मत makes a prohibition: it tells someone not to perform an action. यहाँ मत बैठो means “Don’t sit here,” whereas तुम यहाँ नहीं बैठते states “You do not sit here.” The distinction is clause type, not simply two pronunciations of not.
The verb following मत reflects the addressee relationship and the kind of instruction. Hindi can use a bare intimate imperative, a familiar plural form, an honorific imperative, or an infinitive used as a standing instruction.
Core negative commands
| Addressee | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| तू (intimate; context-sensitive) | जा | मत जा |
| तुम (familiar) | जाओ | मत जाओ |
| आप (honorific) | जाइए | मत जाइए |
| general instruction | जाना | मत जाना |
दरवाज़ा खोलो।
darvāzā kholo.
Open the door. (familiar)
दरवाज़ा मत खोलो।
darvāzā mat kholo.
Don’t open the door. (familiar)
कृपया अभी मत जाइए।
kripyā abhī mat jāie.
Please don’t leave yet. (honorific, direct request)
मत normally precedes the imperative phrase. Honorific morphology makes मत जाइए respectful in form, although its prohibitive force can still be direct. Adding कृपया, a reason, or a softer alternative changes the tone.
For the full person paradigm, see the imperative overview by honorific level.
Infinitive prohibitions
मत + infinitive is common for reminders, warnings, and future-oriented instructions:
चाबी साथ ले जाना; भूलना मत।
cābī sāth le jānā; bhūlnā mat.
Take the key with you; don’t forget.
मेरे लौटने से पहले बाहर मत जाना।
mere lauṭne se pahle bāhar mat jānā.
Don’t go outside before I return.
यह दवा खाली पेट मत लेना।
yah davā khālī peṭ mat lenā.
Do not take this medicine on an empty stomach.
The placement भूलना मत is also idiomatic, especially as an afterthought reminder. With fuller clauses, preverbal मत जाना / मत लेना is the transparent neutral pattern.
Immediate stopping versus standing advice
दौड़ो मत—फ़र्श गीला है।
dauṛo mat—farś gīlā hai.
Don’t run—the floor is wet.
रात में इस रास्ते से मत जाना।
rāt meṃ is rāste se mat jānā.
Don’t take this road at night.
The first stops an action now; postverbal मत is natural in a short urgent warning. The second is general advice and uses an infinitive. Word order interacts with prosody: मत दौड़ो is equally grammatical and more neutral outside the urgent spoken context.
Narrow scope: what exactly is forbidden?
The constituent before the prohibition can identify the rejected time, person, object, or manner:
आज मत जाना; कल चले जाना।
āj mat jānā; kal cale jānā.
Don’t go today; go tomorrow.
बस से मत जाना; मेट्रो ले लेना।
bas se mat jānā; meṭro le lenā.
Don’t go by bus; take the metro.
रीना को मत बुलाना; मोहन को बुला लेना।
rīnā ko mat bulānā; mohan ko bulā lenā.
Don’t invite Rina; invite Mohan.
Without the corrective continuation, आज मत जाना normally prohibits the whole going event within today. The alternatives make the intended narrow contrast explicit.
Prohibiting an ongoing or repeated action
To tell someone to stop a repeated activity, Hindi can combine मत with करते रहो or choose a lexical command:
एक ही सवाल बार-बार मत पूछते रहो।
ek hī savāl bār-bār mat pūchte raho.
Don’t keep asking the same question again and again. (familiar)
फ़ोन देखते मत रहिए; सड़क पर ध्यान दीजिए।
fon dekhte mat rahie; saṛak par dhyān dījie.
Please don’t keep looking at your phone; pay attention to the road. (honorific)
The aspectual material belongs to the command. A form such as मत जा रहे हो incorrectly mixes a prohibitive with a finite progressive statement.
मत versus न in polite or formal instructions
Formal signage often prefers न करें / न जाएँ:
कृपया उपकरण को न छुएँ।
kripyā upkaraṇ ko na chueṃ.
