Learn about the difference between the perfect and imperfect tense in Hindi
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Intro |
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| Alisha: What is the difference between the perfect and imperfect tense in Hindi? |
| Shakti: And how do you know which one to use? |
| Alisha: At HindiPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In this scenario, Jignesh Jindal and Mark Lee are talking about food they like. Jignesh Jindal says, |
| "When I was young, I used to eat pizza every day." |
| जिग्नेश: मैं जब छोटा था, तो रोज़ पिज़्ज़ा खाया करता था। (main jab chotaa THaa, To roz pizzaa khaayaa karaTaa THaa.) |
| Dialogue |
| Jignesh Jindal: मैं जब छोटा था, तो रोज़ पिज़्ज़ा खाया करता था। (main jab chotaa THaa, To roz pizzaa khaayaa karaTaa THaa.) |
| Mark Lee: कल सुबह दस बजे तक मैं दो पिज़्ज़ा खा चुका था। (kaL Subah DaS baje Tak main Do pizzaa khaa cukaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| Jignesh Jindal: मैं जब छोटा था, तो रोज़ पिज़्ज़ा खाया करता था। (main jab chotaa THaa, To roz pizzaa khaayaa karaTaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: "When I was young, I used to eat pizza every day." |
| Mark Lee: कल सुबह दस बजे तक मैं दो पिज़्ज़ा खा चुका था। (kaL Subah DaS baje Tak main Do pizzaa khaa cukaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: "By ten in the morning yesterday, I had eaten two pizzas." |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: You might know the perfect and the imperfect tenses from English, or other languages like French or Italian, but the way they are used differs from language to language. In English, the rules for using these two tenses are very easy. |
| First, there is the perfect tense. Saying that something is "perfect" is like saying it is complete. Therefore, we use the perfect tense when talking about an action that was completed in the past, or has just been completed in the present, or will be completed in the future. An example is "I have eaten." |
| Following the same logic, we say that a tense is imperfect if it describes an incomplete action. For example, "I am eating." You can also think of the imperfect tense as a habit, or a state of being. |
| In Hindi, the rules for how to use the perfect tense |
| Shakti: पूर्ण काल (puurn kaaL). |
| Alisha: or the imperfect tense, |
| Shakti: अपूर्ण काल (apuurn kaaL). |
| Alisha: are a little different from English. The good news is that there is a fixed pattern, so once you are familiar with it, Hindi tenses will be easy! |
| We will begin by comparing the imperfect and perfect in the present tense. |
| Shakti: वर्तमान काल (varTamaaN kaaL). |
| Alisha: In English, the present imperfect is made with "is" or "are" plus "ING." For example, "She is eating an apple." In Hindi, the "is" or "are" plus "ING" is expressed with the term |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहा है (rahaa hai) [SLOWLY] रहा है (rahaa hai). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: This is the masculine form, and it goes after the main verb, at the end of the sentence. This term can change a simple present tense sentence into the imperfect present. You will just need to remember that it takes slightly different forms for masculine, feminine and plural. Here is an example of how to use the masculine singular ending |
| Shakti: राहुल सेब खा रहा है। (rahuL Seb khaa rahaa hai.) |
| Alisha: meaning "Rahul is eating an apple." And here is the feminine singular ending |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रही है (rahii hai) [SLOWLY] रही है (rahii hai). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: In a sentence, it sounds like this, |
| Shakti: मोना स्कूल जा रही है। (moNaa SkuuL jaa rahii hai.) |
| Alisha: "Mona is going to school." The plural form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहे हैं (rahe hain) [SLOWLY] रहे हैं (rahe hain). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: and it sounds like this in a sentence |
| Shakti: बच्चे सो रहे हैं। (bacce So rahe hain.) |
| Alisha: which means 'The kids are sleeping.' This is used if the word "kids" refers only to males or both males and females. This is what you will say if the word refers only to female kids: |
| Shakti: बच्चियाँ सो रही हैं। (bacciyaan So rahii hain.) |
