Common Verbs in Hindi

In Brief

Hindi verbs are usually listed in the infinitive (the dictionary form), which normally ends in -ना: जाना “to go,” खाना “to eat,” and करना “to do.” Remove -ना to find the stem—जा-, खा-, कर-—then use that stem in patterns such as जाता हूँ “I go” or करती है “she does.” Learn each verb with its stem, its usual objects, and one complete sentence rather than as an isolated English equivalent.

Overview

A small group of verbs carries a great deal of everyday Hindi. The ten verbs in this article let you talk about movement, meals, communication, and study: जाना (go), आना (come), खाना (eat), पीना (drink), देखना (see/watch), सुनना (hear/listen), बोलना (speak), करना (do), लिखना (write), and पढ़ना (read/study).

At A1, the main goal is not to memorize every tense. First, recognize the infinitive, find the stem, and use these verbs in the habitual present—the form used for routines and repeated actions. You will also often meet their command forms in signs, instructions, and conversation.

English and Hindi package verb information differently. English says “I go,” “she goes,” and “they go,” with little change. Hindi habitual forms show the subject’s gender and number: मैं जाता हूँ for a male speaker, मैं जाती हूँ for a female speaker, and हम जाते हैं for a male or mixed group. Hindi also normally puts the verb at the end: मैं हिंदी पढ़ता हूँ, literally “I Hindi read.”

How It Works

The ten core infinitives

The ending -ना marks the basic dictionary form. What remains after removing it is the stem (the core part to which other grammar is added).

Infinitive	Stem	Core meaning	Common extension of meaning
जाना	जा-	to go	leave, travel
आना	आ-	to come	arrive
खाना	खा-	to eat	—
पीना	पी-	to drink	—
देखना	देख-	to see	watch, look at
सुनना	सुन-	to hear	listen to
बोलना	बोल-	to speak	say, talk
करना	कर-	to do	make; perform an activity
लिखना	लिख-	to write	write down
पढ़ना	पढ़-	to read	study

The dash in जा- is only a teaching device: it shows that endings can follow. You do not write the dash in Hindi sentences.

Basic sentence order

The neutral Hindi pattern is:

subject + object or other information + verb

• मैं चाय पीता हूँ। — I drink tea.
• वह किताब पढ़ती है। — She reads a book.
• हम दिल्ली जाते हैं। — We go to Delhi.

The subject is the person or thing doing the action. The object is the person or thing directly affected by it—for example, “tea” in “I drink tea.” Unlike English, Hindi usually places that object before the verb.

Hindi frequently omits a subject pronoun when the context already makes the person clear. हिंदी बोलता हूँ can mean “I speak Hindi,” although beginners will often find मैं हिंदी बोलता हूँ easier to process and safer to produce.

The habitual present

The so-called simple present in beginner Hindi is usually the habitual form: it describes routines, repeated actions, and general tendencies. Build it with:

verb stem + ता/ती/ते + present form of होना

Subject	Masculine pattern	Feminine pattern	Example with जाना
मैं	-ता हूँ	-ती हूँ	मैं जाता हूँ / मैं जाती हूँ
तुम	-ते हो	-ती हो	तुम जाते हो / तुम जाती हो
आप	-ते हैं	-ती हैं	आप जाते हैं / आप जाती हैं
वह	-ता है	-ती है	वह जाता है / वह जाती है
हम	-ते हैं	-ती हैं	हम जाते हैं / हम जाती हैं
वे	-ते हैं	-ती हैं	वे जाते हैं / वे जाती हैं

Use -ता for masculine singular, -ती for feminine singular and feminine plural, and -ते for masculine plural, mixed groups, and honorific agreement. The auxiliary—हूँ, हो, है, हैं—matches the subject too.

For a woman saying “I read every day,” the natural form is मैं रोज़ पढ़ती हूँ. For a man, it is मैं रोज़ पढ़ता हूँ. English “I” does not reveal the speaker’s gender; the Hindi verb form normally does.

This pattern does not usually mean an action happening at this exact moment. मैं खाना खाता हूँ means “I eat food” or “I usually eat.” “I am eating” uses the present continuous, मैं खाना खा रहा हूँ / रही हूँ, which is a separate pattern.

Commands you will hear early

Although a full study of the imperative belongs later, these verbs appear constantly as commands. Hindi chooses a command according to the relationship with the listener.