Please do not touch the equipment. (formal notice)
उपकरण को मत छूना।
upkaraṇ ko mat chūnā.
Don’t touch the equipment. (direct spoken warning)
Both prohibit. न छुएँ is impersonal and institutional; मत छूना sounds like a speaker addressing someone directly. मत कीजिए is honorific but can still feel firm.
मत is not ordinary negation
वह आज नहीं आएगा।
vah āj nahīṃ āegā.
He will not come today. (statement)
आज मत आना।
āj mat ānā.
Don’t come today. (prohibition)
The first describes a predicted fact about a third person. The second addresses a listener. मत cannot normally negate past events, third-person reports, nominal predicates, or first-person future intentions.
Negative questions also use नहीं, not मत:
तुमने उसे बताया नहीं?
tumne use batāyā nahīṃ?
You didn’t tell him/her? (surprised negative question)
This asks whether a past event failed to happen; it issues no command.
Direct and polite dialogue turns
मेरा फ़ोन मत लेना। — ठीक है, मैं अपना फ़ोन इस्तेमाल करूँगा।
merā fon mat lenā. — ṭhīk hai, maĩ apnā fon istemāl karū̃gā.
Don’t take my phone. — All right, I’ll use my own. (direct; male speaker)
कृपया फ़ाइल अभी मत भेजिए; मैं पहले एक बदलाव कर लूँ। — ठीक है, आप बताइएगा।
kripyā fāil abhī mat bhejie; maĩ pahle ek badlāv kar lū̃. — ṭhīk hai, āp batāiegā.
Please don’t send the file yet; let me make one change first. — All right, please let me know. (polite)
The honorific dialogue uses मत भेजिए with कृपया and a reason, making the direct prohibition cooperative rather than abrupt.
Common Mistakes
❌ तुम यहाँ नहीं बैठो।
Incorrect for a direct prohibition — नहीं is ordinary clause negation.
✅ तुम इस गीली कुर्सी पर मत बैठो।
tum is gīlī kursī par mat baiṭho.
Don’t sit on this wet chair. (familiar)
❌ मैं कल बाहर मत जाऊँगा।
Incorrect — मत cannot negate a first-person future statement.
✅ मैं कल बाहर नहीं जाऊँगा।
maĩ kal bāhar nahīṃ jāū̃gā.
I will not go out tomorrow. (male speaker)
❌ वह कल मत आया।
Incorrect — a past statement cannot use prohibitive मत.
✅ वह कल नहीं आया।
vah kal nahīṃ āyā.
He did not come yesterday.
❌ आप शोर मत करते हैं।
Incorrect — this mixes a finite habitual statement with a prohibition.
✅ कृपया शोर मत कीजिए।
kripyā śor mat kījie.
Please don’t make noise. (honorific)
Key Takeaways
मत forms prohibitions, not factual negatives. It combines with imperative forms appropriate to तू, तुम, or आप, and with an infinitive for reminders and standing instructions. Formal न करें and direct मत करो overlap in meaning but differ in register; नहीं remains the negator for statements and negative questions.
Related Topics
- Negative imperatives with मतB1 — Form direct Hindi prohibitions with मत while preserving the command form appropriate to तू, तुम, or आप.
- Imperative overview by honorific levelB1 — Choose Hindi command forms for intimate तू, familiar तुम, and respectful or plural आप while keeping polarity and predicate layers aligned.
- नहीं placement and constituent scopeA2 — Place नहीं before the Hindi predicate or a contrasted constituent, and use word order and prosody to show exactly what is being denied.
- न as formal literary or subordinate negationA2 — Use न in subordinate irrealis clauses, formal prohibitions, fixed expressions, and marked literary finite negation without replacing ordinary नहीं everywhere.
- Soft commands with nā and particlesB1 — Use infinitive-shaped reminders, postposed ना, ज़रा, तो, and related particles to adjust the warmth and force of Hindi commands.
- आप imperative -iyeB1 — Form respectful singular and plural Hindi commands in -इए while handling vowel stems, polite requests, negation, and compound predicates.