Hindi Verb Definition, Types in English Examples

There are two types of verbs:

1. Auxiliary verbs

2. Main verbs

I. The Auxiliary Verb:

An auxiliary verb is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it appears, such as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany a main verb. The main verb provides the main semantic content of the clause. An example is the verb (have) in the sentence I have finished my lunch. Here, the main verb is finish, and the auxiliary have helps to express the perfect aspect. Some sentences contain a chain of two or more auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs, helper verbs, or (verbal) auxiliaries.

The verb होना honaa ′to be′ is used as a copula in simple predicative sentences, as well as an auxiliary in different types of verbal constructions. The verb होना honaa has four sets of verbal forms:

• Present tense forms of Verb
• Past tense forms of Verb
• Presumptive forms of Verb
• Subjunctive forms

The Present tense forms of होना honaa agree with their subjects in number and person.

2. The Past tense forms of होना honaa agree with their subjects in gender and number.

3. The Presumptive forms of होना honaa agree with their subjects in person, gender, and number.

4. The Subjunctive forms of होना honaa are used to indicate thesituations of speculative, hypothetical, contingent, or desired nature. They agree with their subjects in person and number.

II. Main Verbs:

There are three types of main verbs: simple verbs, conjunct verbs, and compound verbs. A simple verb may consist of one main verb and person, gender, number, tense, and aspect markers. In the compound verb construction, the person, gender, number, and aspect markers are taken by the explicators/operators, and in the conjunct verbal construction they are taken by the verb element. We will classify the verbal constructions as intransitive, transitive, di-transitive, causative, dative, conjunct, and compound.

• Simple Verbs
• Conjunct Verbs
• Compound Verbs

1. Simple Verb:

A simple verb may consist of one main verband person, gender, number, tense, and aspect markers. Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs.

Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singular present tense form ending in -s, a past tense (also called preterite), a past participle (which may be the same as the past tense), and a form ending in -ing that serves as a present participle and gerund. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are about 200 irregular verbs; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. The copula verb be has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular.

2. Conjunct Verb:

A conjunct is an adverbial that adds information to the sentence that is not considered part of the propositional content (or at least not essential) but which connects the sentence with previous parts of the discourse. Rare as it may be, conjuncts may also connect to the following parts of the discourse.

• It was raining. Therefore, we didn't go swimming.
• It was sunny. However, we stayed inside.
• You are such a dork. Still, I love you from the bottom of my heart.

A conjunct is one of the terms that are conjoined in a conjoining construction. Conjuncts are conjoined by means of a conjunction, which can be coordinating, subordinating or correlative. Conjuncts can be words, phrases, clauses, or full sentences.

• [Gretchen and her daughter] bought [motor oil, spark plugs, and dynamite].
• Take two of these and call me in the morning.

A verb form, for example the conjunct verb endings of Old Irish or the conjunct mood (sometimes called the subjunctive mood) of Algonquian languages, in the conjunctverbal construction they are taken by the verb element.

3. Compound Verb:

A compound verb is also called a "complex predicate" because the semantics, as formally modeled by a predicate, is determined by the primary verb, though both verbs appear in the surface form. Whether Noun+Verb (N+V) compounds are considered to be "compound verbs" is a matter of naming convention. Generally, the term complex predicate usually includes N+V compounds, whereas the term compound verb is usually reserved for V+V compounds. However, several authors [especially Iranists] refer to N+V compounds as compound verbs.In the compound verb construction, the person, gender, number, and aspect markers are taken by the explicators/operators, and

We willclassify the verbal constructions as,

• Intransitive Verbs
• Transitive Verbs
• Ditransitive Verbs
• Causative Verbs
• Dative Verbs
• Conjunct Verbs
• Compound Verbs

1. Intransitive Verb:

In grammar, an intransitive verb does not allow a direct object. This is a distinctive from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. The verb property is called transitivity. Intransitive verbs are often identified as those that can't be followed by who or what.

Intransitive verbs like आ aa 'come,' जा jaa 'go' उठ ud 'get up,' and बैठ bait 'sit.' do not take a direct object and are not marked by any postposition in the present or future tense. Subjects in such cases are controlled by the verb agreement.

1. वह जाता है।

vah jaataa hai.

he go-ptc is

He goes.

