Lesson #35: The Present Continuous Tense
Can you remember what we’ve learnt about Hindi verbs so far? That’s right, I introduced you to them in Lesson #25 and then in Lesson #28: The Present Tense we began to learn how to create simple present tense sentences! Be sure to revise over those lessons if you’ve forgotten anything!
Today we’re going to learn all about another tense, The Present Continuous Tense. So thats a big scary word, what does it mean? Well the Present Continuous Tense is just sentences that include ‘-ing’ to show something is happening now! ‘I am eating’, ‘They are running’, ‘Mohit is going’. Can you see each of these sentences include ‘-ing’?
So how to we create these sentences in Hindi? Well it’s a lot easier than you think! First I’m going to show you a few example Present Continuous Tense sentences, then I’ll explain everything, then it’s over to you to write your own sentences! So are you ready to get straight to it? Here goes…
हम लिख रहे हैं ham likh rahe hain - We are writing
Let me break this sentence right down for you. We first have the word हम ham - we, then we have the root of the verb लिखना likhnaa - To write. With me so far? Now let’s skip to the end, we have हैं hain - are. So now all we have left is the new part! We have the word रहे rahe, what does this mean? Well it tells us the action is happening right now, it gives the ‘ing’ part to our verb write - we are writing! Phew, sorry that was so long!
Let’s look at another example…
मैं सोच रहा हूँ main soc rahaa hoon
- I am thinking (Said by a Male)
Here we’ve used the verb सोचना socnaa - To Think. Can you see we’ve used the Root of this verb? But then this time we’ve used रहा rahaa and not रहे rahe? You’ll see why that is in a few minutes! Are you ready for one more example?
वह सेब खा रही है voh seb khaa rahee hai
- She is eating an apple
What’s happened this time? Well we’ve use the root of the verb खाना khaanaa - To Eat and the word सेब seb - Apple. This time though (because we’re talking about a Female) we’ve used रही rahee.
Can you see in the first example we have added रहे rahe but रहा rahaa in the second and रही rahee in the last? Why is this? Well let me explain to you. Here comes the technical part, take a deep breath!
When we want to make Hindi sentence in the Present Continuous Tense (that’s basically just adding ‘-ing’) we use the verb root followed by either…
- रहा rahaa is the subject is Masculine and Singular,
- रहे rahe if the subject is Masculine and Plural,
- रही rahee if the subject is Feminine.
(The subject is usually just the person doing the action!). Does that make sense? Read through that paragraph above a few more times! So are you ready to see a few more examples now? अच्छा acchaa - great!
मैं पाकिस्तान जा रहा हूँ main paakistaan jaa rahaa hoon
- I am going to Pakistan (Said by a Male)
This time we’ve used the verb जाना jaanaa - To Go. We’ve also used रहा rahaa, can you see why? That’s right, because our subject is Masculine (it’s a male!) and Singualar (just one person!) so as we learnt just above we must use रहा rahaa!
तुम हिन्दी नहीं बोल रही हो tum hindee naheen bol rahee ho
- You are not speaking Hindi (Said to a Female)
Can you see that we use रही rahee here because we are talking about a female? Also don’t forget that we must use the word हो ho with तुम tum as we learnt in Lesson #22. This last example also shows us how to say ‘not …’, you simply add the word नहीं naheen, literally ‘no’, just before the verb!
Right ok, one more example and then it’s your turn! Are you ready?
भालू सो रहा है bhaaloo so rahaa hai
- The bear is sleeping
Here we’ve used the verb सोना sonaa - To sleep. Because the word भालू bhaaloo - Bear is Masculine we must use रहा rahaa.
So do you think you now know how to make a Present Continuous Tense sentence in Hindi? Please leave a comment just below if you have any questions at all and I’ll be sure to help you!
Right now it’s your turn! Below there are 5 English sentences, can you translate them in Hindi using what we’ve learnt today? Go on, give it a go. If you want my help then just leave a comment and I’ll tell you how you’ve done!
- I am eating (Said by a female)
- They are going home (Mixed gender group)
- He is not speaking
- Sangeeta is not thinking
- We are swimming (To Swim is तैरना tairnaa)
So go on, just leave a comment below with your answers! And of course, let me know if you have any questions at all.
