Simple Present Tense
वर्तमान काल (सामान्य रूप)
Hindi's present tense fully conjugates by person, number, AND gender (खाता हूँ vs. खाती हूँ) — English strips almost all of that away, leaving just a single -s for third-person singular as the one surviving conjugation.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Only third-person singular gets a special ending
I eat, you eat, we eat, they eat — all identical to the base verb — but he/she/it eats
मैं खाता/खाती हूँ, तुम खाते/खाती हो, वह खाता/खाती है — every person and gender gets its own form
Hindi's habitual present conjugates fully — a different participle ending for every person, plus a separate form depending on whether the subject is masculine or feminine (खाता vs. खाती), on top of the auxiliary होना (हूँ/हो/है/हैं). English gives up on nearly all of this in the present tense: the base verb form (eat, go, work) covers I/you/we/they without any change, and only he/she/it gets a special marker, a lone -s — with no gender distinction at all ('he eats' and 'she eats' use the identical verb). Because Hindi trains you to expect a full person-and-gender conjugation, it's tempting to hunt for a hidden gender marker in English verbs — there isn't one; only that one -s exception exists.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| English | Pronunciation | Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| I eat | eye eet | मैं खाता/खाती हूँmaiñ khātā/khātī hūñ |
| he eats | hee eets | वह खाता हैvah khātā hai |
| she works | shee wurks | वह काम करती हैvah kām kartī hai |
| they play | thay play | वे खेलते हैंve khelte haiñ |
| I go | eye goh | मैं जाता/जाती हूँmaiñ jātā/jātī hūñ |
| it rains | it raynz | बारिश होती हैbāriś hotī hai |