Hindi often builds a single predicate from a noun and करना: काम करना “work,” कोशिश करना “try,” फ़ैसला करना “decide,” and मदद करना “help.” The noun identifies the kind of event, while करना supplies verbal categories such as tense, aspect, mood, polarity, and agreement. Translating the parts separately as “do a work” or “make a trying” misses how the combination functions.
These are usually called noun–verb conjunct predicates. Their internal order, argument pattern, and agreement belong to the whole collocation, not to two coordinated actions. They are therefore different from an ordinary sequence such as “buy the vegetables and do the cooking.”
One predicate with two grammatical jobs
In कोशिश की, feminine noun कोशिश contributes “attempt,” and perfective की locates the attempt as completed. In an imperfective form, the same verbal slot carries the aspectual material:
अनु रोज़ आधा घंटा अभ्यास करती है।
anu roz ādhā ghaṇṭā abhyās kartī hai.
Anu practises for half an hour every day.
हम अभी अगले चरण की योजना बना रहे हैं।
ham abhī agle caraṇ kī yojnā banā rahe haiṃ.
We are planning the next stage right now.
The first is habitual; the second uses बनाना, not noun + करना, because योजना बनाना is the established collocation for drawing up a plan. Productivity does not mean that any abstract noun can automatically combine with करना. Learn the noun, its light verb, and its complements as a unit.
Argument structure comes from the whole collocation
The noun can license participants that English packages inside a verb. With मदद करना, the person helped normally appears as a का/की/के possessor of मदद; with इंतज़ार करना, the awaited person or thing takes का/की/के; with चर्चा करना, the topic commonly takes पर.
क्या आप मेरी थोड़ी मदद कर सकते हैं?
kyā āp merī thoṛī madad kar sakte haiṃ?
Could you help me a little? (respectful)
हम स्टेशन के बाहर तुम्हारा इंतज़ार करेंगे।
ham sṭeśan ke bāhar tumhārā intazār kareṅge.
We'll wait for you outside the station. (informal)
समिति ने लागत घटाने के तरीक़ों पर चर्चा की।
samiti ne lāgat ghaṭāne ke tarīqoṃ par carcā kī.
The committee discussed ways to reduce costs.
English speakers often look for a direct object because help, await, and discuss are simple transitive verbs in English. Hindi organizes these relations through the nominal member and its postposition. The surface form is not a word-for-word map of the English verb.
Perfective ने and agreement with the event noun
Because करना heads an agentive transitive predicate, a canonical perfective agent takes ने. When the event noun is unmarked, its gender and number commonly control the perfective form of करना:
| Event noun | Gender/number | Completed predicate |
|---|---|---|
| काम | masculine singular | काम किया |
| कोशिश | feminine singular | कोशिश की |
| फ़ैसले | masculine plural | फ़ैसले किए |
| तैयारियाँ | feminine plural | तैयारियाँ कीं |
निधि ने आख़िरी बार पूरी कोशिश की।
nidhi ne āxirī bār pūrī kośiś kī.
Nidhi made one final, wholehearted attempt.
टीम ने यात्रा की सारी तैयारियाँ समय पर कीं।
ṭīm ne yātrā kī sārī taiyāriyā̃ samay par kīṃ.
The team made all the travel arrangements on time.
This agreement is easy to overlook because English has no grammatical gender on do. It is also why the gender of an abstract noun is practical grammatical knowledge, not merely a dictionary detail. A later dedicated page develops agreement in noun–verb predicates; the essential point here is that ने blocks agent agreement, not all agreement.
Aspect construes the noun's event
The nominal meaning interacts with aspect. Habitual अभ्यास करता है describes a recurring practice; progressive जाँच कर रही है opens an activity from inside; perfective जाँच की presents an inspection as a bounded occurrence. A noun such as फ़ैसला strongly favors a culmination reading in the perfective, while काम can denote either an activity or a completed task depending on context.
रुचि आवेदन की जाँच कर रही है, इसलिए अभी जवाब नहीं दे सकती।
ruci āvedan kī jā̃c kar rahī hai, islie abhī javāb nahīṃ de saktī.
Ruchi is reviewing the application, so she can't answer yet.
रुचि ने आवेदन की जाँच कर ली है; अब फ़ोन कर सकते हो।
ruci ne āvedan kī jā̃c kar lī hai; ab fon kar sakte ho.
Ruchi has finished reviewing the application; you can call now. (informal)
The second example adds vector लेना after bare कर-: noun + कर + inflected vector. It profiles the review as a secured, completed task. This is not the literal sequence “review, do, take.” Compare the minimal pair:
विवेक ने खर्चों का हिसाब किया।
vivek ne xarcoṃ kā hisāb kiyā.
Vivek calculated the expenses.
विवेक ने निकलने से पहले खर्चों का हिसाब कर लिया।
vivek ne nikalne se pahle xarcoṃ kā hisāb kar liyā.
Vivek finished calculating the expenses before leaving.
Both are complete. कर लिया additionally presents the calculation as a task Vivek got safely out of the way. The vector adds boundedness and affectedness; it does not replace the lexical content of हिसाब.
