Participles.

     A participle is a form derived from a verb that is used as an adjective. In Hindi there are three participles:

 1. The participles in - v:al:a (see review):
    hm: Ch b:j:ð c:l:n:ðv:al:i b:s: kñ Eøt:z:ar m:ðø hòø.
    'We're waiting for the bus that leaves at six.'

 2. The present participle in -t:a  (hØAa) :
    c:l:t:i  (hØI)  g:a_i s:ð m:t: ut:rað.
    'Dont get off a moving train.'

 3. The past participle in -y:a  (hØAa) :
    dðv:t:aAaðø kað c:K:ð hØO Pl: c:`aO n:hiø j:at:ð.
    'You don't offer the gods fruit that's already been tasted.'

These participles provide alternatives to the use of relative clauses in certain tenses.

 1'. The -v:al:a participle usually substitutes for a relative clause in a habitual or progressive tense:
    hm: us: b:s: kñ Eøt:z:ar m:ðø hòø j:að Ch b:j:ð c:l:t:i hò.
    s:am:n:ð s:ð Aan:ðv:al:i Ok g:a_i m:ðri g:a_i s:ð Xkra g:I.
    'An oncoming car struck mine.'

    Ok g:a_i j:að s:am:n:ð s:ð Aa rhi T:i m:ðri g:a_i s:ð Xkra g:I.
 2'. The present participle usually substitutes for a progressive tense:

    g:a_i s:ð t:b: m:t: ut:rað j:b: v:h c:l: rhi hað.
 3'. The past participle usually replaces a clause in a past or perfect tense:

    j:að Pl: c:K:ð g:O haðø v:h dðv:t:aAaðø kað n:hiø c:`aO j:at:ð.
      Of the three, the past participle is perhaps the most commonly used and certainly the most complex. When made from an intransitive verb it modifies its subject:

 4.  j:l:i hØI raðeXy:aú Al:g: rK:að.
    'Put the burnt rotis to one side.'

However, if made from a transitive verb, it modifies its object:

 5.  m:ðrð j:l:aO hØO )ðm:p:*: kós:ð p:`aðg:i t:Øm: ?
    'How will you read my loveletters if I've burnt them?'

This means that the present participles corresponding to past participles (like eky:a hØAa) are explicitly marked passives (like eky:a j:at:a hØAa) and that eky:a hØAa means the same thing as eky:a g:y:a hØAa:
 6.  eky:ð hØO kam:aðø Aaòr eky:ð j:at:ð hØO kam:aðø m:ðø b:hØt: fqý hò.
    'There is a lot of difference between something that is done and something that is being done.'

When expressed, the agent of a transitive past participle normally gets ka:
 7.  t:Ømhara s:ÜX g:aúv: kñ dz:iü ka es:y:a hØAa l:g:t:a hò.
    'Your suit looks like it was sewn by a village tailor.'

Only with a few reflexive transitives like p:i,  K:a, and  p:hn: may a past participle modify its agent.
 8. us:kñ En: en:raS:a-B:rð S:bdaðö n:ð D:en:y:a kñ c:aðX K:ay:ð hØO Ædy: m:ðö Aat:økm:y: kmp:n:-s:a Ral: edy:a T:a.
     'These despondent words of his filled Dhaniya's bruised heart with a tremor of dread.'
      (from Chapter One of  g:aðdan: )
When the past participle of a transitive verb is used as a predicate adjective to express a state, the  n:ð that is ordinarily found with the subject disappears:

 9.   g:aðb:r c:m:ac:m: b:ÜX p:hn:ð hØO T:a.
     'Gobar was wearing shiny new shoes.'   (from Chapter Twenty of  g:aðdan:. Context.)
Notice that in (9) although the past participle  p:hn:ð hØO modifies the masculine singular  g:aðb:r, it assumes a masculine oblique "default" form.
     For some speakers, when the past participle is of a transitive verb, the  hØAa part shows adjectival agreement [ hØI in (10)], while the main verb remains in the default form [ b:aúD:ð in (10)]:
10.  v:h n:il:i s:a_i b:aúD:ð hØI Q:Üb:s:Ürt: Aaòrt: m:ðri G:rv:al:i hò.
    'That beautiful woman wearing the blue sari is my wife.'

