Infinitive Clauses: pour, sans, au lieu de + infinitif
Infinitive उपवाक्य: pour, sans, au lieu de + infinitif
English typically reaches for a gerund ('-ing') after prepositions like 'without' and 'instead of'. French uses the plain infinitive instead — and Hindi's own behavior here is mixed: के बजाय ('instead of') pairs with an infinitive-like verbal noun much like French does, but बिना ('without') reaches for its own special participial form, not the infinitive at all.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
pour + infinitif = purpose ('in order to') ≈ Hindi's के लिए + oblique infinitive
Je travaille pour gagner de l'argent.
मैं पैसे कमाने के लिए काम करता हूँ।
pour + infinitive expresses purpose. Hindi's के लिए ('for the sake of') also pairs with the oblique infinitive (कमाने, from कमाना) here, so both languages reach for an infinitive-shaped verb after their 'in order to' word — this pattern already matches your Hindi instinct well, one of the easier constructions in this lesson.
sans + infinitif = 'without doing' — but Hindi's बिना doesn't use the infinitive here
Il est parti sans dire au revoir.
वह बिना अलविदा कहे चला गया। (कहे, न कि कहना — यह infinitive नहीं है)
English 'without saying' uses a gerund, but French sans is always followed by the bare infinitive — dire, never disant. Hindi does something different from both: बिना is followed by a special participial form (कहे, an oblique perfective participle of कहना), not the infinitive कहना itself. Don't assume Hindi's बिना + [verb] pattern will tell you which French form to reach for — French's sans always wants the plain infinitive, dire, regardless of what shape the equivalent Hindi verb takes after बिना.
au lieu de + infinitif = 'instead of doing' ≈ Hindi's के बजाय + oblique infinitive
Au lieu de regarder la télé, lis un livre.
टीवी देखने के बजाय, किताब पढ़ो।
Same pattern as pour: French au lieu de takes the plain infinitive, regarder, and Hindi's के बजाय ('instead of') pairs with the oblique infinitive देखने (from देखना) — so unlike बिना, के बजाय actually does match French's infinitive-after-preposition logic closely. This makes au lieu de one of the easier prepositions in this lesson to get right by leaning on Hindi, even though sans right next to it behaves completely differently in both languages.
General rule: after nearly every French preposition, use the infinitive, not -ant
avant de partir, afin de réussir, au lieu de dormir
जाने से पहले, सफल होने के लिए, सोने के बजाय
With the single exception of en (en + participe présent = the gérondif, covered at B2), every French preposition is followed by a plain infinitive, never the participe présent (-ant form). Hindi's oblique infinitive (जाने, होने, सोने) is the closest match for most of these prepositional constructions, but as you saw with बिना, not every Hindi preposition-like word pairs with this same oblique-infinitive shape — so treat French's blanket 'infinitive after any preposition except en' rule as more consistent than Hindi's own mixed behavior, and lean on it rather than trying to predict the French form from whichever Hindi construction happens to be at hand.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- के लिएke lie
- English
- in order to
- Hindi
- बिना...केbinā...ke
- English
- without doing
- Hindi
- के बजायke bajāy
- English
- instead of doing
- Hindi
- से पहलेse pahle
- English
- before doing
- Hindi
- के उद्देश्य सेke uddeśya se
- English
- in order to (more formal)
- Hindi
- करने के बादkarne ke bād
- English
- after having done / after being