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Compulsion Idioms
Syntax
Grammar » Verbs
Possession
[-] Particles
Emphatic Particles February 6, 2013

Negative Particles
तो Hindi has a set of related idioms that are sometimes called “compulsion idioms”. In other words, they describe the concepts of
भी “have to”, “must”, “should”, and “ought to” in English.
यूँ
ही There are three primary idioms; one idiom involves the verb होना, one idiom involves the verb पड़ना, and one idiom involves the
[-] Miscellaneous verb चािहए. Each idiom uses an infinitive.
[-] Affixes
वाला Each idiom has a similar form:

Echo Words
Pair Words This idiom has the form X को [infinitive] [form of होना / form of पड़ना / form of चािहए].
Interjections
In each idiom, both the verb and the infinitive agree with the object of the infinitive (e.g. “मुझे रोटी खानी है“). If a nominal conjunct
Adverbs
verb is used and the object is unexpressed or followed by a postposition, then the verb of the conjunct verb agrees with the noun
Conditional Sentences
[-] Postpositions of the conjunct verb (e.g. तुम्हें उससे बात करनी है). This also cascades to complementary infinitives (e.g. मुझे रोटी खानी बंद करनी
को पड़ी). This is analogous to ergativity (a.k.a. –ने verbs) in Hindi: the agent is “blocked” by a postposition, so the verb agrees with the
Conjunctions object, not the subject.
[-] Verbals
[-] Participles
Verb Stem + रहा Infinitive + होना
Habitual Participles
Future Participles This idiom has the form X को [infinitive] [form of होना]. This idiom is generally used under the following conditions:
Passive Participles
Perfect Participles The compulsion is mild or incidental
Imperfective Participles The compulsion did not arise because of some circumstance
Conjunctive Participles
Infinitives These are general principles, and not absolute rules.

[-] Verbs
It’s also important to note that this form is used to express things other than compulsion, especially in colloquial Hindi. In can be
Participle + जाना
used to express a want or desire (e.g. “I want to …”), and also as a periphrastic future verb (e.g. “I am going to …”, or “I was going
Compulsion Idioms
to”).
Infinitive + होना
Modality
For instance, it’s very common in colloquial Hindi to hear something like “(मुझ)े चाय पीनी है” – “I want to drink some chai”. This is
[-] Mood
not a compulsion (i.e. “I have to drink some chai”), but a desire.
Imperative Mood
Presumptive Mood
As another example, in colloquial Hindi, it is common to hear something like “मुझे बस इतना बोलना था िक मुझे तुम्हारे घर आने में
Subjunctive Mood
थोड़े देर हो जाएगी” – “I just wanted to say that I’m going to be a little late coming to your house”, or “I was just going to say that I’m
Aspect
going to be a little late coming to your house”, etc.
Tense
Negation
More information is available about the “infinitive + होना” verb form here.
[-] Idiomatic Verbs
जाना
चुकना
Examples
िमलना
चाहना
Consider the following examples of this compulsion idiom:
चािहये
सकना मुझे जाना है – “I have to go”
देना
पाना अगर आप िहं दी सीखना चाहते हैं तो आपको बहुत किठन मेहनत करनी होगी – “If you want to learn Hindi, then you’ll have to do a lot of
लगना
hard work” [NOTE: in this example, पड़ना could have been used. There is not always a strict distinction between the two idioms.]
होना
[-] Voice
Notice that a feminine infinitive (करनी) and a feminine verb (होगी) were used in the previous example because मेहनत is a feminine
Passive Voice
noun.
Causative Verbs
Iterative Constructions
Continuity
Infinitive + पड़ना
Multiple Subjects
Ergativity
This idiom has the form X को [infinitive] [form of पड़ना]. It is generally used under one or both of the following conditions:
Transitivity
Indirect Verb Constructions
The compulsion is stronger, something that is necessary or forced
Compound Verbs
The compulsion arose because of the circumstances
Conjunct Verbs
[-] Basic Verb Forms
These are general principles, not absolute rules.
Future Perfect
Future Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous Examples
Past Perfect Continuous
Present Perfect Continuous हमें पैसा कमाने के िलए काम करना पड़ता है – “We have to work to earn money”
Future
Past Perfective नाव को आग लग गयी इसिलए हमें नाव से बाहर कूदना पड़ा – “We had to jump out of the boat because it caught fire”
Past Perfect
Present Perfect जो वादा िकया वह िनभाना पड़ेगा – “You must fulfill what you promised” (Song title)
Past Continuous
Present Continuous
Past Habitual Infinitive + चािहए
Present Habitual
[-] Adjectives
This idiom has the form X को [infinitive] [form of चािहए].
ऐसा
Reflexive Adjective Like “should”, or “ought” in English, this idiom expresses a moral obligation, duty, propriety, expediency, advantage, etc.
Indefinite Adjectives
Interrogative Adjectives It is generally not used when asking questions such as “What should I do?”. For this, the subjunctive mood is used: मैं क्या करूं –
Superlative Adjectives “What should I do?”. However, some speakers do use this idiom in such questions.
Comparative Adjectives
[-] Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns Examples
Indefinite Pronouns
Relative Pronouns मुझे िपछले साल भारत जाना चािहए था – “I should have gone to India last year”
Demonstrative Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns Note that a past tense form of होना (e.g. था) can be used to indicate “should have …”, etc.
Personal Pronouns
[-] Nouns हमें बड़े लोगों को सम्मान देना चािहए – “We should respect elders”
Case
Gender

« Participle + जाना Grammar Infinitive + होना »

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JANUARY 8, 2015 Join the discussion…

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JANUARY 1, 2014

Happy New Year 2014!

Matthew Chang • 5 years ago
Happy new year! I was very productive in
What happens if you have the verb जाना and the object is feminine? Would the verb become जानी? For some reason, I've
2013. I... Read
never heard it used like this in the Hindi I've been exposed to. But at any rate, can we say मुझे दुकान जानी है , or is it मुझे
दुकान जाना है
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hindilanguage.info Mod > Matthew Chang • 5 years ago
CrazyLassi's Hindi Lessons
Hey, Matthew. That's a good question. जाना is an intransitive verb (i.e. it never has an object). Thus, it defaults to
masculine; ergativity simply doesn't apply. The sentence would be मुझे दुकान जाना है. In this sentence, दुकान,
Glovico although a noun, serves as an adverb (i.e. it indicates "where").
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MSV • 7 years ago

Hindi Verbs How does one choose between "ko" and the direct object form for these idioms? Ex. mujhe Jana padtha hai, mujhko
pani chahiye

iSpeakHindi △ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

hindilanguage.info Mod > MSV • 7 years ago

italki
Both forms are equivalent, so you can use either. The choice is stylistic. Most speakers prefer the special forms
of pronouns (e.g. मुझे).
Jim Becker's Hindi Links △ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

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