In Hindi-Urdu the doubling or
partial doubling of adverbial participles denotes extension in time of
some action or state against which or in terms of which some other action
is measured. From this general sense emerge a number of specific
meanings. Here we shall look at four or five of them.
I. The duplicated participle may indicate an interval of time within which
some other event occurs. In (1) the action of speaking frames the
act of smiling:
1. y:h kht:ð-kht:ð v:h m:Øskra p:_i.
(from Chapter Seventeen of g:aðdan:. See context.)
2. n:aej:m: Aaòr AÉd
b:^:ic:ð kñ b:ahr Aay:ð Aaòr
c:l:t:ð-c:l:t:ð Aap:Øs:
m:ðø b:at:c:it: krn:ð l:g:ð.
(Sentence 3 from Section 5 of Part One of
c:ndÓkant:a.)
3. Ok edn: v:ð s:ðm:ri
p:hØúc: g:y:ð Aaòr G:Üm:t:ð-G:am:t:ð b:ðl:ari j:a en:kl:ð.
(from Chapter Thirty of g:aðdan:. See context.)
4. y:h kht:ð-kht:ð us:ki Aav:az: Aaús:ØAaðø
m:ðø RÜb: g:y:i.
(from Chapter Ten of g:aðdan:. See context.)
5. daðn:aðø Aal:Ü
en:kal:- en:kal:kr
j:l:t:ð - j:l:t:ð
(from Premchand's kfn:. See context.)
c. Instances in which the V-t:ð V-t:ð participle denotes a point in time.
See ex (14) in section III below. d.
Listable exceptions (such as haðt:ð-haðt:ð 'eventually, in due time',
dðK:t:ð-dðK:t:ð 'right in front of X's eyes',
etc.) which should be regarded as isolated idioms:
6. v:h t:ðødØAa p:an:i p:ikr
t:Ørøt: Up:r c:` g:y:a Aaòr dðK:t:ð- dðK:t:ð ^:ay:b: hað g:y:a . . .
(Sentence 9 from Section 12 of Part Two of
c:ndÓkant:a.)
7. K:aðj:t:i-K:aðj:t:i us:kñ p:as: g:y:i Aaòr t:ðra
s:ùdðs:a kha.
(from Chapter Twenty-four of g:aðdan:. See context.)
8. us:n:ð hm:ðø
hús:at:ð- hús:at:ð
l:aðXa edy:a.
In these constructions the reduplicated past
participles of verbs of posture ( b:òYð-b:òYð 'sitting; waiting', K:_ð-K:_ð
'standing', l:ðXð-l:ðXð 'lying about', etc.) may be used
in the same way as the present participles of other verbs:
9. b:òYð-b:òYð es:r m:ðø c:Vkr Aa j:at:a.
(from Chapter Twenty-two of g:aðdan:. See context.)
10. khiø v:h v:hiø
b:òYð-b:òYð m:r j:ay:,
t:að Vy:a hað ?
(from Chapter Eighteen of g:aðdan:. See context.)
11. m:art:ð-m:art:ð t:ðri K:al: uD:ð_ l:ðg:a.
'He'll beat the hide off you.'
14. haðri Es: t:rh ki . . .
S:ØB:-kam:n:aOû s:Øn:t:ð-s:Øn:t:ð t:øg: Aa g:y:a T:a.
(from Chapter Eleven of g:aðdan:. See context.)
15. j:y:nt:i kñ Vv:aXür t:k
Aat:ð-Aat:ð
(from ev:Rmb:n:a, a
story by n:rðndÓ kÙm:ar es:nha.
See context.)
16. s:aúJ: hØI.
daðn:aðø l:_eky:aú AaY b:j:t:ð-b:j:t:ð K:a-p:ikr s:að
g:o.
(from Chapter Eight of g:aðdan:. See context.)
17. un:kað dðK: py:adaðø
kñ haðS: u_ g:O Aaòr Az:ü krt:ð-krt:ð ,k g:O.
(Sentence 43 from Section 15 of Part One of
c:ndÓkant:a.)
18. kaðdI n:ð m:Øskrakr kha
-- " hm: daðn:aðø m:ðø l:_aI
haðt:ð-haðt:ð b:c:i.
"
(from Chapter Twelve of g:aðdan:. See context.)
19. jy:aðøhi em:sXr t:øK:a
. . . km:rð m:ðø Aay:ð Aaòr
haT: b:`ay:a ek ray: s:ahb: n:ð b:m:g:aðl:a Cað_
edy:a --
(from Chapter Twenty-two of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Twenty of g:aðdan:. See context.)
21. Aat:i hò udüÜ z:Øb:an:
Aat:ð-Aat:ð
The world of film songs, with its love of expressive
iteration, provides an instance of V-t:ð
in triplicate!
22. y:h l:_ka, hay: All:ah, kós:a
hò div:an:a ! This boy,
Lord! what a crazy guy he is!
These notes are a more detailed exploration of
material published in Hindi Structures (§ 15B) and posted to Malhar. For discussion of reduplication
as a general phenomenon in South Asia see Abbi
1992.
To exercise.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of m:lhar.
Drafted 12 Aug 2002. Posted 13 Aug 2002. Augmented and
linked to g:aðdan: 14
Aug 2002. Further additions 18, 21-22, 24-25 Aug 2002, 17 Mar
2003 and 12 Jul 2004.
