Notes: Exceptional verbs

There are a small number of verbs which take ने in the perfective when there is an object present, but without an object are intransitive.

• जीतना to win: मैं जीता I won. vs. ,
• but with an object, here, बाज़ी nf. game. मैंने बाज़ी जीती I won the game.

• समझना to understand: मैं समझा I understood.
• but with an object, here बात nf. matter, words मैंने आपकी बात समझी I understood your words.

In some cases the sense is different with or without a ने, for instance with पढ़ना.

• हमारे वकिल साहब लंदन में पढ़े। Our lawyer studied in London. (Note in this usage no object, what is studied, is normally mentioned.)
• मैंने क़ानून की किताब में इस मुद्दे के बारे में पढ़ा I read about this case in a law book.

Some Hindi verbs, mostly related to bodily actions, are transitive in Hindi.

• छींकना to sneeze मिर्च सूंघकर मैंने छींका। I sneezed after smelling Chilli.
• थूकना to spit, पान चबाने के बाद मैंने थूका I spat after chewing paan.

However, the vast majority of Hindi verbs behave predictably in the perfective in Hindi and basically you just have to remember which verbs take ने and which don’t just as you have to remember the gender of nouns.

There is some variation in usage in a few verbs. For instance, whilst कहना, to say, always takes ने, normally बोलना to speak, or of birds 'to twitter/sing' etc., does not take ने.

• मैंने कहा, तुम ने क्या गाया? I said what did you sing?
• ‘कोयल बोली,दुनिया डोली’ ‘cuckoo called, the world swayed.'

However, some Hindi speakers also use बोलना in the sense of to say something, and in that case it does take ने and you hear people saying things like:

• उसने गुजराती में बोला ‘खेम छे’ He said in Gujarati, “How are you?”.

Notes

In Hindi to say ‘go to [somebody]’ you say you ‘go near [somebody]’

• डॉक्टर के पास जाना go to the doctor.

In the dialogue the shopkeeper says ले लो 'take ' which is a softer way to say लो 'take'. We will learn more about this later.

Vocabulary

भानजा nm. nephew

जीतना vi./vt. to win; (with object, vt.)

सूंघना vt. to smell, to sniff

चबाना vt. to chew

छींकना vt. to sneeze

थूकना vt. to spit

कोयल nf. cuckoo

दुनिया nf. world

डोलना vi. swing, shake, tremble

गुजराती nf. Gujarati language; adj. related to Gujarat

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