Past Tense in Hindi
Past Tense in Hindi
Past Tense in Hindi
Past Tense:
Building past is easy. Just take the root of a verb and add -a, -e, or -i, respectively for Masculine
Singular, Masculine Plurar and Feminine both - Singular and Plurar:
Verb Stem + ाा/ाे/ाी (-A/-E/-I) = Past Tense
NB! For verbs, whose stem end in a vowel you have to add या/ये/यी (ya/ye/yi) E.g. खाना -> खा
-> खायाा(Khana -> Kha (stem) -> Khaya)
Some examples:
Some Verbs are irregular. I'll show you some of them (A little below
you'll see the past of 'to be', which is needed to build the imperfect past
tense, necessary to be able to say such phrases as "I've used to go ..."):
टा (tha) = was (for Masculine SINGULAR) टे (the) = were (for Masculine PLURAL)
टी (thi) = was (for Feminine SINGULAR) टीं (thi~) = was (for Feminine PLURAL)
Examples:
मै वहां टा. (mai~ vaha~ tha.) = I was there. आप यहां टे . (aap yaha~ the) = You (polite) was here.
OR You were here. (वहां /vaha~/ = there, यहां /yaha~/ = here, जहां /jaha~/ = where) Now as you
know here/there/where (btw, there exist also another word for where = kaha~) I'll give you a
hindi proverb:
जहां धुआं है , वहां आग भी है . (jahan dhua~ hai, vaha~ aag bhi hai) = Where there is a smoke,
there is a fire too.
... Verb Stem + ता / ते / ती (TA/TE/TI) + Past Tense of "Hona" (to be) = Past Imperfect Tense
Stem + ता/ते/ती + टा/टे /टी/टीं = Past Imperfect Tense
The past imperfect tense is used to tell about habitual actions in the past. In English it's best
translated with the pattern "used to + verb":
मै खाता टा. (mai~ khata tha) = I used to eat. लडका खाता टा. (larka khata tha) = The boy used to
eat. लडकी खाती टी. (larki khati thi) = The girl used to eat. आप पीते टे . (aap pite the) = You used
to eat. (Sg. polite or Plural) मै पानी पीता टा. (mai~ pani pita tha) = I used to drink water. तुम
पानी पीते टे . (tum pani pite the) = You used to drink water.
Past Imperfect
The past imprefect is used for habitual actions in the past. It is formed like the present imperfect
but with the past tense of hona instead of the present tense.
Below are shown the forms in the masculine. The feminine forms can be constructed by
replacing bolta and bolte with bolti, replacing tha with thi, and the withthin.