The Hindi simple perfective presents an event as a bounded whole: नीला आई “Neela came.” The present perfect keeps that perfective event but adds present है/हैं: नीला आई है “Neela has come / is here now.” Choose between them by deciding where the speaker places the event: inside a closed past frame, or in relation to the present situation.
English wording is an unreliable shortcut. English strongly separates I saw it yesterday from I have seen it, while Hindi makes its own discourse choice and allows open periods such as आज “today” with either form under different viewpoints. The full formation and agreement patterns appear on simple perfective versus present perfect; this page concentrates on the choice.
A compact decision tree
Work through these questions in order:
- Is the event viewed as completed? If not, neither form is the right starting point; choose a habitual, progressive, future, or other form.
- Are you locating it in a closed past episode or advancing a past narrative? Choose the simple perfective: रात को फ़ोन आया.
- Are you giving news, reporting a current result, or describing experience up to now? Choose the present perfect: फ़ोन आया है.
- Does a time phrase include the present, such as आज, इस हफ़्ते, अब तक? Ask whether the speaker treats that interval as still open. If yes, the present perfect is likely; if it merely locates a finished episode, the simple perfective is possible.
- Could both fit? State the intended consequence. “What happened then?” favors the simple form; “What is true or possible now because of it?” favors है/हैं.
Closed report versus live update
Hold the event and participants constant:
आरव ने दरवाज़ा बंद किया।
ārav ne darvāzā band kiyā.
Aarav closed the door.
आरव ने दरवाज़ा बंद किया है।
ārav ne darvāzā band kiyā hai.
Aarav has closed the door; it is closed now.
The first sentence can answer कल क्या हुआ? “What happened yesterday?” The second is a useful update now—perhaps the room is quiet or nobody can enter. The door might later be reopened; the grammar presents a current connection but does not guarantee a permanent state.
सुबह डॉक्टर ने दवा बदली।
subah ḍokṭar ne davā badlī.
In the morning, the doctor changed the medicine.
डॉक्टर ने दवा बदली है, इसलिए पुरानी गोलियाँ मत लीजिए।
ḍokṭar ne davā badlī hai, islie purānī goliyā̃ mat lījie.
The doctor has changed the medicine, so please do not take the old tablets.
The consequence introduced by इसलिए makes the present anchor explicit. This news-and-consequence pattern is one of the most reliable environments for the present perfect.
Finished time and open time
A definite closed time—कल, पिछले साल, सोमवार को—normally favors the simple perfective in neutral Standard Hindi when it simply dates the event.
हम पिछले साल लखनऊ गए।
ham pichle sāl lakhnaū gae.
We went to Lucknow last year.
रिया ने सोमवार को आवेदन भेजा।
riyā ne somvār ko āvedan bhejā.
Riya sent the application on Monday.
By contrast, अभी, अब तक, आज, and इस महीने can establish an interval reaching now.
रिया ने अभी आवेदन भेजा है।
riyā ne abhī āvedan bhejā hai.
Riya has just sent the application.
हमने इस महीने तीन नए ग्राहक जोड़े हैं।
hamne is mahīne tīn nae grāhak joṛe haiṃ.
We have added three new clients this month.
आज does not mechanically demand है. At noon, आज मैं जल्दी उठा can narrate a finished morning event; आज मैं दो काम ख़त्म कर चुका हूँ evaluates progress within a day still in progress. Time expressions constrain the choice, but viewpoint completes it.
Experience and present evidence
The present perfect commonly counts experience up to the present or explains evidence visible now.
मैंने यह नाटक दो बार देखा है।
maĩne yah nāṭak do bār dekhā hai.
I have seen this play twice.
किसी ने खिड़की खोली है; कमरा बहुत ठंडा हो गया है।
kisī ne khiṛkī kholī hai; kamrā bahut ṭhaṇḍā ho gayā hai.
Someone has opened the window; the room has become very cold.
A simple perfective can report the same opening if it belongs to a past sequence. Present perfect asks the listener to update the current common ground: the opening explains the cold room now.
Negative अभी तक ... नहीं ... है keeps an expected boundary open:
अभी तक बस नहीं आई है।
abhī tak bas nahīṃ āī hai.
The bus has not arrived yet.
