In the last topic, we have learnt about the transitive verbs. Today, I will try to explain the intransitive verbs.

Intransitive verbs are called अकर्मक क्रिया (Akarmak Kriya). Intransitive verbs are those verbs which use a subject but not object(s). These verbs are easier to grasp as they don’t contain object (s).

In Hindi, the intransitive verbs can be differentiated from the intransitive verbs by “कौन ” (Kaun – Who).

Questions can be formed by कौन + क्रिया? – Who + verb? . The answer is the कर्ता (Karta) – subject.

This is explained with some examples. The verbs are in bold.

1. सीता हँस रही है। – Sita is laughing.

Question: कौन हँस रही है? – Who is laughing?
Answer: सीता। – Sita.

2. गोपाल चल रहा है। – Gopal is walking.

Question: कौन चल रहा है? – Who is walking
Answer: गोपाल। – Gopal.

3. बच्चे रो रहे हैं। – Children are crying.

Question: कौन रो रहे हैं? – Who is crying?
Answer: बच्चे। – Children.

4. बिल्ली भाग रही है। – Cat is running.

Question: कौन भाग रही है? – Who is running?
Answer: बिल्ली। – Cat.

5. लोग बात कर रहे हैं। – People are talking.

Question: कौन बात कर रहे हैं? – Who is talking?
Answer: लोग। – People.

You would ask, why the बात (talk) is not an object? Because बात करना (Baat Karna – to talk) is a verb.

6. माता खाना बना रही है। – Mother is cooking.

Question: कौन खाना बना रही है? – Who is making food?
Answer: माता। – Mother.

You would ask, why the खाना (food) is not an object? Because खाना बनाना (khana banaana – to cook) is a verb.

7. पिता जी सो रहे हैं। – Father is sleeping.

Question: कौन सो रहे हैं? – Who is sleeping?
Answer: पिता जी। – Father.

Here, ‘जी’ (Ji) is used to show respect in Hindi and always goes together with the noun. This could be omitted if you want to say, Ram’s father is driving a car. Then, you don’t need ‘जी’, you can say राम के पिता गाड़ी चला रहे हैं।

Just like the last post if you will see the above mentioned examples in this post, you will find that the subject comes at the beginning of the Hindi sentences. You can use this information as a cue to determine the subject.