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Kahnā Conjugation

कहना (kahnā) means "to say / tell" in Hindi. Simple present / habitual: मैं (maẃ) कहता / कहती हूँ (kahtā / kahtī hū̃), तू (tū) कहता / कहती है (kahtā / kahtī hai), तुम (tum) कहते / कहती हो (kahte / kahtī ho), आप (āp) कहते / कहती हैं (kahte / kahtī haĩ), वह / यह (vah / yah) कहता / कहती है (kahtā / kahtī hai), हम (ham) कहते / कहती हैं (kahte / kahtī haĩ). Below: all 19 tenses we teach, with examples.

Simple present / habitual सामान्य वर्तमान (आदतसूचक)

Habitual participle (-ता/-ती/-ते) + present of होना (हूँ/है/हो/हैं). States general truths, habits and repeated actions ('I speak Hindi', 'he goes every day').

Present continuous अपूर्ण वर्तमान (प्रगतिशील)

Continuous participle (stem + रहा/रही/रहे) + present of होना. An action happening right now.

Simple past / perfective सामान्य भूत (पूर्णकालिक)

The bare perfective participle (-आ/-ई/-ए/-ईं). For intransitive verbs it agrees with the subject; for transitive verbs the subject takes ने and the verb agrees with the object instead (a default masculine-singular form, shown here, is used when no object is stated). This is the everyday narrative past and the tense of news headlines.

Past habitual अपूर्ण भूत (आदतसूचक)

Habitual participle + था/थी/थे/थीं ('used to'). A repeated or ongoing state in the past, contrasted with the single completed action of the simple past.

Past continuous भूत प्रगतिशील

Continuous participle + था/थी/थे/थीं. An action in progress at a specific past moment.

Present perfect पूर्ण वर्तमान

Perfective participle + present of होना. A completed action whose result still matters now (contrast the simple past, which just narrates the event).

Past perfect पूर्ण भूत

Perfective participle + था/थी/थे/थीं. An event completed before another past point, a remote/distant past, or a corrected memory ('I had already told you').

Future सामान्य भविष्यत्

Stem + -ऊँगा/-एगा/-ओगे/-एँगे, agreeing with the subject in gender and number (होना itself irregularly contracts to होगा/होंगे). Used for predictions, plans, promises and, very commonly, as a polite alternative to the imperative ('you will do this' = 'please do this').

Presumptive संभाव्य वर्तमान (अनुमानसूचक)

Habitual participle + future of होना (होगा/होगी/होंगे). Expresses a confident guess about a present habit or state: 'he probably speaks / must be a speaker'. (The same pattern on the continuous or perfective participle — बोल रहा होगा 'must be speaking', बोला होगा 'must have spoken' — covers guesses about the present or the past; only the habitual form is tabulated here.)

Present / future subjunctive संभावनार्थ (वर्तमान/भविष्य)

Bare stem + -ऊँ/-ए/-ओ/-एँ. Covers present and future hypothetical or desired action; no separate future subjunctive form exists.

Perfect subjunctive पूर्ण संभावनार्थ

Perfective participle + subjunctive of होना (होऊँ/हो/हों). Expresses 'may have done' about a completed action whose outcome is still uncertain.

Conditional perfect (contrafactual) हेतुहेतुमद् भूत

Perfective participle + होता/होती/होते (itself the imperfective participle of होना). Both the 'if' clause and the result clause take this same form.

Imperative (immediate) आज्ञार्थ (सामान्य)

तू: bare stem; तुम: stem+ओ; आप: stem+इए. Negate any of them with मत (or, with आप, ना) placed before the verb: मत बोल, मत बोलो, मत बोलिए / ना बोलिए.

Deferred / polite imperative (-इएगा) आज्ञार्थ (आदरसूचक भविष्यत्, -इएगा)

आप + stem+इएगा only. A very polite request, often for something to be done a little later or 'whenever you get the chance'; softer and less immediate than -इए.

Infinitive क्रियार्थक संज्ञा

Stem + -ना; behaves as a masculine noun (यहाँ बोलना मना है, 'speaking here is forbidden') and takes case: बोलने के लिए ('in order to speak'), बोलने से पहले ('before speaking'). Also used alone as a neutral written instruction (दो बार पढ़ना, 'read it twice').

Conjunctive participle पूर्वकालिक कृदंत (-कर)

Stem + -कर (colloquially also -के). Links a first action to a second by the same subject: 'having done X, (then) Y'. Extremely common in ordinary narration.

Imperfective participle (adjectival) अपूर्ण कृदंत

-ता/-ती/-ते, agreeing like an adjective with the noun it modifies; often paired with हुआ/हुई/हुए for 'while doing'. Used for ongoing or habitual description: बोलता हुआ आदमी 'the man who is/was speaking'.

Perfective participle (adjectival) पूर्ण कृदंत

-आ/-ई/-ए, agreeing like an adjective; describes a completed state or a passive-like resultant meaning: खाया हुआ खाना 'food that has been eaten / leftover food', टूटा हुआ गिलास 'a broken glass'.

Agentive / prospective participle कर्तृवाचक कृदंत (-ने वाला)

Stem + -ने वाला/वाली/वाले. Names the habitual doer of an action ('the one who speaks/eats/goes', 'a speaker') or, with होना, an action about to happen: बोलने वाला हूँ ('I'm about to speak').

Examples

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