A2 · The past
Irregular pasts: गया, किया, दिया, लिया, हुआ
irregular perfective forms
Five everyday verbs have their own past: जाना → गया, करना → किया, देना → दिया, लेना → लिया, होना → हुआ.
At a glance
- Remember
- Gaya, kiya, diya, liya, hua: five irregular fronts on the same four endings.
- 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
- गया, गई, गए, गईंजाना, to go
- Signal words
- गया
- किया
- की
- दिया
- लिया
- हुआ
- हुई
- पिया
- Trap
- Wrong:उसने मेरी मदद किया।Right:उसने मेरी मदद की।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Hindi.
| जाना, to go | गया, गई, गए, गईं |
| करना, to do | किया, की, किए, कीं |
| देना, to give | दिया, दी, दिए, दीं |
| लेना, to take | लिया, ली, लिए, लीं |
| होना, to be, happen | हुआ, हुई, हुए, हुईं |
| पीना, to drink | पिया, पी, पिए, पीं |
| छूना, to touch | छुआ, छुई, छुए, छुईं |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
जाना has the past गया, and agrees with its subject.
पिछले हफ़्ते हम आगरा गए।Last week we went to Agra.
करना has the past किया; with ने it agrees with the object.
मैंने उसकी मदद की।I helped him.
देना and लेना become दिया and लिया.
माँ ने मुझे सौ रुपए दिए।Mum gave me a hundred rupees.
होना becomes हुआ for “happened” and “became”.
कल एक अजीब बात हुई।Something strange happened yesterday.
पीना shortens its vowel: पिया, but पी in the feminine.
मैंने एक कप चाय पी।I drank a cup of tea.
Example sentences
वह कल दफ़्तर नहीं गई।She did not go to the office yesterday.
मैंने अपना सारा काम किया।I did all my work.
माँ ने मुझे सौ रुपए दिए।Mum gave me a hundred rupees.
उसने मुझसे मेरी किताब ली।He took my book from me.
कल रात बहुत बारिश हुई।It rained a lot last night.
बच्चों ने गरम दूध पिया।The children drank hot milk.
7 more example sentences
मैंने कल उसे फ़ोन किया।I phoned her yesterday.
हमने बहुत देर तक बात की।We talked for a long time.
उसका जन्म दिल्ली में हुआ।He was born in Delhi.
दुकानदार ने मुझे पैसे वापस दिए।The shopkeeper gave me my money back.
मेरी बहनें शादी में गईं।My sisters went to the wedding.
तुमने मेरा पेन क्यों लिया?Why did you take my pen?
उसने गरम बर्तन को छुआ।She touched the hot pan.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
मदद, help, is feminine — you can see it in मेरी. With ने the verb follows it, so the feminine form of किया is needed: की. The same goes for बात की, कोशिश की and शिकायत की.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Hindi has very few irregular verbs, but the few it has are the ones you use all day. Their irregularity is confined to the perfective participle, and so to the past tenses: the present, the future and the imperative of करना are regular, the past is not.
The five to know: जाना → गया, गई, गए, गईं; करना → किया, की, किए, कीं; देना → दिया, दी, दिए, दीं; लेना → लिया, ली, लिए, लीं; होना → हुआ, हुई, हुए, हुईं. The endings are the familiar -ा/-ी/-े/-ीं; only the front of the word changes.
Two more verbs shorten their long vowel before the य: पीना → पिया, पी, पिए, पीं; छूना → छुआ, छुई, छुए, छुईं. They are regular in spirit and irregular on paper.
The agreement rules do not change. जाना and होना are intransitive and agree with the subject: वह गई, बारिश हुई. करना, देना, लेना and पीना take ने and agree with the object: मैंने उसकी मदद की, with की because मदद is feminine.
A closer look
करा and करी
In parts of northern India you will hear करा and करी instead of किया and की, built as if the verb were regular. They are common in speech and on television, but they are regional and informal. In writing, and in every answer on this site, the standard forms are किया and की.
One form, many verbs
Because करना and होना build hundreds of verbs with a noun — बात करना, शुरू होना, फ़ोन करना — किया and हुआ are among the most frequent words in any Hindi text. The gender of the noun decides the form: फ़ोन किया(masculine)बात की(feminine)
Worth knowing (1)
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हुआ for “was born” and “became”
Several English verbs come out as होना in the past. “Was born” is जन्म हुआ; “got married” is शादी हुई; “fell ill” is बीमार हुआ. Each agrees with its noun: जन्म is masculine, शादी feminine.
उनकी शादी पिछले साल हुई।They got married last year.
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