Passing on what somebody told you to do
I can report an instruction somebody gave me
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
He said we should come tomorrow.
The doctor told me to take the medicine.
Mother said go to sleep early.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
A reported command keeps कि and puts the verb in the subjunctive:
Very often the original imperative is simply repeated after कि: उसने कहा कि आ जाओ. This is completely ordinary in speech and keeps the flavour of the original words.
To report a request rather than an order: उसने मुझसे आने के लिए कहा - he asked me to come. The person asked takes से.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesUsing an infinitive as English does, with no ki.
English infinitive pattern used
Hindi needs ki plus a subjunctive or the repeated imperative.
Person asked marked with ko instead of se
usne mujhse kaha, with se.
He said we should come tomorrow.
ki plus subjunctive, matching skazal chtoby.
The doctor told me to take the medicine.
ke liye kahna reports a request.
Mother said go to sleep early.
The original imperative repeated after ki.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi morphology and syntax.
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account relied on for aspect, valency and clause structure.