Reporting what somebody said, with no shift of tense
I can report what somebody said without changing their tense
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
उसने कहा कि वह कल आएगा।
He said he would come tomorrow.
मुझे लगता है कि वह सही है।
I think he's right.
उसने पूछा कि तुम कहाँ रहते हो।
He asked where you live.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Hindi reports speech by putting कि between the two halves and leaving the quoted words as they were:
There is no backshift. The tense of the original stays. And the pronoun often stays first-person too, which looks wrong to an English speaker and is entirely correct.
A reported question keeps its question word and takes no क्या: उसने पूछा कि तुम कब आओगे।
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesBackshifting the tense as English requires, and dropping ki.
Shifting the tense back as English does
Hindi does not backshift, and neither does Russian. Keep the original tense.
Omitting ki in writing
ki may be dropped in speech but is normal in writing.
उसने कहा कि वह कल आएगा।
He said he would come tomorrow.
The future stays future, exactly as in Russian.
मुझे लगता है कि वह सही है।
I think he's right.
ki joins without changing either half.
उसने पूछा कि तुम कहाँ रहते हो।
He asked where you live.
A reported question keeps its question word and takes no kya.
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, the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi verb and particle usage.
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account of modality, particles and reported speech used here.