2. अमित घर जाएगा।

amit ghar jaayegaa.

Amit home go-fut

Amit will go home.

Besides verb agreement, subjects demonstrate a number of otherproperties which are explained below. Intransitive verbs in the pasttense take their subjects in the direct case.

3. वह बहुत थक गई।

vah bahut thak gaee.

she very tired aux

She was dead tired.

4. अमित समय पर आया।

amit samay par aayaa.

Amit time at came

Amit came on time.

Some intransitive verbs, such as खेल khel 'play' and लड़ lad 'fight,' may sometimes be used as transitives when they take abstract nouns as objects.

5.मोहन खेला।

Amohan khelaa.

Mohan played.

5a. मोहन ने खेल खेला।

mohan ne khel khelaa.

Mohan played a game.

2. Transitive Verb :

A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects. Transitivity is traditionally thought a global property of a clause, by which activity is transferred from an agent to a patient.

Transitive verbs, such as पढ़ pad 'read,' लिख likh 'write,' ला laa'bring,' दे de 'give,' ले le 'take,' and कर kar 'do,' take direct objects,and in the past tense they require their subjects must be marked withthe ergative case markers agreeing with the object in gender andnumber.

6. उमा ने किताब पढ़ी।

umaa ne kitaab padee.

Uma-erg book-fs read-fs

Uma read a book.

7. अमर ने अख़बार ख़रीदा।

amar ne akhbaar khareeda.

Amar-erg newspaper-ms bought-ms

Amar bought a newspaper.

Some transitive verbs are derived from intransitives by certainvocalic changes to the verb roots.

In certain cases besides vocalic changes, some consonantal changes also take place.

A few transitive verbs like बोल bol 'to speak,' समझ samjh 'to understand' and भूल bhool 'to forget' are sometimes used as intransitives and do not take an ergative case marker.

8. मैं बोला/ समझा/ भूला।

main bolaa / samajhaa / bhoolaa.

I said/ understood/ forgot.

3. Di-transitive Verb:

In grammar, a Di-transitive verb is a verb which takes a subject and two objects which refer to a theme and a recipient. According to certain linguistics considerations, these objects may be called direct and indirect, or primary and secondary. This is in contrast to mono transitive verbs, which take only one object, a direct or primary object.

Some verbs like देना denaa 'to give,' सूना suna: 'to tell,' बेचना bechnaa 'tosell' are called di-transitive's. Di-transitive's take three arguments, namely, subject, object, and indirect objects. Indirect objects are always marked in the dative. Other arguments follow the transitive pattern noted above.

9. अमर ने उमा को किताब दी |

amar ne umaa ko kitaab dee.

Amar gave a book to Uma.

10. उमा ने बच्चे को कहानी सुनाई।

umaa ne bachche ko kahaanee sunaaee.

Uma told a story to the child.

4. Causative Verb:

The normal English causative verb or control verb used in periphrasis is make rather than cause. Linguistic terms are traditionally given names with a Romance root, which has led some to believe that cause is more prototypical. While cause is a causative, it carries some additional meaning (it implies direct causation) and is less common than make. Also, while most other English causative verbs require a to complement clause (as in My mom caused me to eat broccoli"), make does not require one ("My mom made me eat broccoli"), at least when it is not being used in the passive voice.

Casuative verbs may be derived from transitive verbs by adding causative suffixes. They include the transitive verbs derived from intransitives. Causative verbs are, therefore, invariably transitive and take the same forms as other transitive verbs. There are two types of causative forms: causal I and causal II.

Causal I forms:

Causal I verbs are formed by adding the causal suffix -a: to the transitive verb form. As a result of adding this suffix, certain morphophonemic changes take place.

(a) Consonant ending roots with short vowels remain unchanged.

(b) The long vowels of the verb roots are shortened. The vowels ए /e/ and ई/ee/ change to इ/i/.

(c) The long vowel ending verb roots are shortened and the suffix -ला -laa instead of -आ-aa, is added to derive the first causal forms. As a result of adding the causative suffix to the verb root, the vowels ए /e/ and आ /aa/ change to इ/i/, and ओ /o/ changes to /u/.

