B1 · The past
When the verb agrees with nothing: ने with को
default agreement after ने and को
If the subject has ने and the object has को, the verb takes the neutral form in -ा: मैंने उस लड़की को देखा.
At a glance
- Remember
- Ne on one side, ko on the other: the verb agrees with nobody and ends in -a.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The past — Something that happened, finished, and stays where it happened.
- Form
- मैंने एक लड़की देखीobject without को: agreement
- Signal words
- ने … को
- मैंने उसको
- उसने कहा कि
- को
- Trap
- Wrong:मैंने उस लड़की को देखी।Right:मैंने उस लड़की को देखा।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| object without को: agreement | मैंने एक लड़की देखी |
| object with को: neutral | मैंने उस लड़की को देखा |
| plural without को | मैंने कुछ किताबें रखीं |
| plural with को | मैंने इन किताबों को रखा |
| a clause as object | उसने कहा कि … |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
With ने on the subject and को on the object, the verb takes -ा.
सीमा ने बच्चों को बुलाया।Seema called the children.
A person as object usually takes को.
मैंने उस लड़की को कल देखा।I saw that girl yesterday.
A specific thing may take को, and then the agreement goes.
मैंने इन किताबों को अलमारी में रखा।I put these books in the cupboard.
With a clause or no object, the verb is also -ा.
उसने कहा कि वह कल आएगी।She said that she would come tomorrow.
Example sentences
सीमा ने बच्चों को बुलाया।Seema called the children.
मैंने उस लड़की को कल बाज़ार में देखा।I saw that girl at the market yesterday.
पुलिस ने चोरों को पकड़ा।The police caught the thieves.
मैंने इन किताबों को अलमारी में रखा।I put these books in the cupboard.
माँ ने बेटी को सुबह छह बजे जगाया।Mother woke her daughter at six in the morning.
उसने कहा कि वह कल आएगी।She said that she would come tomorrow.
6 more example sentences
हमने अपनी सहेलियों को खाने पर बुलाया।We invited our friends for a meal.
डॉक्टर ने मरीज़ को ध्यान से देखा।The doctor examined the patient carefully.
मैंने उसे स्टेशन पर छोड़ा।I dropped her at the station.
उन्होंने सोचा कि हम नहीं आएँगे।They thought we would not come.
किसने इस खिड़की को खोला?Who opened this window?
टीचर ने लड़कियों को बधाई दी।The teacher congratulated the girls.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
लड़की is feminine, and after ने you have learnt to look at the object. But this object carries को, and a noun with a postposition cannot control the verb. With nothing to agree with, the verb falls back to देखा.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
After ने the verb agrees with the object — but only with an object that has no postposition of its own. Many objects do have one. A person, or a specific thing you have already mentioned, is often marked with को: मैंने उस लड़की को देखा, “I saw that girl”.
Now the verb has nothing left to agree with. The subject is blocked by ने, the object by को. In that case the verb takes the masculine singular, the neutral form: देखा, although the girl is feminine. The same with a plural: पुलिस ने चोरों को पकड़ा, not पकड़े.
Compare the two sentences side by side: मैंने कुछ किताबें मेज़ पर रखीं, “I put some books on the table”, agrees with किताबें; मैंने इन किताबों को मेज़ पर रखा, “I put these books on the table”, has को and so the neutral रखा. The को makes the object definite, and it switches off the agreement.
The neutral form also appears when the “object” is a whole clause or there is no object at all: उसने कहा कि वह आएगी, “she said she would come”; मैंने सोचा, “I thought”. In all these, look for an unmarked noun to agree with; if there is none, write -ा.
A closer look
When does the object take को?
People almost always do: मैंने राहुल को देखा, not मैंने राहुल देखा. Animals often do. Things take को when they are definite and the speaker wants to point at them — “these books”, “that letter” — and usually not when they are new or unspecific: मैंने एक चिट्ठी लिखी.
So the same verb with the same object can come out either way: मैंने वह चिट्ठी पढ़ी and मैंने उस चिट्ठी को पढ़ा are both correct. The first agrees, the second does not, and the second puts a little more weight on “that letter”.
Worth knowing (2)
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उसे is उसको
उसे, मुझे, तुम्हें and उन्हें are short forms of the pronoun with को, so they block agreement in the same way: मैंने उसे देखा, whether “her” or “him”.
मैंने उन्हें कल फ़ोन पर बताया।I told them on the phone yesterday.
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A noun inside the verb can still agree
In टीचर ने लड़कियों को बधाई दी the verb is feminine, although लड़कियों को has को. The reason: बधाई देना contains its own unmarked noun, बधाई, and the verb agrees with that. The person is a second object, and it does not count.
मैंने उसकी बहुत मदद की।I helped him a lot.
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