Compare closed कल बस नहीं आई “The bus did not come yesterday.” The negative does not choose the tense; the time frame does.
Case and agreement do not decide the contrast
Both choices retain perfective alignment. A canonical transitive agent takes ने; an unmarked object may control the perfective participle. Adding है/हैं does not restore subject agreement.
अनु ने दोनों चिट्ठियाँ लिखीं।
anu ne donoṃ ciṭṭhiyā̃ likhīṃ.
Anu wrote both letters.
अनु ने दोनों चिट्ठियाँ लिखी हैं।
anu ne donoṃ ciṭṭhiyā̃ likhī haiṃ.
Anu has written both letters.
Standalone feminine plural लिखीं becomes nonnasalized लिखी before plural हैं. That is a form difference triggered by the auxiliary; the controller is still चिट्ठियाँ.
A dialogue: why the choice changes the implication
अ: क्या इमरान ने ताला बदला? ब: हाँ, उसने ताला बदला है; पुरानी चाबी अब नहीं चलेगी।
a: kyā imrān ne tālā badlā? ba: hā̃, usne tālā badlā hai; purānī cābī ab nahīṃ calegī.
A: Did Imran change the lock? B: Yes, he has changed it; the old key will not work now.
If B said only उसने ताला बदला, the answer would confirm a past event. बदला है warns A about a present consequence. The simple form would not be false, but it would package the socially important information less helpfully.
Diagnostic checklist
- Is the predicate genuinely perfective?
- Is the reference interval closed, or does it include now?
- Are you narrating what happened, or updating what is true now?
- Does a result, experience, or unmet expectation remain relevant?
- Have you built ने, object marking, and agreement correctly before deciding whether to add है/हैं?
Common Mistakes
❌ हम पिछले साल लखनऊ गए हैं।
Marked for a neutral closed-time report; the present perfect wrongly keeps last year's trip anchored to now.
✅ हम पिछले साल लखनऊ गए।
ham pichle sāl lakhnaū gae.
We went to Lucknow last year.
❌ रीना ने अभी जवाब भेजा हैं।
Incorrect—singular masculine जवाब selects भेजा है, not plural हैं.
✅ रीना ने अभी जवाब भेजा है।
rīnā ne abhī javāb bhejā hai.
Reena has just sent the reply.
❌ जब हम दिल्ली में रहते थे, तब हमने वह नाटक दो बार देखा है।
Incorrect for this closed past frame—the period of living in Delhi is over, so the present perfect is not anchored to now.
✅ जब हम दिल्ली में रहते थे, तब हमने वह नाटक दो बार देखा।
jab ham dillī meṃ rahte the, tab hamne vah nāṭak do bār dekhā.
When we lived in Delhi, we saw that play twice.
❌ सीमा ने फ़ाइलें भेजा है।
Incorrect—unmarked feminine plural फ़ाइलें controls the perfective and the auxiliary.
✅ सीमा ने फ़ाइलें भेजी हैं।
sīmā ne fāileṃ bhejī haiṃ.
Seema has sent the files.
Key Takeaways
Use the simple perfective for a bounded event placed in a closed past frame or narrative sequence. Add present है/हैं when that event supplies news, evidence, experience, a current result, or an expectation still open now. Time words help, but the decisive question is the speaker's reference point. Case and agreement follow the same perfective architecture in both choices.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Simple perfective versus present perfectB1 — Choose between the bare Hindi perfective and perfective plus present है or हैं according to time frame and current relevance.
- Perfective and result relevanceB1 — Connect a bounded Hindi event to its present result without confusing perfective viewpoint, completion vectors, and the present auxiliary.
- Perfective aspect and bounded eventsB1 — Use Hindi perfective aspect to present an event as a bounded whole while separating viewpoint, completion, tense, and agreement.
- Past perfect in narrative sequenceB1 — Use Hindi perfective plus था to place a completed event before a past reference point without overmarking every earlier event.
- Present perfectA2 — Build the Hindi present perfect from an agreeing perfective plus a present form of होना to connect a completed event or resulting state to the present.
- ने or no ने in perfective clausesA2 — Choose ने from Hindi aspect, voice, and transitivity rather than adding it mechanically to every past event.