Simple Past Tense in Hindi

In Brief

Hindi commonly describes a completed past event with a perfective form: the verb changes to match gender and number, as in वह गया “he went” and वह गई “she went.” With many transitive verbs (verbs that act on an object), the past-tense subject takes ने, and agreement may shift to the object: उसने किताब पढ़ी “he/she read the book.”

Overview

The Hindi simple past is used for completed events: arriving, buying something, reading a message, or meeting someone. It is often called the perfective because it presents an action as a complete whole. This is one of the central A2 patterns, and it builds on the gender and agreement you already meet in the present tense.

English usually changes only the verb—“went,” “read,” “bought”—and the form does not reveal whether the subject is male or female. Hindi works differently. In सीमा आई (“Seema came”), आई is feminine because सीमा is feminine; in अमित आया (“Amit came”), आया is masculine. Number also matters: बच्चे आए means “the children came.”

There are two core sentence patterns. With an intransitive verb (a verb that has no direct object), the past form normally agrees with the subject. With many transitive verbs, the subject is marked by ने and the verb normally agrees with an unmarked direct object—the person or thing directly affected by the action. Learn that contrast first; later sections explain what happens when the object has को, when forms are irregular, and when Hindi chooses another past construction.

How It Works

1. Build the perfective form

For many verbs, remove ना from the infinitive (the dictionary form) and add an agreement ending. For example, पढ़ना “to read” gives the stem पढ़-.

Gender and number	Ending	पढ़ना	Meaning in a suitable sentence
Masculine singular	-ा	पढ़ा	read
Masculine plural or honorific	-े	पढ़े	read
Feminine singular	-ी	पढ़ी	read
Feminine plural	-ीं	पढ़ीं	read

The same basic pattern appears in forms such as बोला/बोली/बोले/बोलीं (“spoke”) and खोला/खोली/खोले/खोलीं (“opened”). In careful writing, feminine plural -ीं is distinct from feminine singular -ी, although the difference may be less obvious in rapid speech.

A useful first-pass formula is:

verb stem + आ / ई / ए / ईं

Spelling and sound changes mean that many high-frequency verbs must be learned as whole sets rather than generated mechanically.

Infinitive	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Masculine plural	Feminine plural	English
आना	आया	आई	आए	आईं	to come
जाना	गया	गई	गए	गईं	to go
होना	हुआ	हुई	हुए	हुईं	to happen; to be/become
करना	किया	की	किए	कीं	to do
लेना	लिया	ली	लिए	लीं	to take
देना	दिया	दी	दिए	दीं	to give
पीना	पिया	पी	पिए	पीं	to drink

Do not form “went” as जा + या. The standard forms are गया, गई, गए, गईं. Also notice that the masculine plurals किए, लिए, दिए, पिए are written with ए, not the colloquial-looking spellings sometimes suggested by pronunciation.

2. Intransitive verbs: agreement with the subject

An intransitive verb does not take a direct object: someone comes, goes, falls, wakes up, or arrives. In the basic simple past, its perfective form agrees with the subject.

Subject	Pattern	Example
Masculine singular	subject + masculine singular verb	राहुल आया।
Feminine singular	subject + feminine singular verb	मीरा आई।
Masculine or mixed plural	subject + masculine plural verb	बच्चे आए।
Feminine plural	subject + feminine plural verb	लड़कियाँ आईं।

Hindi pronouns do not always show gender. The verb can therefore provide information that English puts in the pronoun: वह गया means “he went,” while वह गई means “she went.” With मैं, the speaker’s gender controls agreement: a man says मैं गया, and a woman says मैं गई.

Plural हम usually takes a plural form: हम आए for an all-male or mixed group and हम आईं for an all-female group. Honorific singular people are also commonly treated grammatically as plural: पिताजी आए (“Father came”) and आप कब आए? (“When did you come?”).

3. Transitive verbs: mark the subject with ने

A transitive verb acts on a direct object: someone reads a book, eats food, opens a door, or buys vegetables. In a completed perfective clause, many transitive verbs use the ergative construction—a pattern in which the doer of the completed action receives the marker ने.

The pronoun changes before ने:

Plain subject	With ने	English
मैं	मैंने	I
हम	हमने	we
तू	तूने	you (very intimate)
तुम	तुमने	you (informal)
आप	आपने	you (formal/respectful)
यह / वह	इसने / उसने	this person / he, she, that person
ये / वे	इन्होंने / उन्होंने	these people / they; honorific he or she

The beginner pattern is:

subject + ने + unmarked object + perfective verb

In this construction, the verb does not agree with the ने-marked subject. It agrees with the direct object if that object has no postposition (a word placed after a noun, such as को).