Causal II forms:

Causal II or extended causatives are formed by adding the causal II suffix -वा -vaa to the verb roots.

(a) As a result of adding the causal II suffix to the transitive verb root, the vowel ओ /o/ changes to उ/u/.

तोड़ tod break तुड़वा tudvaa cause x to break

(b) There are few irregular forms. In the following example, the causal suffix -वा -va is added to the intransitive verb root बिक bik 'sell' instead of its transitive verb form बेच bech

बेच bech sell बिकवा bikvaa cause x to sell

(c) In certain cases, the meanings of the first and second causals are the same as in कराना karaanaa/ करवाना karvaanaa 'to get done' or धुलाना dhulaanaa/ धुलवाना dhulvaanaa 'to get washed.'

11. माँ ने बच्चे को दूध पिलाया।

maan ne bacche ko doodh pilaayaa.

The mother made the child drink milk.

11 a. माँ ने बच्चे को नर्स से दूध पिलवाया।

maan ne bachche ko nars se doodh pilvaayaa.

The mother caused the child to drink milk from the nurse.

5. Dative Verb:

The Dative construction is a grammatical way of constructing a sentence, using the dative case. A sentence is also said to be in dative construction if the subject and the object (direct or indirect) can switch their places for a given verb, without altering the verb's structure (subject becoming the new object, and the object becoming the new subject). The latter case is not to be confused with the passive voice, where only the direct object of a sentence becomes the subject of the passive-voiced sentence, and the verb's structure also changes to convey the meaning of the passive voice. The dative construction tends to occur when the verb indicates a state rather than an action.

Most dative verbs fall into the stative-inchoative category of verbs. They represent a small class of verbs but are very frequently used. They can be derived by substituting the intransitive verbs होना honaa 'to be,' and आना aanaa 'to come' in place of करना karnaa 'to do' in active/conjunct verbs as given below.

12. उसको यह किताब पसंद है।

usko yeh kitaab pasand hai.

He likes this book.

12a. उसको यह किताब पसंद आई।

usko yeh kitaab pasand aaee.

He liked this book.

12b.उसने यह किताब पसंद की।

usne yeh kitaab pasand kee.

He liked this book.

13. उसको सारी बात याद है।

usko saaree baat yaad hai.

He remembers the whole matter.

13a. उसको सारी बात याद आई।

usko saaree baat yaad aaee.

He remembered the whole matter.

13b. उसने सारी बात याद की।

usne saaree baat yaad kee.

He remembered the whole matter.

14. उसको यह बात पता है।

usko yah baat pataa hai.

He knows this matter.

14a. उसने यह बात पता की।

usne yah baat pataa kee.

He found out this thing.

6. Conjunct Verb:

A conjunct is an adverbial that adds information to the sentence that is not considered part of the propositional content (or at least not essential) but which connects the sentence with previous parts of the discourse. Rare as it may be, conjuncts may also connect to the following parts of the discourse.

• It was raining. Therefore, we didn't go swimming.
• It was sunny. However, we stayed inside.
• You are such a dork. Still, I love you from the bottom of my heart.

A conjunct is one of the terms that are conjoined in a conjoining construction. Conjuncts are conjoined by means of a conjunction, which can be coordinating, subordinating or correlative. Conjuncts can be words, phrases, clauses, or full sentences.

• [Gretchen and her daughter] bought [motor oil, spark plugs, and dynamite].
• Take two of these and call me in the morning.

A conjunct verb consists of a noun or an adjective and a verb, which takes all the verbal inflections. The verbs may be transitive or intransitive. The most frequent verbs used in conjunct verbal constructions are करना karnaa 'to do' and होना honaa 'to be.' Other verbs used are देना denaa 'to give,' आना aanaa 'to come,' and लगना lagnaa 'to feel.'

15. मैंने अपना काम समाप्त किया।

maine apnaa kaam samaapt kiyaa.

I finished my work.

15a. यह काम समाप्त हुआ।

yeh kaam samaapt huaa.

This work is done.

16. दरवाज़ा बंद करो।

darvaazaa band karo.

Close the door.

16a.दरवाज़ा बंद हुआ।

darvaaza band huaa.

The door was closed.

