A1 · The present
The everyday present: बोलता है
the habitual present
Stem + ता, ती or ते, then हूँ, है, हो or हैं: मैं हिंदी बोलता हूँ, “I speak Hindi”.
At a glance
- Remember
- Stem plus -ta, -ti or -te, then hun, hai, ho or hain: two pieces, two agreements.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The present — What holds at the moment, what is under way, or what is always the case.
- Form
- बोलना → बोलinfinitive → stem
- Signal words
- रोज़
- हमेशा
- हर दिन
- अक्सर
- कभी-कभी
- -ता है
- -ती है
- -ते हैं
- Trap
- Wrong:मेरी बहन दिल्ली में रहता है।Right:मेरी बहन दिल्ली में रहती है।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The forms side by side
All the forms in one overview: first what each one stands for, then the form in Hindi, so you can compare them directly.
| infinitive → stem | बोलना → बोल |
| I (man / woman) | मैं बोलता हूँ / मैं बोलती हूँ |
| you, friendly | तुम बोलते हो / तुम बोलती हो |
| he / she | वह बोलता है / वह बोलती है |
| we | हम बोलते हैं / हम बोलती हैं |
| you, polite | आप बोलते हैं / आप बोलती हैं |
| they | वे बोलते हैं / वे बोलती हैं |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The stem is the infinitive without -ना; add -ता, -ती or -ते.
मेरा भाई बहुत तेज़ दौड़ता है।My brother runs very fast.
A woman or a feminine noun takes -ती, in the singular and the plural alike.
मेरी बहनें दिल्ली में रहती हैं।My sisters live in Delhi.
तुम, आप and a masculine plural take -ते, even for one person.
आप कहाँ काम करते हैं?Where do you work?
The form of होना at the end follows the person: हूँ, है, हो, हैं.
तुम बहुत अच्छा गाते हो।You sing very well.
Use it for habits and general truths, often with a word like रोज़ or हमेशा.
मैं रोज़ सुबह टहलता हूँ।I go for a walk every morning.
Example sentences
मैं हर सुबह चाय पीता हूँ।I drink tea every morning.
मेरी माँ हिंदी और अंग्रेज़ी बोलती हैं।My mother speaks Hindi and English.
हम शनिवार को बाज़ार जाते हैं।We go to the market on Saturdays.
वह एक बैंक में काम करता है।He works in a bank.
बच्चे शाम को पार्क में खेलते हैं।The children play in the park in the evening.
क्या आप मछली खाते हैं?Do you eat fish?
6 more example sentences
मेरे पिता जी अख़बार पढ़ते हैं।My father reads the newspaper.
यह दुकान नौ बजे खुलती है।This shop opens at nine.
तुम कहाँ रहते हो?Where do you live?
बिल्लियाँ दिन में बहुत सोती हैं।Cats sleep a lot during the day.
मैं बस से दफ़्तर जाती हूँ।I go to the office by bus.
भारत में लोग कई भाषाएँ बोलते हैं।People in India speak many languages.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The verb looks at the subject, not at the speaker. बहन is a woman, so the verb is रहती, whoever is talking about her. A man describing his sister still says रहती है; only his sentences about himself take -ता.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Every Hindi verb is listed in its infinitive, which ends in -ना: बोलना (to speak), खाना (to eat), रहना (to live, to stay). Take the -ना away and you have the stem: बोल, खा, रह. Almost every tense is built on this stem, so it is worth finding it at a glance.
For the everyday present, add -ता to the stem for a man or a masculine noun, -ती for a woman or a feminine noun, and -ते for a masculine plural — and also for तुम and आप, even when you mean one person. Then add the form of होना that belongs to the subject: मैं … हूँ, तुम … हो, वह … है, हम/आप/वे … हैं. So मैं बोलता हूँ, वह बोलती है, हम बोलते हैं.
Two pieces, two agreements. The -ता/-ती/-ते form follows gender and number; हूँ/है/हो/हैं follows the person. A group of women is वे बोलती हैं: the participle stays बोलती, and the plural shows only in हैं.
This tense is for habits, routines and things that are generally true: मैं रोज़ चाय पीता हूँ, “I drink tea every day”; सूरज पूरब में निकलता है, “the sun rises in the east”. It is not for what is happening at this moment — that is मैं चाय पी रहा हूँ, the next topic. English learners mix the two up exactly where English does not: “I live in Delhi” is habitual in both languages, “I am reading a book” is not.
A closer look
Why the verb comes in two pieces
The -ता form is a participle, a kind of adjective: बोलता is “speaking” in the sense of “one who speaks”. Like an adjective in -ा it changes to -ी and -े. The tense itself is carried by होना: put था in its place and you have the past habit बोलता था, “used to speak”.
This is why the agreements split. The participle agrees as an adjective does — gender and number. The auxiliary agrees as a verb does — person and number. Learn the six forms of होना once, and every tense that ends in them is already half learnt.
Stems ending in a vowel
A stem that ends in a vowel simply adds -ता: खाना → खाता, पीना → पीता, सोना → सोता, देना → देता. Nothing is inserted and nothing is shortened. The irregular forms that make Hindi verbs famous belong to the past tense, not to this one.
Worth knowing (2)
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Since: the present with से
Where English says “I have lived here for five years”, Hindi keeps the present and adds से to the length of time: मैं पाँच साल से यहाँ रहता हूँ. The situation is still going on, so the tense is the present. The perfect, रहा हूँ, would say something different.
मेरे माता-पिता बीस साल से इसी घर में रहते हैं।My parents have lived in this house for twenty years.
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आप is plural, whoever it is
आप always takes the plural forms: आप बोलते हैं, never आप बोलता है. The same goes for a person you speak about with respect — a parent, a teacher, an older relative: मेरे दादा जी गाँव में रहते हैं, “my grandfather lives in the village”.
मेरी नानी बहुत अच्छा खाना बनाती हैं।My grandmother cooks very well.
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