Hindi	English	Why the verb has this form
अमित ने खाना खाया।	Amit ate the food.	खाना is masculine singular, so खाया.
रीना ने रोटी खाई।	Reena ate the flatbread.	रोटी is feminine singular, so खाई.
मैंने किताब पढ़ी।	I read the book.	किताब is feminine singular, so पढ़ी.
उसने पत्र लिखे।	He/She wrote letters.	पत्र is masculine plural, so लिखे.

This is the largest adjustment for an English-speaking learner. In English, “Reena” controls the subject–verb relationship. In रीना ने आम खाया, however, the masculine object आम controls खाया, even though रीना is female. The ending does not describe the doer.

4. A को-marked object blocks agreement

A specific person is often marked with को, and some other definite or affected objects may also receive को. When the direct object is marked by को, the perfective verb normally cannot agree with it. The verb then appears in the default masculine singular form.

subject + ने + object + को + masculine singular perfective

• उसने मुझे देखा। — He/She saw me.
• मैंने सीमा को बुलाया। — I called Seema.
• हमने बच्चों को पढ़ाया। — We taught the children.

In मैंने सीमा को बुलाया, do not change बुलाया to feminine बुलाई merely because सीमा is female. The को-marked object does not control agreement here.

5. Negatives and questions

For ordinary negation, put नहीं before the perfective verb. The agreement pattern remains the same.

• वह नहीं आया। — He did not come.
• उसने चाय नहीं पी। — He/She did not drink tea.
• मैंने रवि को नहीं देखा। — I did not see Ravi.

Yes/no questions often place क्या at the beginning. Question words such as कब (“when”), कहाँ (“where”), and क्यों (“why”) usually stand before the material they question, while Hindi generally keeps the verb near the end.

• क्या तुम कल आए? — Did you come yesterday?
• उसने क्या खरीदा? — What did he/she buy?
• आपने उसे क्यों बुलाया? — Why did you call him/her?

The word कल can mean either “yesterday” or “tomorrow.” A past verb such as आए makes the past meaning clear.

Examples in Context

The examples below mix subject agreement, ने, object agreement, negation, questions, and respectful plural agreement.

Hindi	English	Note
रवि सुबह जल्दी उठा।	Ravi got up early in the morning.	Masculine singular intransitive form.
नेहा देर से पहुँची।	Neha arrived late.	Feminine singular subject agreement.
हम रात को घर लौटे।	We returned home at night.	Masculine or mixed plural group.
वे कल दिल्ली गए।	They went to Delhi yesterday.	Irregular जाना; plural गए.
दादीजी कमरे में आईं।	Grandmother came into the room.	Respectful feminine agreement.
मैंने नाश्ता बनाया।	I made breakfast.	नाश्ता is masculine singular.
सारा ने चिट्ठी लिखी।	Sara wrote a letter.	चिट्ठी is feminine singular.
बच्चों ने दो आम खाए।	The children ate two mangoes.	The unmarked masculine plural object controls agreement.
उसने नई किताबें खरीदीं।	He/She bought new books.	Feminine plural object controls agreement.
हमने उसे स्टेशन पर देखा।	We saw him/her at the station.	उसे contains को; देखा is default masculine singular.
मीरा ने दरवाज़ा नहीं खोला।	Meera did not open the door.	Negation does not alter agreement.
क्या आपने खाना खाया?	Did you eat the food?	Respectful subject, but खाना controls agreement.
तुम कब आए?	When did you come?	Informal तुम with a masculine speaker.
कल क्या हुआ?	What happened yesterday?	Common irregular form of होना.

Common Mistakes

Making every past verb agree with the subject

• Wrong: रीना ने आम खाई।
• Right: रीना ने आम खाया।
• Why: With ने, the subject रीना does not control the verb. The unmarked object आम is masculine singular, so the verb is खाया.

Leaving out ने with a basic completed transitive action

• Wrong: मैं किताब पढ़ी।
• Right: मैंने किताब पढ़ी।
• Why: पढ़ना is transitive here: a book was read. In the standard completed-past pattern, use मैंने, and let feminine किताब control पढ़ी.

Agreeing with a को-marked object

• Wrong: मैंने रीना को देखी।
• Right: मैंने रीना को देखा।
• Why: Because रीना is marked with को, it cannot control perfective agreement in this construction. Use default masculine singular देखा.

Treating जाना as regular

• Wrong: वह जाया।
• Right: वह गया। / वह गई।
• Why: The perfective of जाना is irregular. Memorize गया, गई, गए, गईं as a set. जाया exists in other grammatical environments, but it is not the ordinary active simple past “went.”

Adding था automatically because English has “was”

• Awkward for a simple event: वह कल बाज़ार गया था when you only mean “He went to the market yesterday.”
• Basic choice: वह कल बाज़ार गया।
• Why: A completed Hindi past event does not require था. गया था is valid, but it often places the going before another reference point or presents it as prior/background information: “he had gone” or “he had been there.” Context can make the English translation vary.

