B1 · Verbs in pairs
Compound verbs with जाना
compound verbs with जाना
Stem + जाना marks a change completed: सो जाना, “to fall asleep”; भूल जाना, “to forget”; बैठ जाना, “to sit down”.
At a glance
- Remember
- Stem plus jana: it happened, it is done, and the subject stays without ne.
- Form
- सो गया / सो गईfell asleep
- Signal words
- गया
- गई
- गए
- जाइए
- सो गया
- भूल गया
- आ गया
- Trap
- Wrong:मैंने उसका नाम भूल गया।Right:मैं उसका नाम भूल गया।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| fell asleep | सो गया / सो गई |
| sit down (polite) | बैठ जाइए |
| forgot | भूल गया / भूल गई |
| have arrived | आ गए हैं |
| ate up (no ने) | वह खा गया |
| negative: simple verb | नहीं सोया |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Stem + जाना marks a completed change.
रात को बच्चा जल्दी सो गया।The child fell asleep early that night.
The compound takes no ने and agrees with the subject.
मैं उसका नाम भूल गई।I forgot her name.
Even a transitive stem with जाना takes no ने.
वह सारी मिठाई खा गया।He ate up all the sweets.
In the negative, use the simple verb instead.
कल रात मैं ठीक से नहीं सोया।I didn’t sleep properly last night.
Example sentences
बच्चा जल्दी सो गया।The child fell asleep quickly.
कृपया बैठ जाइए।Please sit down.
मैं उसका नाम भूल गया।I forgot his name.
मेहमान आ गए हैं।The guests have arrived.
धूप में बर्फ़ पिघल गई।The ice melted in the sun.
वह सारी मिठाई खा गया।He ate up all the sweets.
6 more example sentences
मेरा फ़ोन कहीं खो गया।My phone has got lost somewhere.
वह बड़ी होकर डॉक्टर बन गई।She grew up and became a doctor.
सर्दी आ गई है।Winter has come.
दूध उबल गया, गैस बंद करो।The milk has boiled, turn the gas off.
आइए, अंदर आ जाइए।Please, do come in.
मैं थककर लेट गया।I was tired and lay down.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Forgetting has an object, so ने looks right. But the verb that carries the tense is गया, from जाना, and जाना never takes ने. A woman says मैं उसका नाम भूल गई.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Put a bare stem before जाना and the action is presented as completed, with a change of state at the end of it: वह सोया, “he slept”, but वह सो गया, “he fell asleep”; बैठिए, “sit”, but बैठ जाइए, “do sit down”. जाना loses its meaning “to go” and becomes a marker of completion.
The verbs that most often take it describe a change: सो जाना, बैठ जाना, आ जाना(to arrive)बन जाना(to become)भूल जाना(to forget)खो जाना(to get lost)पिघल जाना(to melt)मर जाना(to die) For several of them the compound is simply the normal form.
जाना is intransitive, so the whole compound is intransitive: no ने, and the verb agrees with the subject. This holds even when the main verb is transitive: वह सारी मिठाई खा गया, “he ate up all the sweets”, without ने. And भूलना, which can take an object, is used almost always as मैं भूल गया.
Compounds are positive by nature: they report that something did happen, completely. In the negative they are usually replaced by the simple verb: बच्चा सो गया, but बच्चा नहीं सोया, “the child didn’t sleep”.
A closer look
Simple or compound?
There is no rule that forces the compound; it is a choice of perspective. वह बैठाdescribes the actionवह बैठ गयाits result: he is now seated. In a story, the plain form often sets the scene and the compound moves the plot forward.
In requests, the compound with जाइए sounds warmer and more natural than the bare form: बैठ जाइए, आ जाइए, “do come in”.
जाना after a participle is something else
Do not confuse the compound (bare stem + जाना) with the passive (past participle + जाना): खा गयाis “ate up”खाया गयाis “was eaten” One letter makes the difference.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
-
the sentence is negative
drop जाना and use the simple verb.
बच्चा अभी तक नहीं सोया।The child hasn’t gone to sleep yet.
A compound reports that a change was completed. Denying it with नहीं is possible for special emphasis, but the everyday negative is the plain form.
Worth knowing (1)
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Arriving is “coming-going”
आ जाना is the everyday “to arrive, to turn up”: बस आ गई, “the bus is here”; पापा आ गए, “Dad’s home”. The plain बस आई is correct but sounds like a report rather than news.
देखो, बस आ गई!Look, the bus is here!
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