A1 · The basic sentence
The verb comes last
basic word order: subject, object, verb
Subject, then object, then the verb — and whatever else moves, the verb stays at the end.
At a glance
- Remember
- Whatever else moves, the verb waits at the end.
- Form
- मैं चाय पीता हूँ।subject – object – verb
- Signal words
- है
- हूँ
- हैं
- था
- Trap
- Wrong:मैं पीता हूँ चाय।Right:मैं चाय पीता हूँ।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| subject – object – verb | मैं चाय पीता हूँ। |
| time and place early | मैं रोज़ दफ़्तर जाता हूँ। |
| postposition after the noun | दिल्ली में |
| question word where the answer goes | आप कहाँ रहते हैं? |
| “to be” ends the sentence | यह मेरा घर है। |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The verb comes at the end, after the object.
मैं चाय पीता हूँ।I drink tea.
Time usually comes early, then place, then the object.
मैं रोज़ दफ़्तर जाता हूँ।I go to the office every day.
A postposition follows its noun: “in Delhi” is दिल्ली में.
मेरी बहन दिल्ली में रहती है।My sister lives in Delhi.
A question word stands where the answer would stand.
आप कहाँ रहते हैं?Where do you live?
Example sentences
राम हिंदी सीखता है।Ram learns Hindi.
मैं रोज़ अख़बार पढ़ता हूँ।I read the newspaper every day.
बच्चे पार्क में खेलते हैं।The children play in the park.
हम शाम को खाना खाते हैं।We eat in the evening.
मेरी माँ चाय बनाती हैं।My mother makes tea.
वह बस से दफ़्तर जाता है।He goes to the office by bus.
5 more example sentences
मैं हर दिन हिंदी बोलता हूँ।I speak Hindi every day.
दादी कहानी सुनाती हैं।Grandma tells stories.
हम इतवार को घर पर रहते हैं।We stay at home on Sundays.
वह गाड़ी चलाती है।She drives a car.
पिताजी सुबह टहलते हैं।Father goes for a walk in the morning.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The English order carried over word for word puts the object after the verb. Hindi understands it, the way English understands “tea I drink”, but it sounds wrong. Move the verb, with its हूँ, to the very end.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English says “I drink tea”: subject, verb, object. Hindi says मैं चाय पीता हूँ: subject, object, verb. The verb, together with its form of “to be”, closes the sentence. राम हिंदी सीखता है is “Ram Hindi learns”.
Time and place usually come early, after the subject or even before it, and the object stands directly before the verb: मैं रोज़ बस से दफ़्तर जाता हूँ, “I every day by bus to the office go”. Words like “often”, “well” or “quickly” also stand before the verb.
The small words of place and direction come after their noun, not before it: “in Delhi” is दिल्ली में, “from the house” घर से. These postpositions have an area of their own; for now it is enough to read them as part of the noun before them.
Hindi word order is freer than English in the middle of the sentence — the object can come first for emphasis — but the end is fixed. A sentence that does not end in its verb sounds like a line of a song or an afterthought.
A closer look
Free middle, fixed end
What comes first in a Hindi sentence is what the sentence is about. मैं चाय पीता हूँ is about me; चाय मैं पीता हूँ (“tea — I drink it”) contrasts tea with something else. The verb does not take part in this game.
Two-part verbs
Most Hindi verb forms have two parts: a form of the verb itself and a form of “to be”: पीता हूँ, जाती है, खेल रहे हैं. Both parts stay together at the end. नहीं (not) goes directly in front of them.
Worth knowing (2)
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An afterthought after the verb
In relaxed speech a word can follow the verb as an afterthought, with a little pause before it. Write the normal order; recognise this one when you hear it.
मैं जा रहा हूँ, बाज़ार।I’m going — to the market.
-
नहीं stands before the verb
The word for “not” goes directly in front of the verb, and in the present the form of “to be” often drops away after it.
मैं चाय नहीं पीता।I don’t drink tea.
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