लगना is used to express “to begin to do
[-] Adjectives
something”.
ऐसा
Reflexive Adjective
Indefinite Adjectives
Gender and Infinitives
Interrogative Adjectives
Superlative Adjectives
The infinitive is usually used neutrally (the masculine singular form) or in the oblique form. The feminine forms and masculine
Comparative Adjectives
plural forms are used in certain situations, however.
[-] Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns
Indefinite Pronouns Idioms of Compulsion
Relative Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns For instance, several idioms involving compulsion and obligation require the infinitive to agree with its direct object:
Interrogative Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Infinitive + चािहए
[-] Nouns
Case
Gender
आपको ये िकताबें खरीदनी चािहयें – “you should buy these books” – the infinitive खरीदनी (“to buy”) agrees with its direct object since
the agent (आप) is “blocked” by the postposition को, which indicates the person under obligation.

GET CONNECTED
Infinitive + पड़ना

Mailing List RSS Feed

NEWS Infinitive + होना

JANUARY 8, 2015
मुझे यह िकताब पढ़नी है – “I have to read this book” – the infinitive पढ़नी (“to read”) agrees with its direct object, िकताब (“book”).
Happy New Year 2015!

Happy new year! Last year, I added about 30

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy new year! I was very productive in

LINKS The infinitive is commonly used as a gerund. मुझे सोना पसंद है – “I like sleeping”. मुझे िहं दी बोलना मुिश्कल लगता है – “Speaking
Hindi seems difficult to me”. In each of these sentences, the infinitive or infinitive phrase is the subject of a verb, and thus is being
CrazyLassi's Hindi Lessons used like a noun.

Glovico
Verb Complements
Hindi Urdu Flagship
The infinitive is commonly used to complement a verb. मैं घर जाना चाहता हूँ – I want to go home. The infinitive जाना (“to go”)
Hindi Verbs complements the verb चाहता हूँ , completing the verb – “I want… to go”.

iSpeakHindi
The Neutral Imperative
italki
The infinitive is used as a neutral imperative: एक िकताब लाना – “bring a book”.
Jim Becker's Hindi Links

Justlearn
« Conjunctive Particip… Grammar Verbs »
KitaabWorld Back to Top

Learning Hindi
0 Comments hindilanguage.info 🔒 Disqus' Privacy Policy "
1 Login

MindurHindi
( Recommend t Tweet f Share Sort by Newest

Omniglot
Start the discussion…
PicturEverything.com's Online Guide
LOG IN WITH OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS ?

Trying to learn Hindi Name

Tutorical

Be the first to comment.

✉ Subscribe d Add Disqus to your site ⚠ Do Not Sell My Data

Devanagari | Grammar | Lessons | Vocabulary | Notes | Blogs | More

Home | About | Contact

2015 hindilanguage.info Log in | Website designed by Aeterna Studio