Expressing how sure you are
I can grade how certain I am about something
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
He must be at the office now.
It might rain.
He must certainly have heard.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| ज़रूर होगा | it must certainly be | very sure |
| होगा | it must be, probably is | sure |
| लगता है | it seems | an impression |
| शायद | perhaps | open |
| हो सकता है | it could be | a possibility |
वह घर पर होगा normally means 'he must be at home', not 'he will be at home'. Context and the presence of a time word decide, and without one the inference reading is the default.
शायद वह आया होगा - perhaps he has come. The adverb and the presumptive auxiliary combine freely, and stacking them softens rather than contradicts.
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesReading hoga as a future and losing the inference.
hoga read as a plain future
Without a time word, the inference reading is the default.
Certainty marked only with an adverb
Hindi can put it in the auxiliary as well.
He must be at the office now.
hoga as inference, not future.
It might rain.
shayad with the subjunctive, the open end of the scale.
He must certainly have heard.
zarur plus the presumptive: the sure end.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account relied on for aspect, valency and clause structure.
R. S. McGregor's outline, the standard concise academic description of Hindi morphology.