Infinitive	तू: very intimate	तुम: familiar	आप: polite/respectful
जाना	जा	जाओ	जाइए
आना	आ	आओ	आइए
खाना	खा	खाओ	खाइए
पीना	पी	पियो	पीजिए
देखना	देख	देखो	देखिए
सुनना	सुन	सुनो	सुनिए
बोलना	बोल	बोलो	बोलिए
करना	कर	करो	कीजिए
लिखना	लिख	लिखो	लिखिए
पढ़ना	पढ़	पढ़ो	पढ़िए

The beginner shortcut is: use the stem for तू, add -ओ for तुम, and learn the polite आप form with -इए/-जिए. Some spelling and form changes must simply be learned, especially करना → कीजिए, जाना → जाइए, and पीना → पीजिए.

Do not treat तू as a direct replacement for English “you.” It can express extreme intimacy, religious devotion, or contempt, depending on context. तुम is common with friends and peers; आप is the safest respectful choice with strangers and in formal situations.

Meaning depends on the words around the verb

One English gloss rarely covers the whole verb.

• देखना can be “see,” “look at,” or “watch”: फ़िल्म देखना means “watch a film.”
• सुनना can be “hear” or “listen”: गाना सुनना means “listen to a song.”
• पढ़ना can be “read” or “study”: किताब पढ़ना is “read a book,” while हिंदी पढ़ना may mean “study Hindi.”
• बोलना covers speaking and saying, but “say/tell something to someone” may require other verbs and structures at later levels.
• करना combines with many nouns to create common activities: काम करना “work,” पढ़ाई करना “study,” फ़ोन करना “phone/call,” and कोशिश करना “try.”

A useful surprise is खाना खाना. The first खाना is the noun “food”; the second is the verb “to eat”: मैं खाना खाता हूँ means “I eat food/a meal.” This repetition is entirely normal.

Examples in Context

Hindi	English	Note
मैं हर दिन स्कूल जाता हूँ।	I go to school every day.	Male speaker; habitual routine
मेरी बहन सुबह जल्दी आती है।	My sister comes early in the morning.	Feminine singular agreement
हम घर पर खाना खाते हैं।	We eat at home.	Masculine or mixed-group plural
वह चाय नहीं पीती है।	She does not drink tea.	नहीं negates the verb phrase
बच्चे टीवी देखते हैं।	The children watch TV.	देखना means “watch” here
मैं रास्ते में संगीत सुनता हूँ।	I listen to music on the way.	Male speaker
आप बहुत अच्छी हिंदी बोलते हैं।	You speak Hindi very well.	Respectful आप agreement
तुम शाम को क्या करते हो?	What do you do in the evening?	Familiar question
रीना अपनी माँ को पत्र लिखती है।	Reena writes a letter to her mother.	Verb normally comes last
वे पुस्तकालय में पढ़ते हैं।	They study in the library.	पढ़ना means “study” here
खाना खाओ।	Eat your food.	Familiar तुम command
हिंदी बोलो।	Speak Hindi.	Familiar तुम command
कृपया यहाँ आइए।	Please come here.	Polite आप request
यह संदेश पढ़िए और जवाब लिखिए।	Read this message and write a reply.	Two polite commands
मैं रविवार को काम नहीं करता हूँ।	I do not work on Sundays.	Male speaker; काम करना

Common Mistakes

Keeping English word order

• Wrong: मैं पीता हूँ चाय।
• Right: मैं चाय पीता हूँ।
• Why: Neutral Hindi normally places the object before the verb. A changed order can occur for emphasis, but it should not be your beginner default.

Ignoring the speaker’s gender

• Wrong: मैं हिंदी बोलता हूँ। said by a woman in ordinary agreement
• Right: मैं हिंदी बोलती हूँ।
• Why: The habitual ending agrees with the subject’s gender. A man normally uses -ता; a woman uses -ती.

Using the habitual for “right now”

• Wrong: मैं खाना खाता हूँ। for “I am eating right now.”
• Right: मैं खाना खा रहा हूँ। (male) / मैं खाना खा रही हूँ। (female)
• Why: खाता/खाती हूँ normally describes a habit or general fact. Hindi uses रहा/रही/रहे for an action in progress.

Translating every English “you” as तुम

• Wrong: तुम क्या करते हो? to a customer or senior person when respectful address is expected
• Right: आप क्या करते हैं?
• Why: Hindi marks social distance. आप takes plural/honorific agreement in -ते हैं or -ती हैं.

