Unlike English, Hindi makes a distinction between the imperfective aspect of a verb (which denotes process) and the perfective aspect of a verb (which denotes the beginning or the end of a process). For that reason, Hindi verbs can be interpreted in two ways.
Verbs are divided into two groups: simple verbs, which have only one stem, and intensive verbs, which have compound stems (composed of two stems). Simple verbs can have either perfective or imperfective aspects, while compound verbs can only have perfective aspects.
Intensive verbs are formed by taking the stem of the main verb, which denotes the situation, then adding one of the auxiliary verbs which marks the intensive aspect. These auxiliary verbs lose their own meanings but often impart different shades of meaning to the main verb. There are not many auxiliary verbs. Some of them are given in the table below.
|
Auxiliary Verb |
Shades of Meaning |
Examples |
|
आना aanaa 'to come' |
Approaching, bringing near, direction of the action or process onto the subject |
भाग आना bhaag aanaa 'to come running' (भागना bhaagnaa 'to run') निकल आना nikal aanaa 'to appear, to turn up' (निकलना nikalnaa 'to come out') |
|
जाना jaanaa 'to go' |
Moving away, completeness of an action, finality, or change of state |
मर जाना mar jaanaa 'to become dead' (मरना marnaa 'to die') खा जाना khaa jaanaa 'to eat up' (खाना khaanaa 'to eat') |
|
लेना lenaa 'to take' |
Subject's interest in the result of the action, direction of the action or process onto the subject |
लिख लेना likh lenaa 'to note down' (लिखना likhnaa 'to write') पी लेना pii lenaa 'to have a drink of something' (पीना piinaa 'to drink') |
|
देना denaa 'to give' |
Direction of the action or process from the subject onto someone else, the interest of someone else in the result of the action, moving away |
पढ़ देना paRh denaa 'to read something to somebody' (पढ़ना paRhnaa 'to read') भेज देना bhej denaa 'to send away, to dispatch' (भेजना bhejnaa 'to send') |
|
पड़ना paRnaa 'to fall' |
Suddenness, unexpectedness |
रो पड़ना ro paRnaa 'to burst into tears' (रोना ronaa 'to weep, to cry') मिल पड़ना mil paRnaa 'to be found suddenly' (मिलना milnaa 'to be found') |
|
डालना Daalnaa 'to throw' |
The action results in the complete destruction or annihilation of something |
काट डालना kaaT Daalnaa 'to cut up' (काटना kaaTnaa 'to cut') मार डालना maar Daalnaa 'to kill' (मारना maarnaa 'to beat') |
There are also a few other verbs that can be used as auxiliaries, such as उठना uThnaa 'to rise, to stand up', बैठना baiThnaa 'to sit down', रखना rakhnaa 'to keep, to hold', छोड़ना choRnaa 'to leave, to quit', खाना khaanaa 'to eat'. They are, however, not very frequently used.
Intensive verbs do not usually occur in negative sentences.
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