Joining two actions with -kar
I can chain two actions in one sentence
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
वह नहाकर दफ़्तर गया।
He bathed and went to the office.
चाय पीकर बात करते हैं।
Let's talk after tea.
यह काम करके बताइए।
Do this and let me know.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Take the stem, add कर (or के), and you have 'having done X':
The whole sentence then runs on one final verb, and the subject is stated once:
करना is the exception: it gives करके, not करकर.
The -कर clause and the main verb must share a subject. If the subject changes, you need two clauses joined by और instead.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesUsing -kar when the two halves have different doers.
Different subjects across a -kar clause
Both halves must share a subject, exactly as with the Russian gerund.
Forming karkar instead of karke
karna is the one irregular: karke.
वह नहाकर दफ़्तर गया।
He bathed and went to the office.
One subject, two actions, one final verb.
चाय पीकर बात करते हैं।
Let's talk after tea.
Everyday spoken use; literally 'having drunk tea, we talk'.
यह काम करके बताइए।
Do this and let me know.
karna is irregular here: karke, never karkar.
The check for this topic is still being prepared
Ready-made hints are free
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, still the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi verb morphology.
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account of aspect, compound verbs and the ergative used here.