One class of conjunct verbs is formed by the combination of a noun and an intransitive verb, which requires the subject to be marked in the oblique case. This class includes psychological predicates such as गुस्सा आना gussaa aanaa 'to be angry,' भूख लगना bhookh lagnaa'to be hungry,' प्यास लगना pyaas lagnaa, 'to be thirsty,' तरस आना taras aanaa 'to have pity.' It also includes non-volitional verbs such as दिखाई देन dikhaee denaa 'to be seen.'

17. अमर को गुस्सा आया।

amar ko gussaa aayaa.

Amar was angry.

18. सुनीता को भूख / प्यास लगी।

suneeta ko bhookh/pyaas lagee.

Sunita was hungry/ thirsty.

19. मोहन को गरीब पर तरस आया।

mohan ko gareeb par taras aayaa.

Mohan took pity on the poor.

20. उसको अंतर दिखता नहीं।

usko antar dikhtaa nahee.

He is not able to see the difference.

7. Compound Verb:

A compound verb or complex predicate is a multi-word compound that functions as a single verb. One component of the compound is a light verb or vector, which carries any inflections, indicating tense, mood, or aspect, but provides only fine shades of meaning. The other, "primary", component is a verb or noun which carries most of the semantics of the compound, and determines its arguments. It is usually in either base or [in Verb + Verb compounds] conjunctive participial form.

A compound verb is also called a "complex predicate" because the semantics, as formally model by a predicate, is determined by the primary verb, though both verbs appear in the surface form. Whether Noun+Verb (N+V) compounds are considered to be "compound verbs" is a matter of naming convention. Generally, the term complex predicate usually includes N+V compounds, whereas the term compound verb is usually reserved for V+V compounds. However, several authors [especially Iranists] refer to N+V compounds as compound verbs.

Compound verbs in Hindi are combination of Verb 1 + Verb 2 (+inflections). Whereas Verb 1 (also called main verb) expresses general meaning and occurs in its stem form, verb 2, which is called an explicator/operator, takes all the inflections. The explicators belong to a small group of verbs. The original meaning of the explicator is lost. They add certain aspectual values, such as completion of an action, benefaction, or intensification, to the main verb. The most frequent explicators are listed below with their actual meaning and the aspectual meanings they add to main verbs.

Thus, a compound verb is made of two verbs, the first, the main verb which expresses its general meaning and, the second, an explicator/operator which is conjugated for different inflections. A large number of compound verbs are formed by the combination of verbs in which the first verb represents the meaning and the explicator takes all the grammatical inflections. Examples of such verbs are: आ जाना aa jaanaa 'to come,' मिल जाना mil jaanaa 'to get,' खा लेना khaa lenaa 'to eat,' पी लेना pee lenaa 'to drink,' ले आना le aanaa 'to bring,' खरीद लेना khareed lenaa 'to buy,' चल देना chal denaa 'to leave,' कर बैठना kar baithnaa 'to do,' कर डालना kar daalna: 'to do,' कर छोड़ना, kar chodnaa 'to do,' दे देना de denaa 'to give.'

21. सभी बच्चे समय पर आगए।

sabhee bachche samay par aagaye.

All the children came on time.

222. बच्चे ने सेब खा लिया।

bachche ne seb khaa liyaa.

The child ate an apple.

23. वह सारे पैसे ले गया।

vah saare paise le gayaa.

He took all the money.

24. उसने नई कार ख़रीद ली।

usne naee kaar khareed lee.

He bought a new car.

25. मैंने अपना काम कर डाला।

maine apnaa kaam kar daalaa.

I completed my work.

There are verbal phrases in which there are two or more inflexible verbs, such as पीता गया peeta gayaa 'went on drinking', सुनता रहा suntaa rahaa 'kept on listing', सोया पड़ा रहा soyaa paraa rahaa 'remained sleeping', चला गया chalaa gayaa 'gone'.

26. वह सारी रात चाय पीता गया।

vah saaree raat chaay peetaa gayaa.

He kept on drinking tea throughout the night.

27. वह मेरी बात ध्यान से सुनता रहा।

vah meree baat dhyaan se suntaa rahaa.

He kept on listening to my story with attention.

28. वह सारा दिन सोया पड़ा रहा।

vah saaraa din soyaa padaa rahaa.

He kept on sleeping for the wholeS