| Alisha: Do you remember that Hindi sentences are structured subject-object-verb? This makes it easy to change the tense. Just start with a simple present tense sentence, and then change the ending to create the tense you want! To demonstrate, here is an example: |
| Shakti: राहुल सेब खाता है। (raahuL Seb khaaTaa hai.) |
| Alisha: This is simple present tense, meaning "Rahul eats an apple." The construction in Hindi is "Rahul" plus "apple" plus "eats," followed by the simple present tense ending |
| Shakti: -ता है (-Taa hai). |
| Alisha: To change it into the imperfect present tense, we only change the ending, like this: |
| Shakti:[NORMAL] राहुल सेब खा रहा है। (raahuL Seb khaa rahaa hai.) [SLOWLY] राहुल सेब खा रहा है। (raahuL Seb khaa rahaa hai.) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: meaning "Rahul is eating an apple." Did you hear what we did? We replaced the ending |
| Shakti: -ता है (-Taa hai) |
| Alisha: with the ending |
| Shakti: रहा है (rahaa hai) |
| Alisha: What is really great is that all other tenses are formed in the very same way! You just have to learn what the various endings are. |
| Okay, we understand the imperfect present. Now, let us see what the present perfect looks like. In English, the present perfect is made with has or have plus the third form (or past participle form) of the main verb. For example, has plus eaten, as in "She has eaten her breakfast." |
| In Hindi, the "has" or "have" is replaced with the term |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुका है (cukaa hai) [SLOWLY] चुका है (cukaa hai). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: This is the masculine form. The feminine form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुकी है (cukii hai) [SLOWLY] चुकी है (cukii hai) |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: and the plural form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुके हैं (cuke hain) [SLOWLY] चुके हैं (cuke hain). |
| Alisha: This is the masculine plural form. The feminine plural form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुकी हैं (cukii hain) [SLOWLY] चुकी हैं (cukii hain). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: Should we practice? Repeat after Shakti: |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] राहुल सेब खा चुका है। (raahuL Seb khaa cukaa hai.) [SLOWLY] राहुल सेब खा चुका है। (raahuL Seb khaa cukaa hai.) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: This means "Rahul has eaten the apple." Let us try the feminine ending next |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] मोना स्कूल जा चुकी है। (moNaa SkuuL jaa cukii hai.) [SLOWLY] मोना स्कूल जा चुकी है। (moNaa SkuuL jaa cukii hai.) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: This means "Mona has left for school." And here is what the plural ending sounds like |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] बच्चे सो चुके हैं। (bacce So cuke hain.) [SLOWLY] बच्चे सो चुके हैं। (bacce So cuke hain.) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: which means "The kids have gone to sleep." |
| Great! Those were all present perfect examples. How did they differ from the present imperfect? The difference is just the ending! |
| Next, we will look at the perfect and imperfect endings for the past tense, or |
| Shakti: भूतकाल (bhuuT kaaL). |
| Alisha: The past imperfect is also called the past continuous tense. In English, the past imperfect is identified by an auxiliary verb, followed by the first form of the main verb plus "ING." For example, "The child was sleeping." We can also use the pattern "used to" plus a verb. For example, "The child used to sleep." |
| In Hindi, there are also two ways to create the past imperfect tense. First, you replace "ING" with the term |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहा था (rahaa THaa) [SLOWLY] रहा था (rahaa THaa) |
| Alisha: This is the masculine form. And again, it goes after the main verb, at the end of the sentence. For example, |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] राहुल सेब खा रहा था। (raahuL Seb khaa rahaa THaa.) [SLOWLY] राहुल सेब खा रहा था। (raahuL Seb khaa rahaa THaa.) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: This means "Rahul was eating an apple." The feminine ending is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रही थी (rahii THii) [SLOWLY] रही थी (rahii THii). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: In a sentence, it sounds like this |
