A1 · The present
Happening now: बोल रहा है
the present progressive
Stem + रहा, रही or रहे, then हूँ, है, हो or हैं: मैं खा रहा हूँ, “I am eating”.
At a glance
- Remember
- Bare stem, then raha, rahi or rahe, then the auxiliary — and only for what is going on now.
- 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
- मैं खा रहा हूँ / मैं खा रही हूँI (man / woman)
- Signal words
- अभी
- इस समय
- आजकल
- इन दिनों
- देखो
- रहा
- रही
- रहे
- Trap
- Wrong:मैं अभी चाय पीता हूँ।Right:मैं अभी चाय पी रहा हूँ।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| I (man / woman) | मैं खा रहा हूँ / मैं खा रही हूँ |
| you, friendly | तुम खा रहे हो / तुम खा रही हो |
| he / she | वह खा रहा है / वह खा रही है |
| we | हम खा रहे हैं / हम खा रही हैं |
| you, polite | आप खा रहे हैं / आप खा रही हैं |
| they | वे खा रहे हैं / वे खा रही हैं |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The bare stem stands alone; रहा follows as a separate word.
मैं अभी खाना खा रहा हूँ।I am eating just now.
रहा, रही, रहे agree with the subject in gender and number.
बाहर बारिश हो रही है।It is raining outside.
The auxiliary at the end follows the person.
तुम क्या कर रहे हो?What are you doing?
With a time word it can describe an arranged plan.
हम कल जयपुर जा रहे हैं।We are going to Jaipur tomorrow.
Example sentences
मैं अभी खाना खा रहा हूँ।I am eating right now.
बाहर बारिश हो रही है।It is raining outside.
बच्चे टीवी देख रहे हैं।The children are watching television.
माँ रसोई में खाना बना रही हैं।Mum is cooking in the kitchen.
आप क्या कर रहे हैं?What are you doing?
हम कल गोवा जा रहे हैं।We are going to Goa tomorrow.
6 more example sentences
देखो, बस आ रही है!Look, the bus is coming!
आजकल मैं एक नई किताब पढ़ रही हूँ।I am reading a new book these days.
पापा फ़ोन पर बात कर रहे हैं।Dad is talking on the phone.
लड़कियाँ गाना गा रही हैं।The girls are singing a song.
तुम कहाँ जा रहे हो?Where are you going?
बच्चा सो रहा है, धीरे बोलिए।The baby is sleeping, please speak quietly.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
पीता हूँ is a habit: “I drink tea (as a rule)”. With अभी, “right now”, the action is in progress and needs पी रहा हूँ. The two presents divide the work as English “I drink” and “I am drinking” do.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
For something that is going on right now, Hindi puts रहा after the bare stem, as a separate word, and then the form of होना: मैं खा रहा हूँ, “I am eating”; बारिश हो रही है, “it is raining”. The stem itself does not change at all — no -ता, no -ना.
रहा agrees like an adjective in -ा: रहा for a man or a masculine noun, रही for a woman or a feminine noun, रहे for a masculine plural and for तुम and आप. The auxiliary at the end follows the person, exactly as in the habitual present: तुम क्या कर रहे हो?, लड़कियाँ गा रही हैं.
Use it for what is happening at the moment of speaking (वह अभी सो रहा है, “he is sleeping just now”), for a temporary period around now (आजकल मैं एक नई किताब पढ़ रही हूँ, “I am reading a new book these days”), and, as in English, for a plan that is already arranged: हम कल गोवा जा रहे हैं, “we are going to Goa tomorrow”.
A few verbs describe a state rather than an activity, and they stay in the habitual present even when English might not: मैं उसे जानता हूँ, “I know him”, never जान रहा हूँ. The same holds for having, liking and needing, which Hindi expresses with other constructions altogether.
A closer look
Where रहा comes from
रहा is the past form of रहना, “to stay”. मैं खा रहा हूँ is, at bottom, “I have stayed eating” — still in the middle of it. That is why it agrees like a past form, रहा/रही/रहे, and why the main verb in front of it has no ending.
Swap the auxiliary and the tense moves: खा रहा था is “was eating”, खा रहा होगा “will be eating, is probably eating”. The रहा stays the same in all of them.
Worth knowing (2)
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Weather is a verb phrase
Hindi has no dummy “it”. Rain “happens”: बारिश हो रही है, with रही because बारिश is feminine. Wind “runs”: हवा चल रही है. Learn the noun and its verb together.
आज तेज़ हवा चल रही है।There is a strong wind today.
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Asking what someone is doing
क्या कर रहे हो? between friends and आप क्या कर रहे हैं? politely are among the most frequent questions in the language, on the phone above all. A woman is asked क्या कर रही हो?.
अरे, तुम यहाँ क्या कर रही हो?Hey, what are you doing here?
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