lagna: to seem, to take time, to feel, and to begin
I can use lagna for seeming, for duration and for starting to do something
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
I'm cold.
It takes two hours to get there.
The child began to fall asleep.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| to seem | मुझे लगता है कि... - I think that... |
| to take time | दो घंटे लगते हैं। - It takes two hours. |
| to be felt | मुझे भूख लगी है। - I'm hungry. |
| to begin | वह रोने लगा। - He began to cry. |
The infinitive goes oblique - रोना becomes रोने - as it does before any postposition.
In three of the four uses the person sits in the को form and the verb agrees with something else. Only the 'began' use keeps an ordinary subject.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesMaking the person the subject in the 'seem' and 'take time' uses, and keeping -na on the infinitive before lagna.
Person made the subject of lagna
mujhe lagta hai, never main lagta hun.
Infinitive not put in the oblique before lagna
rone laga, never rona laga.
I'm cold.
The person takes ko; the verb agrees with the cold.
It takes two hours to get there.
lagna agrees with the hours, not with you.
The child began to fall asleep.
Oblique infinitive plus lagna for the beginning of an action.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account relied on for aspect, valency and clause structure.
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi morphology and syntax.