For other speakers the  n:ð remains with the subject and both parts of the past participle agree with the direct object:
11.  " y:h G:r us:kñ el:O Oðs:i s:ray: hò ej:s:n:ð us:ð m:ØFt: p:n:ah di hØI hò
     'For her this home is an inn which has given her free refuge (=lodging)...'

Of course, if the direct object takes  kað, then both parts of the verb take the masculine singular default in -Aa:
12.  " b:hØt: eb:g:a_a hØAa hò t:Øm:n:ð l:_ki kað&&& t:is: s:ð t:að Up:r hað g:y:i,  S:adi kb: krðg:i ?"
     "You have completely spoiled your girl. Over thirty! When will she get married?"

      (from  s:Ø\:m: b:ðdi's short story  ec:e_y:a Aaòr c:il:.)
     There are also a few idioms (like English "a well-read but very drunken man") in which the past participle of a transitive verb modifies its agent while its patient is elided:

13. p:`ð-el:K:ð haðkr B:i t:Øm: Oðs:ð c:aðri krt:ð hað ?
      'Even though you're educated you steal like this?'

      Past participles of verbs that, for the most part, describe changes in bodily position or condition, may have present stative meanings:  b:òYa  'sitting',  l:ðXa  'lying',  p:_a  'lying around',  s:aðy:a  'sleeping',  s:mB:al:ð  'balancing',  el:y:ð  'holding',  p:k_ð  'clutching',  eCp:a  'hiding',  eCp:aO  'concealing', etc.:
14. eb:ll:i eK:_ki m:ðø l:ðXi hØI T:i.
     'The cat was lying in the window.'

15. t:Ømhara kb:a_a y:haú kb: ka p:_a hØAa hò.
     'Your junk's been lying around here for ages.'

As we saw in example (9) if such past participles governing objects are used predicatively they do not usually agree with their subjects (16) or their objects (17), but assume instead a default form in -O :

16. m:ðri c:c:ðri b:hn: c:ac:aj:i ka haT: p:k_ð hØO T:i.
     'My cousin was clutching my uncle's hand.'

17. S:aðB:a n:ð kha --  t:a_i t:að ep:y:ð hØO hað,  us: p:r kht:ð hað,  Ok p:òs:a B:i n: Cað_a !
     'Shobha said, 'Here you are, drunk on toddy, and you claim he didn't let you have even one pice!'
      (from Chapter Seventeen of  g:aðdan: )
     These forms may function as complementizers in parallel to V-t:a, V-t:ð and V-t:ð  V-t:ð:
18. m:òø b:òYð b:òYð t:øg: Aa g:y:a hÜú.
     'I am tired of sitting around.'

19. n:s:ü n:ð m:riz: kað m:ðz: kñ n:ic:ð s:aðy:ð hØO p:ay:a.
     'The nurse found the patient sleeping under the table.'

Like forms in -t:ð ( hØO ) they may also serve as adverbs to the main verb:

20. haT:aðø m:ðø s:ara s:am:an: s:mB:al:ð hØO v:h drv:az:a K:Øl:n:ð ki )t:ix:a m:ðø b:ahr K:_i hØI T:i.
     'Balancing everything in her hands she was standing outside waiting for the door to open.'

Both the present and the past participles figure in  kað-expressions of elapsed time:
21. Ab: edl:ip: kað c:in:i p:`t:ð hØO b:arh s:al: hað g:O haðøg:ð.
     'Dilip must have been studying Chinese for twelve years now.'

22. us:kað t:òrn:a s:iK:ð hØO dað hFt:ð B:i n:hiø hØO ek us:n:ð g:øg:a n:di p:ar krkñ edK:a di.   (or edy:a )
     'It hadn't been two weeks since he learned to swim when he showed he could swim across the River Ganges.'

See further examples and a detailed discussion of the use of participles in time expressions.

An earlier version of these notes appears as § 21B of  Hindi Structures, pp. 201-203.

Exercise.

English to Hindi translation exercise.

To index of grammatical notes.

To index of  m:lhar.

Keyed in by  ev:v:ðk Ag:rv:al: 1-2 May 2002. Posted 4 May 2002. Proofread and linked 6-7 May 2002. Augmented and relinked 16 June 2002.