'While saying this she began smiling.'
In (2) the stroll includes a conversation:
'Najim and Ahmad came out of the garden and began
conversing with each other as they walked.'
In (3) the reduplication is partial, suggesting randomness or
unintentionality:
'One day they arrived in Semri and while wandering
here and there came out in Belari.'
The subject of the reduplicated participle is almost
always identical to the subject of the finite verb. Exceptions
include: a. Instances where the identity of subjects is notional
rather than strict. Instances of this are exx (4) and (12):
'His voice became choked with tears as he was saying
this.'
b. Identity of the participle's subject with the main verb's direct object
(5) is rare:
'They both started pulling potatoes out (of the
fire) and eating them while they were still burning hot.'
'Drinking some melon water he climbed up and
disappeared right in front of their eyes...'
While the participle usually assumes the
masculine oblique default form in -t:ð,
occasionally there is agreement in gender and number with the subject.
Compare (1) with (7):
'Searching here and there I (found him and) went up
to him and gave him your message.'
This agreement may occur only when the finite verb itself agrees in gender
and number with the subject (not when it agrees with the object or is in
the default masculine singular):
'He had us laughing so hard we were rolling on the
floor.'
'(You) would have gone crazy from sitting around
(waiting).'
Of these b:òYð-b:òYð ('sitting idly; for no reason;
suddenly') and K:_ð-K:_ð ('standing around; without reacting') have
assumed idiomatic attitudinal meanings:
'What if she suddenly were to die right there?
What then?'
II. It is not uncommon for the reduplicated participle to express the
process leading to the end result expressed by the finite verb:
(from Chapter Twenty-one of g:aðdan:. See context.)
12. t:Ømhari rah
dðK:t:ð-dðK:t:ð
AaúK:ðø PÝX g:y:iø.
'I wore my eyes out watching for you.'
(from Chapter Twenty of g:aðdan:. See context.)
13. b:al:k raðt:ð-raðt:ð b:ðdm: hað j:at:a.
'The child would cry itself breathless.'
(from Chapter Twenty-seven of g:aðdan:. See context.)
Use of reduplicated participles together with
specific verbs of fatigue and exhaustion ( t:øg: Aa-, ukt:a
j:a-, etc.) has itself become a type of fixed construction:
'Hori had become sick and tired of hearing these
kinds of ... good wishes.'
For further discussion and examples of these see notes on V-t:ð
V-t:ð with verbs of disgust.
III. A duplicated participle may be used to dentify an action or event
before which another action is complete:
'...by the time they arrived at Jayanti's quarters,
numerous beads of sweat had begun to glisten on Jayadev's forehead.'
In (16) the striking of eight provides a reference point, a location in time
before which other actions have gone to completion:
'Evening came. By the time it struck eight the
two girls had their meal and went to bed.'
An alternative to the reduplicated participle when used in this meaning is
a j:b: t:k-clause:
16'. j:b: t:k AaY b:j:ð ( t:b: t:k ) l:_eky:aú
K:a-p:ikr s:að g:I T:iø.
This option is discussed in the notes on
j:b: t:k-constructions.
IV. Identifying an action or event before which another action is not only
not complete, but not even begun. Consider example (17) where the
soldiers stop before they speak:
'Seeing them the soldiers became confused and did not
speak.' (literally: '...stopped (speaking) before they spoke.')
To give up doing something before one does it is not the same as simply
not doing it. It is to come close to doing it. Use of the
reduplicated participle together with a verb that denotes non-action
( b:c: 'be left over', rh j:a 'be left behind', etc.) becomes a way of
expressing 'almost'. Thus in (18) the speaker is not just saying
there was not a fight but also that there was close to being one:
'Kodai smiled and said, "The two of us nearly came to
blows."'
V. Even more idiomatic is the use of a verb with the reduplicated
participle of itself serving as its own reference point. The overall
meaning is one of protraction or delay:
" m:òø
G:ùXð-B:r s:ð y:haú
b:òYa hØAa hÜû Aaòr Aap:
en:kl:t:ð-en:kl:t:ð Ab: en:kl:ð
hòø. "
'No sooner had Mr. Tankha ... entered the room and
extended his hand than Ray Sahab exploded:
"I've been waiting here for a whole hour and you have
been all this time coming out (to receive me)!"
20. m:ael:k, t:Ømhðø Oðs:i b:at: n: khn:i
c:aehO, j:að Aadm:i kað l:g:
j:ay:. p:an:i m:rt:ð hi m:rt:ð
t:að m:rðg:a.
'Sahib, there's no need to say things to a man to
hurt him. Little by little he'll lose his pride anyway.'
This idiom is featured in one of the most famous statements made (by the
poet Dagh) about the difficulty of mastering Hindi
and Urdu:
'One learns Urdu (and Hindi) only after a great long
while of study.' (See context.)
ekt:n:a m:ØeSkl:
hò Es:kað s:m:J:an:a
How hard it is to make him understand
ek D:irð-D:irð edl: b:ðqrar haðt:a hò
That it takes a while to
unhinge a heart.
ek haðt:ð
haðt:ð haðt:ð, py:ar
haðt:a hò.
Love takes its time, its
own sweet time.
(from hm: eks:i
s:ð km: n:hiø. Lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. See rest
of song.)