Negation often favors the unexpanded predicate
For plain nonoccurrence, the ordinary pattern is नहीं + किया/की, without an extra vector:
मैंने आज कोई शिकायत नहीं की।
maĩne āj koī śikāyat nahīṃ kī.
I didn't make any complaint today.
A vector can remain when its result is specifically denied or feared:
उन्होंने जल्दबाज़ी में फ़ैसला तो नहीं कर लिया?
unhoṃne jaldabāzī meṃ faislā to nahīṃ kar liyā?
They haven't gone and made the decision in haste, have they? (concerned)
Here तो नहीं कर लिया asks about an already attained and potentially unwelcome endpoint. The difference is discourse meaning, not a ban on negating compound forms. See compound verbs under negation for the wider pattern.
Word order and focus
The event noun normally stands immediately before करना, while its dependents come before the noun phrase: नई नीति पर गंभीर विचार करना. Moving an English-style object after the verb usually breaks the Hindi predicate. Focus may place a constituent immediately before the predicate, but it does not reverse noun + करना internally.
प्रबंधक ने इस मुद्दे पर कोई टिप्पणी नहीं की।
prabandhak ne is mudde par koī ṭippaṇī nahīṃ kī.
The manager made no comment on this issue.
Here इस मुद्दे पर belongs with टिप्पणी करना, and कोई falls inside the nominal expression. The clause still follows the broad Hindi pattern of arguments before the predicate.
A dialogue: neutral action versus completed task
क्या तुमने होटल की बुकिंग की?
kyā tumne hoṭal kī bukiṅg kī?
Did you make the hotel booking? (informal)
अभी नहीं, लेकिन टिकट की बुकिंग कर ली है।
abhī nahīṃ, lekin ṭikaṭ kī bukiṅg kar lī hai.
Not yet, but I've got the ticket booking done.
ठीक है, होटल का इंतज़ाम भी आज ही कर लेना।
ṭhīk hai, hoṭal kā intazām bhī āj hī kar lenā.
All right, make the hotel arrangements today as well. (informal)
The first turn asks neutrally whether a booking event occurred. कर ली है treats the ticket booking as one secured result, and imperative कर लेना presents the hotel arrangement as a task to complete for the addressee's practical benefit. The vector changes the construal; it does not literally mean physical taking.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English verb–object order
❌ मैंने किया फ़ैसला कल।
Incorrect neutral order — the event noun belongs before करना, and the time phrase normally precedes the predicate.
✅ मैंने कल फ़ैसला किया।
maĩne kal faislā kiyā.
I made the decision yesterday.
2. Omitting ने in a canonical perfective
❌ मीरा पूरी कोशिश की।
Incorrect — agentive perfective करना normally requires ने.
✅ मीरा ने पूरी कोशिश की।
mīrā ne pūrī kośiś kī.
Meera tried her very best.
3. Making करना agree with the ergative agent
❌ रवि ने मेरी मदद किया।
Incorrect — रवि is blocked by ने; feminine मदद controls की.
✅ रवि ने मेरी मदद की।
ravi ne merī madad kī.
Ravi helped me.
4. Choosing the wrong complement pattern
❌ हम तुम्हें इंतज़ार करेंगे।
Incorrect — इंतज़ार करना normally takes the awaited person with का/की/के, not को.
✅ हम तुम्हारा इंतज़ार करेंगे।
ham tumhārā intazār kareṅge.
We'll wait for you. (informal)
5. Adding a vector without a meaningful contrast
❌ वह रोज़ सुबह योग कर लेता है।
Misleading for a neutral routine — कर लेता है suggests managing or getting the task done.
✅ मेरे पड़ोसी रोज़ सूर्योदय से पहले योग करते हैं।
mere paṛosī roz sūryoday se pahle yog karte haiṃ.
My neighbour does yoga every day before sunrise.
Key Takeaways
- The noun supplies the event type; करना carries verbal inflection and normally creates an agentive transitive frame.
- Learn each predicate with its complement pattern, because English transitivity does not predict Hindi postpositions.
- In canonical perfectives, the agent takes ने and the unmarked event noun often controls किया/की/किए/कीं.
- An added vector in कर लेना, कर देना, कर रखना profiles a result, affected participant, or maintained state; it is not a second literal action.
- Plain negation and routine description often favor the simpler noun + करना predicate.
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Start learning Hindi →Related Topics
- Perfective of करनाA2 — Use irregular किया, की, किए, and कीं in simple and auxiliary-bearing perfectives, with agreement determined by object marking.
- Transitive perfective with नेA2 — Mark the actor with ने in canonical transitive perfectives and choose verb agreement from the eligible object rather than the semantic doer.
- Perfective object agreementA2 — Make a transitive perfective agree with an eligible unmarked direct object after ने, including gender-number and auxiliary-bearing forms.
- Compound verbs: lexical stem plus vectorA2 — Build Hindi compound verbs from a bare lexical stem and an inflected vector that profiles completion, direction, affectedness, or attitude.
- Vector selection and lexical compatibilityC1 — Choose Hindi vector verbs by event structure, participant orientation, discourse stance, and conventional lexical compatibility rather than by a substitution chart.
- Neutral subject-object-verb orderA1 — Build neutral Hindi SOV clauses and understand how topic, focus, prosody, and marked orders reshape the same proposition.