Forgetting the written feminine plural ending

• Wrong: लड़कियाँ आई।
• Right: लड़कियाँ आईं।
• Why: A feminine plural subject takes the feminine plural form आईं in careful standard writing.

Usage Notes

The “simple past” is perfective, not a universal English past

English simple past covers completed events, repeated habits, and past states. Hindi often separates these meanings. Use the perfective for a bounded, completed event: मैं कल उससे मिला (“I met him/her yesterday”). For a past habit, Hindi normally uses the habitual plus था: मैं रोज़ उससे मिलता था (“I used to meet him/her every day”). For an action in progress, use रहा था: मैं उससे मिल रहा था (“I was meeting him/her”).

Time expressions help, but they do not override this aspectual distinction. रोज़ (“every day”) often points toward a habitual construction rather than a single perfective event.

Hindi may omit an auxiliary in a finished narrative event

A bare perfective such as वह आया is a complete sentence. Spoken and written narratives commonly string such events together: वह आया, बैठा और चाय पी (“He came, sat down, and drank tea”). English speakers sometimes insert था into every past sentence because they expect an overt equivalent of “was” or “had”; Hindi does not require one.

Respect changes agreement

A respected singular person may take a plural verb. Thus पिताजी आए is standard even though only one father came. With a respected woman, usage can reflect both femininity and honorific plurality, as in दादीजी आईं. With आप, use plural agreement: a man is asked आप कब आए?, and a woman आप कब आईं?

Spoken forms and careful spelling

In everyday speech, vowel sequences and nasalization may be less distinct than the spelling suggests. Standard writing still distinguishes गई from गईं, and की from कीं. Learn the written forms rather than trying to reproduce informal pronunciation in spelling.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Use

You do not need to master every exception at A2, but several later patterns explain sentences that do not fit a one-line “transitive means ने” rule.

First, transitivity is about how a verb is used in a particular sentence, not simply about its English translation. Some Hindi verbs and meanings show variable or exceptional behavior with ने, and causative or compound-verb constructions add further choices. Treat the basic high-frequency pattern—मैंने खाना खाया, उसने किताब पढ़ी—as your foundation, then learn exceptions with the verb and context in which you encounter them.

Second, compound verbs use a main verb plus a “vector” verb that adds completion, suddenness, benefit, or another nuance. In मैंने खाना खा लिया, खा carries the main meaning “eat,” while लिया adds a sense of completion or doing it for oneself. Agreement and ने apply to the compound as a whole. Forms such as सो गया may look like ordinary जाना, but together they mean “fell asleep.”

Third, Hindi can add था/थी/थे/थीं after a perfective form. This often creates an anterior or result-state reading—a situation already completed at a past reference point:

• जब मैं पहुँचा, वह जा चुका था। — When I arrived, he had already left.
• मैं उस शहर में पहले गया था। — I had been to that city before.

In real conversation, गया था may also be translated naturally as a simple English past when the speaker is recalling or supplying background information. Do not map each Hindi form to exactly one English tense; ask how the event relates to the surrounding time and discourse.

Finally, past participles can act like adjectives (words that describe nouns): लिखी हुई चिट्ठी means “a written letter,” and टूटा हुआ कप means “a broken cup.” The familiar आ/ई/ए agreement remains visible, but these phrases describe a resulting state rather than simply report a past event.

Practice Tips

1. Sort verbs by sentence pattern. Make two columns. Put आना, जाना, पहुँचना, उठना under “subject agreement,” and write complete examples. Put पढ़ना, खाना, लिखना, खरीदना under “ने + object agreement.” Practising whole sentences is more useful than memorising isolated endings.
2. Change one noun at a time. Start with मैंने आम खाया. Replace आम with रोटी, then आम, then किताबें: मैंने रोटी खाई, मैंने आम खाए, मैंने किताबें खरीदीं. Say which noun controls the verb each time.
3. Retell one short day. Write five completed actions using time words: मैं सुबह उठा। मैंने चाय पी। मैंने नाश्ता बनाया। Then check every verb for three things: Is the verb transitive? Is ने needed? Which unmarked noun controls agreement?

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Simple Present Tense — introduces Hindi verb stems and gender/number agreement.
• Core next step: Ergative Construction (ने) — gives a fuller treatment of ने, object marking, and agreement.
• Next step: Past Continuous/Imperfect — contrasts completed events with ongoing and habitual past actions.
• Next step: Perfect Tenses — develops completed and past-before-past meanings.
• Next step: Compound Verbs — adds nuances such as completion with लेना and देना.
• Related later topic: Passive Voice — also uses perfective agreement forms, but changes the sentence’s viewpoint.
• Related later topic: Causative Verbs — shows how Hindi expresses making or having someone do an action.
• Related later topic: Indirect Speech — uses past reporting verbs and differs from English in tense shifting.