Phrasal Verbs: Separable vs. Inseparable
फ़्रेज़ल क्रियाएँ: पृथक्करणीय बनाम अपृथक्करणीय
Some phrasal verbs let their object slide between the verb and the particle, while others refuse to be split at all — a distinction that has to be learned per verb, with nothing in Hindi's own fixed verb-final word order to compare it against.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
A silent rule with real consequences for word order
turn off the light / turn the light off (separable, both orders work) vs. look after the baby (inseparable, only one order works)
हिंदी में ऐसा पृथक्करणीय/अपृथक्करणीय भेद मौजूद नहीं है
Hindi has no equivalent split to compare this against — its SOV order keeps the object before the verb no matter what (बत्ती बंद करो, उसे बंद करो — the object sits in the same slot whether it's a full noun or a pronoun). English separable phrasal verbs (turn off, pick up, put away) allow the object either between the two parts or after the whole phrase — but a pronoun object must go in the middle (turn it off, never turn off it). Inseparable phrasal verbs (look after, get over, run into) never allow a split at all. There's no reliable way to guess which category a new phrasal verb belongs to — learn it alongside the verb itself.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| English | Pronunciation | Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| turn off the light / turn the light off | turn awf thuh lyt | बत्ती बंद करोbattī band karo |
| turn it off | turn it awf | उसे बंद करोuse band karo |
| look after the baby | look AF-ter thuh BAY-bee | बच्चे की देखभाल करोbacce kī dekhbhāl karo |
| run into an old friend | run IN-too an ohld frend | किसी पुराने दोस्त से अचानक मिलनाkisī purāne dost se acānak milnā |