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B1 · Requests, wishes and conditions

If only: अगर … होता

unreal conditions

For an “if” that is not or was not true, both clauses take the -ता form alone: अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते, तो मैं घर ख़रीदता.

At a glance

Remember: For an if that is not true, put -ta on both verbs and leave out hai and tha.
Form: अगर मेरे पास पैसे होतेif … had / were
Signal words: अगर … होता
काश
तो … -ता
वरना
Trap: Wrong:अगर मेरे पास पैसे थे, तो मैं घर ख़रीदा।
Right:अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते, तो मैं घर ख़रीदता।

Start practising · 10 exercisesabout 5 minutesRead the full explanation

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The form

The patterns at a glance

Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Hindi.

if … had / were	अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते
then … would	तो मैं घर ख़रीदता / ख़रीदती
past, completed	अगर तुमने बताया होता
past, with ने	अगर मैंने मेहनत की होती
if only	काश मैं वहाँ होता!

The rules one by one

The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it

Both clauses take the bare -ता form, with no auxiliary.
अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते, तो मैं नई गाड़ी ख़रीदता।If I had money, I would buy a new car.
The -ता form agrees with its subject.
अगर तुम समय पर आते, तो ट्रेन नहीं छूटती।If you had come on time, the train would not have gone.
For a completed past, use the participle with होता.
अगर उसने मुझे बताया होता, तो मैं उसकी मदद करता।If she had told me, I would have helped her.
काश takes the same forms for a wish.
काश मैं भी वहाँ होता!If only I had been there too!

Example sentences

अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते, तो मैं नई गाड़ी ख़रीदता।If I had money, I would buy a new car.

अगर तुम समय पर आते, तो ट्रेन नहीं छूटती।If you had come on time, the train would not have gone.

अगर मुझे पता होता, तो मैं ज़रूर आती।If I had known, I would certainly have come.

काश मैं भी वहाँ होता!If only I had been there too!

अगर उसने मुझे बताया होता, तो मैं उसकी मदद करता।If she had told me, I would have helped her.

अगर बारिश न होती, तो हम पिकनिक पर जाते।If it had not rained, we would have gone on a picnic.

5 more example sentences

अगर मैं अमीर होता, तो मैं पूरी दुनिया घूमता।If I were rich, I would travel the whole world.

अगर आप पहले आते, तो उनसे मिलते।If you had come earlier, you would have met him.

अगर मैंने मेहनत की होती, तो मैं पास हो जाता।If I had worked hard, I would have passed.

काश तुम यहाँ होते!I wish you were here!

अगर गाड़ी ख़राब न होती, तो हम समय पर पहुँचते।If the car had not broken down, we would have arrived on time.

The trap English speakers fall into

Watch out

English “if I had” looks like a past tense, so learners write थे and ख़रीदा. Hindi does not use the past here; it uses the unreal form in -ता, in both halves of the sentence.

Wrong:अगर मेरे पास पैसे थे, तो मैं घर ख़रीदा।

Right:अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते, तो मैं घर ख़रीदता।

The full explanation

Read it all · about 1 min

An unreal condition is one the speaker knows to be false: “if I had money (but I don’t)”, “if you had come (but you didn’t)”. Hindi marks it with the form in -ता, -ती, -ते standing on its own, with no है or था after it — in both clauses: अगर मेरे पास पैसे होते, तो मैं नई गाड़ी ख़रीदता.

The same form serves for the present and the past. अगर तुम समय पर आते, तो ट्रेन नहीं छूटती is “if you had come on time, the train would not have gone”. The context tells you which. The -ता form agrees with its subject like an adjective: मैं आती from a woman, ट्रेन छूटती because ट्रेन is feminine.

To make it clear that the past is meant, especially with a completed action, Hindi uses the perfective participle plus होता: अगर उसने मुझे बताया होता, तो मैं उसकी मदद करता, “if she had told me, I would have helped her”. Here ने and its agreement return: अगर मैंने मेहनत की होती, with की होती feminine to agree with मेहनत.

काश, “if only”, uses the same forms for a wish that cannot come true: काश मैं भी वहाँ होता!, “if only I had been there too!”.

A closer look

The same form as “used to”?

मैं जाता without an auxiliary is the unreal form; मैं जाता था with one is “I used to go”. The auxiliary is the whole difference, so do not add it in a condition. In a negative habit the auxiliary is sometimes dropped too, but then the context makes the habit clear.

In a long sentence the result clause may use होता for clarity as well: तो मैं आ गया होता, “I would have come”. Both तो मैं आता and तो मैं आ गया होता are correct.

वरना: or else

वरना, “otherwise”, often introduces an unreal result: अच्छा हुआ कि तुम आ गए, वरना मैं अकेला होता, “good that you came, otherwise I would have been alone”.

Worth knowing (1)

Polite wishes with -ता

The unreal form also softens a suggestion: अच्छा होता अगर आप भी आते, “it would be nice if you came too”, is a gentle invitation rather than a regret. Here the अगर clause comes second, and तो is not needed.

अच्छा होता अगर आप भी हमारे साथ चलते।It would be nice if you came with us too.

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