Grammar Notes 4.2: Conjunctive participle

The conjunctive participle is a very common tool in Hindi which expresses an action that happens before the action expressed by the main verb of the sentence.

वह नाश्ता करके काम पर जाता है। He eats his breakfast and then goes to work.

The main verb in the sentence in Hindi expresses that “he goes to work” and the conjunctive participle (नाश्ता) करके expresses that the action of “eating breakfast” happened before the main verb. The literal translation of the conjunctive participle could be “having eaten his breakfast” and the sentence “Having eaten his breakfast he goes to work”.

The conjunctive participle is formed by adding suffix –कर to the root of the verb.

With the verb करना, the conjunctive participle is करके.

Some alternative forms of the conjunctive participle are also commonly used.

वह रोज़ फ़ुटबॉल खेलकर स्कूल से आता है। – वह रोज़ फ़ुटबॉल खेलके स्कूल से आता है।

Exercises

(2.1.) Fill in the blanks with conjunctive participle of the given verb.

(2.2.) Combine the two sentences using conjunctive participle

1. उसने मेरा चुटकुला सुना। वह ज़ोर से हंसा।
2. मैं आठ बजे नाश्ता करता हूँ। फिर स्कूल जाता हूँ।
3. सबने मेरी आवाज़ सुनी। कमरे में सब चुप हो गए।
4. उसने दांत साफ़ किये| घर से चला गया|
5. मैं उस नए रेस्टोरेंट में खाऊंगा| फिर घर जाऊँगा|

(2.3.) Translate Ramesh’s day using conjunctive participle for underlined verbs

Ramesh (having slept the whole night) gets up at 7 in the morning. He (after getting up) brushes his teeth. After brushing his teeth, he eats his breakfast. After eating his breakfast, he drinks his tea. Having drunk his tea, he goes to his work.