Building polite commands mechanically

• Wrong: आप करो। when a respectful command is intended
• Right: आप कीजिए।
• Why: The polite form of करना is irregular. Learn कीजिए as a unit. करो belongs with familiar तुम.

Assuming one-to-one English meanings

• Wrong idea: पढ़ना always means only “read.”
• Better: मैं किताब पढ़ता हूँ means “I read a book,” but मैं कॉलेज में पढ़ता हूँ means “I study at college.”
• Why: The noun and situation determine the most natural English translation.

Usage Notes

Objects are not all marked in the same way

Many everyday objects appear without a marker: चाय पीना, किताब पढ़ना, फ़िल्म देखना. Specific people and some specific objects often use को, as in मैं राहुल को देखता हूँ “I see Rahul.” The details belong to the broader system of postpositions, but notice the chunks you encounter rather than adding को to every object.

सुनना and देखना are broader than their English glosses

English carefully separates “hear” from “listen” and “see” from “watch.” Hindi often uses सुनना and देखना across these pairs, with context doing the rest. An explicit direction can be added when needed, but you should not expect a separate basic Hindi verb for every English distinction.

Natural noun–verb partnerships matter

Hindi speakers commonly build actions with a noun plus करना. Instead of searching for a single verb matching English, learn combinations such as सफ़ाई करना “clean,” आराम करना “rest,” and बात करना “talk.” These are not clumsy translations; they are normal Hindi vocabulary patterns.

Commands can sound softer with कृपया “please,” a question, or respectful wording. However, politeness is carried strongly by the choice between तू, तुम, and आप and by the matching verb form—not by कृपया alone.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will soon meet.

The same stem enters many tense and aspect patterns

Once you know लिख-, you can recognize लिखता है “writes,” लिख रहा है “is writing,” लिखेगा “will write,” and लिखा “wrote/written” in suitable contexts. Hindi grammar often combines a stable lexical stem with participles and auxiliaries. A participle is a verb-based form that helps express properties such as habit, completion, or an ongoing action.

Past transitive sentences change the agreement pattern

Several verbs here—खाना, पीना, देखना, सुनना, करना, लिखना, पढ़ना—can be transitive, meaning they can act on an object. In many completed past sentences, the doer takes ने, and agreement may follow the object rather than the doer:

• मैंने खाना खाया। — I ate the food.
• उसने किताब पढ़ी। — He/She read the book.

This is the ergative construction (a past-tense pattern in which the doer receives special marking). It is an important later topic; do not try to derive these past forms from the beginner present rule.

Common verbs form compound verbs

Hindi often places a second verb after the main stem to add completion, direction, suddenness, or another nuance. Compare खाना “to eat” with खा लेना “to eat/finish for oneself,” or जाना “to go” with चला जाना “to go away.” In these compound verbs (two verbs working together as one predicate), the second verb contributes grammatical nuance rather than its full dictionary meaning.

Infinitives can behave like nouns

An infinitive can name an activity, much like English “going” or “to go”:

• पढ़ना अच्छा है। — Reading is good.
• यहाँ खाना मना है। — Eating here is forbidden.

Infinitives can also change form before certain following words or markers, a feature connected with Hindi’s oblique case. At the beginner stage, learn common phrases as whole units and return to the full rule when studying postpositions.

Register changes vocabulary as well as grammar

Everyday Hindi freely uses combinations such as फ़ोन करना. More formal, literary, or Urdu-influenced settings may prefer different verbs or vocabulary. The ten verbs here remain widely useful, but advanced fluency includes knowing which synonym fits conversation, news, official writing, or literature.

Practice Tips

1. Build a two-sided verb list. On one side write the infinitive and stem—पीना, पी-. On the other, write one personal sentence—मैं सुबह चाय पीता/पीती हूँ. Choose the ending that matches you.
2. Cycle one sentence through subjects. Start with मैं हिंदी पढ़ता हूँ, then change it to वह हिंदी पढ़ती है, हम हिंदी पढ़ते हैं, and आप हिंदी पढ़ते हैं. This trains agreement and the auxiliary together.
3. Learn objects with verbs. Practice chunks such as पानी पीना, खाना खाना, फ़िल्म देखना, गाना सुनना, हिंदी बोलना, and पत्र लिखना. Then listen for them in short videos or dialogues and note whether the meaning matches the simplest English gloss.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Simple Present Tense — explains the ता/ती/ते + होना pattern used with these verbs.