| Shakti: मोना स्कूल जा रही थी। (moNaa SkuuL jaa rahii THii.) |
| Alisha: "Mona was going to school." The masculine plural ending is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहे थे (rahe THe) [SLOWLY] रहे थे (rahe THe). |
| Alisha: And you can use it like this in a sentence |
| Shakti: आदमी बात कर रहे थे। (aaDamii baaT kar rahe THe.) |
| Alisha: which means "The men were talking." Now, let's take a look at the feminine plural ending, which is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहीं थीं (rahiin THiin) [SLOWLY] रहीं थीं (rahiin THiin). |
| Alisha: and you can use it in a sentence like this |
| Shakti: महिलाएं सो रहीं थीं। (mahiiLaayen So rahiin THiin.) |
| Alisha: This means "The women were sleeping." But what if you want to express the past imperfect as in "used to do"? |
| [Recall 1] |
| Alisha: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Jignesh Jindal says, "When I was young, I used to eat pizza every day?" |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Shakti as Jignesh: मैं जब छोटा था, तो रोज़ पिज़्ज़ा खाया करता था। (main jab chotaa THaa, To roz pizzaa khaayaa karaTaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: As you can hear, Jignesh used the words |
| Shakti: खाया करता था। (khaayaa karaTaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: meaning "used to eat." Again, this phrase comes right at the end of the sentence, after the main verb. Let's practice it. Listen again and repeat after Shakti |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] तो रोज़ पिज़्ज़ा खाया करता था (To roz pizzaa khaayaa karaTaa THaa) [SLOWLY] तो रोज़ पिज़्ज़ा खाया करता था। (To roz pizzaa khaayaa karaTaa THaa) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: "I used to eat pizza every day." If you are speaking about a girl, the ending will be |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] खाया करती थी (khaayaa karaTii THii) [SLOWLY] खाया करती थी (khaayaa karaTii THii) |
| Alisha: And you can use it like this |
| Shakti: लड़की खाया करती थी। (Ladakii khaayaa karaTii THii.) |
| Alisha: This means "The girl used to eat." In masculine plural, we use this ending |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] खाया करते थे (khaayaa karaTe THe) [SLOWLY] खाया करते थे (khaayaa karaTe THe). |
| Alisha: And it sounds like this in a sentence |
| Shakti: वे सेब खाया करते थे। (ve Seb khaayaa karaTe THe.) |
| Alisha: This means "They used to eat apples." In feminine plural, we use |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] खाया करतीं थीं (khaayaa karaTiin THiin) [SLOWLY] खाया करतीं थीं (khaayaa karaTiiN THiin). |
| Alisha: Here is the right way to use this in a sentence |
| Shakti: महिलाएं सेब खाया करतीं थीं। (mahiLaayen Seb khaayaa karaTiin THiin.) |
| Alisha: This means "The women used to eat apples." |
| Now, we can compare this to the past perfect tense. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Alisha: First, let's take another look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says, "By ten in the morning yesterday, I had eaten two pizzas?" |
| Shakti: कल सुबह दस बजे तक मैं दो पिज़्ज़ा खा चुका था। (kaL Subah DaS baje Tak main Do pizzaa khaa cukaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: In English, to make the past perfect, we use "had" plus the third form of the main verb. For example, "The monkey had eaten the bananas." |
| In Hindi, "had" is replaced with the term |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुका था (cukaa THaa) [SLOWLY] चुका था (cukaa THaa). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: For example, |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] राहुल सेब खा चुका था। (rahuuL Seb khaa cukaa THaa.) |
| [SLOWLY] राहुल सेब खा चुका था। (rahuuL Seb khaa cukaa THaa.) |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Alisha: meaning "Rahul had eaten the apple." The feminine form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुकी थी (cukii THii) [SLOWLY] चुकी थी (cukii THii). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: In a sentence, it would sound like this |
| Shakti: मोना स्कूल जा चुकी थी। (moNaa SkuuL jaa cukii THii.) |
| Alisha: This means "Mona had left for school." The masculine plural form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुके थे (cuke THe) [SLOWLY] चुके थे (cuke THe). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: And you can say it like this in a sentence |
