In this lesson we are going to learn to talk about activities that are done everyday as habitual activities, activities that are true at the moment of speaking, activities that were done in the past, activities that are going to be done in the future.
- Habitual Present: Everyday Activities
- Continuous Present: Activities going on at the moment
- Continuous Past: Activities that were going on in the past
- Simple Past: Activities completed in the past
- Simple Future: Activities that are going to be done in future
- I drink something in the morning. मैं सुबह कुछ पीता हूँ। / मैं सुबह कुछ पीती हूँ। Main subah kuch peetaa hoon. / Main subah kuch peetee hoon.
- Now I am drinking coffee. अब मैं कॉफ़ी पी रहा हूँ। अब मैं कॉफ़ी पी रही हूँ। Ab main coffee pee rahaa hoon. / Ab main coffee pee rahee hoon.
‘Peetaa hoon’ indicates that I usually do this activity of drinking. It is an habitual activity that is done almost everyday.
‘Pee rahaa hoon’, indicates I am doing the activity of drinking at the moment of speaking. I may or may not do it every day. But at the moment of speaking I am drinking.
The masculine form is Peetaa hoon and pee rahaa hoon.
The feminine form is Peetee hoon and Pee rahi hoon.
Generally, masculine forms end with ‘aa’ sound and feminine sound ends with ‘ee’ (as in keep) sound.
3. If we want to talk about continuous activities in the past the verb ending will change.
Now I am drinking juice. अब मैं जूस पी रहा हूं ।
ab main joos pee rahaa hoon.
Yesterday I was drinking juice. कल मैं जूस पी रहा था।
Kal main juice pee rahaa tha.
‘rahaa hoon’ in the present changes to ‘rahaa tha’ in the past.
In the same way tha is added to a verb to indicate Simple Past tense too.
4. I went out yesterday. मैं कल बाहर गया था.
main kal baahar gaya tha.
5. I will go out tomorrow. मैं कल बाहर जाऊंगा.
main kal baahar jaoonga.
Here the word ‘kal’ is used both for yesterday and tomorrow. Only with the help of the verb we can decide whether the person is talking about the past or the future.
‘gayaa tha’ stands for went and ‘jaaoongaa’ stands for will go.
In the same way we can say, ‘kal mai coffee peeoongaa’.
So by adding ‘oongaa’ to a verb we can indicate future time.
kaaoongaa, peeoongaa, jaaoongaa, aaoongaa, etc.
There is also a past where the word ending ‘ne’ is added to the subject.
Simple Past With ने – Verb takes gender of the object
Usually the verb takes the masculine or the feminine form as per the subject. But if we add ‘ne’ to the subject the verb takes the gender of the object.
Ram: Yesterday I drank tea.
कल मैंने चाय पी थी।
Kal maine chaay pee thi.
Here Ram is masculine and tea is feminine. Because ne is added to Ram, the subject, the verb takes the feminine ending.
Radha: Yesterday I ate food.
कल मैंने खाना खाया था।
kal maine khaanaa khaayaa thaa.
Radha is the subject here and she is feminine. But food is masculine. Because we say Radhane (Radha + ne) to indicate past tense, the verb takes the masculine ending.
Ram (masculine) + ne – Ramne chaay (feminine) pee thi (feminine).
Radha (feminine) _ ne – Radhane khaanaa (masculine) khaayaa thaa (masculine).
Habitual Present / मैं पीता हूँ / पीती हूँ / खाता हूँ / खाती हूँ / जाता हूँ / जाती हूँ /
Mai peetaa hoon / peetee hoon / khaataa hoon / khaatee hoon / jaataa hoon / jaatee hoon
Future पीऊंगा / पीऊंगी / खावूंगा / खावूंगी / जावूंगा / जावूंगी /
peeoongaa / peeoongee / khaavoongaa / khaavoongee / jaavoongaa / jaavoongee /
Present Continuous /पी रहा हूँ / पी रही हूँ / खा रहा हूँ / खा रही हूँ / जा रहा हूँ / जा रही हूँ /
pee rahaa hoon / pee rahee hoon / kha rahaa hoon / kha rahee hoon / ja rahaa hoon / ja rahee hoon /
Past Continuous /पी रहा था / पी रही थी / खा रहा था / खाई थी / खा रही था / जा रहा था / जा रही थी /
pee rahaa thaa / pee rahee thi / kha rahaa thaa / kha rahee thi / ja rahaa thi / ja rahee thi /
Watch the video to learn how to say these sentences.