| Shakti: बच्चे सो चुके थे। (bacce So cuke THe.) |
| Alisha: This means "The kids had gone to sleep." This is the feminine plural version |
| Shakti: लड़कियाँ सो चुकीं थीं। (Ladakiyaan So cukiin THiin.) |
| Alisha: This means "The girls had gone to sleep." Again, this is a past perfect statement. It describes an action that had already finished by a particular point in the past. Let's create a new example for clarity. Perhaps I want to say, "By the time we arrived, he had escaped." How will that sound in Hindi? |
| Shakti: हम जब तक वहाँ पहुँचे, तब तक वह भाग चुका था। (ham jab Tak vahaan pahunce, Tab Tak vah bhaag cukaa THaa.) |
| Alisha: Did you notice the ending? And, if we are speaking about a woman, we would say |
| Shakti: वह भाग चुकी थी। (vah bhaag cukii THii) |
| Alisha: meaning "She had escaped." This brings us to the future tense, or |
| Shakti: भविष्य काल (bhavisy kaaL). |
| Alisha: In English, we express the future imperfect tense with the first form of the main verb plus "ING." For example, "The diva will be singing." |
| In Hindi, we replace the "will be" plus "ING" with the term |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहा होगा (rahaa hogaa) [SLOWLY] रहा होगा (rahaa hogaa). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: For example, this sentence |
| Shakti: राहुल सेब खा रहा होगा। (raahuL Seb khaa rahaa hogaa) |
| Alisha: meaning "Rahul will be eating an apple." This is the masculine form. The feminine is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रही होगी (rahii hogii) [SLOWLY] रही होगी (rahii hogii). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: In a sentence, it sounds like this |
| Shakti: मोना स्कूल जा रही होगी। (moNaa SkuuL jaa rahii hogii) |
| Alisha: meaning "Mona will be going to school." The masculine plural form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहे होंगे (rahe honge) [SLOWLY] रहे होंगे (rahe honge). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: Use it like this in a sentence |
| Shakti: बच्चे सो रहे होंगे। (bacce So rahe honge.) |
| Alisha: This means "The kids will be sleeping." The feminine plural gender will be |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] रहीं होंगी (rahiin hongii) [SLOWLY] रहीं होंगी (rahiin hongii). |
| Alisha: You can use this in a sentence like this. |
| Shakti: लड़कियाँ सो रहीं होंगी। (Ladakiyaan So rahiin hongii.) |
| Alisha: This means "The girls will be sleeping." |
| How does this compare to the future perfect tense? Let us find out! |
| In English, we make the future perfect with "will have" plus the third form of the main verb. For example, "She will have sung," or "He will have eaten." |
| In Hindi, we replace "will have done" with the term |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुका होगा (cukaa hogaa) [SLOWLY] चुका होगा (cukaa hogaa). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: Here is an example of how to use it |
| Shakti: राहुल सेब खा चुका होगा। (raahuL Seb khaa cukaa hogaa), |
| Alisha: which means "Rahul will have eaten the apple." Can you guess how the feminine ending sounds? By now, you might have noticed that in the feminine, the endings all have an 'ee' sound! |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुकी होगी (cukii hogii) [SLOWLY] चुकी होगी (cukii hogii). |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: Let us put that in a sentence. |
| Shakti: मोना स्कूल जा चुकी होगी। (moNaa SkuuL jaa cukii hogii.) |
| Alisha: This means "Mona will have left for school." The masculine plural form is |
| Shakti: [NORMAL] चुके होंगे (cuke honge) [SLOWLY] चुके होंगे (cuke honge) |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Alisha: and it sounds like this in a sentence |
| Shakti: बच्चे सो चुके होंगे। (bacce So cuke honge.) |
| Alisha: meaning "The kids will have gone to sleep." Here is the feminine plural |
| Shakti: लड़कियाँ सो चुकीं होंगी। (Ladakiiyaan So cukiin hongii). |
| Alisha: "The girls will have gone to sleep." |
| [Summary] |
| Alisha: In this lesson, you learned the differences between the perfect and the imperfect tense in Hindi. You also learned how to use them in past, present, and future sentence constructions. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shakti: फिर मिलेंगे! (phir miLenge!) |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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