Hindi forms a compact non-finite linker by adding -कर to a verb stem: देखकर “having seen/by seeing,” लिखकर “having written,” जाकर “having gone.” This form is often called the conjunctive participle or converb. It packages one event as background to a following finite event without giving the first verb its own tense, person, gender, or number. The contrasting expanded form is developed under करके as an expanded converb.
English translations vary—after doing, by doing, having done, and then, or simply and. No single English category captures the Hindi form. The relation comes from event meaning and context, while the final finite predicate anchors the chain.
Form: stem plus -कर
| Infinitive | Stem | Converb |
|---|---|---|
| लिखना | लिख- | लिखकर |
| देखना | देख- | देखकर |
| जाना | जा- | जाकर |
| खाना | खा- | खाकर |
| देना | दे- | देकर |
| लेना | ले- | लेकर |
| होना | हो- | होकर |
The combination is normally written as one word. With lexical करना, ordinary Hindi strongly favors करके for the overt converb; compact bare कर also occurs before another predicate. Mechanical करकर is not the normal equivalent of English “having done.”
रवि ने दरवाज़ा खोलकर बत्ती जलाई।
ravi ne darvāzā kholkar battī jalāī.
Ravi opened the door and turned on the light.
खोलकर has no agreement ending. Feminine बत्ती controls matrix perfective जलाई, and final transitive structure gives agent रवि ने.
A common reading: prior sequence
When two bounded actions are naturally ordered, the converb usually places its event before the finite event:
नाश्ता खाकर हम आठ बजे निकले।
nāśtā khākar ham āṭh baje nikle.
After eating breakfast, we left at eight.
मीरा ने रिपोर्ट पढ़कर संपादक को जवाब भेजा।
mīrā ne riporṭ paṛhkar sampādak ko javāb bhejā.
Meera read the report and sent the editor a reply.
Breakfast precedes departure; reading precedes the reply. Yet -कर itself is not a past-tense suffix. Future matrix time moves the whole chain forward:
कल रिपोर्ट पढ़कर मैं तुम्हें फ़ोन करूँगा।
kal riporṭ paṛhkar maĩ tumheṃ fon karū̃gā.
Tomorrow, after reading the report, I'll call you. (male speaker, informal)
The reading remains anterior relative to the future call, not past relative to speaking.
Means and enabling action
The converb can present the first event as the means of achieving the second:
उसने चाबी घुमाकर पुराना ताला खोल लिया।
usne cābī ghumākar purānā tālā khol liyā.
He or she opened the old lock by turning the key.
आप इस लिंक पर जाकर आवेदन की स्थिति देख सकते हैं।
āp is liṅk par jākar āvedan kī sthiti dekh sakte haiṃ.
You can check the application's status by going to this link. (respectful)
Turning the key and going to the link enable the result. Translating every -कर as “after” would hide this relation.
Cause, perception, and reaction
A perception or discovery in the converb often motivates an immediate reaction:
ख़बर सुनकर दादी की आँखों में आँसू आ गए।
xabar sunkar dādī kī ā̃khoṃ meṃ ā̃sū ā gae.
On hearing the news, Grandmother's eyes filled with tears.
कमरे की हालत देखकर मकान-मालिक नाराज़ हो गया।
kamre kī hālat dekhkar makān-mālik nārāz ho gayā.
Seeing the state of the room, the landlord became angry.
The first event supplies the occasion and cause. Hindi does not need to choose a separate conjunction such as “because” when the causal inference is clear, but -कर does not guarantee causation in every context.
Manner can overlap with the main event
Not all converb events finish before the matrix event begins. With bodily expression, speech, and motion, the converb can describe manner:
बच्ची मुस्कुराकर कैमरे की ओर देखने लगी।
baccī muskurākar kaimre kī or dekhne lagī.
The girl began looking toward the camera with a smile.
वह दौड़कर मेरे पास आया।
vah dauṛkar mere pās āyā.
He came running over to me.
The smile may overlap with looking, and running constitutes the manner/path of coming. This is why “completed prior action” is only a frequent reading, not a definition.
Compare simultaneous -ते हुए:
वह दौड़ते हुए फ़ोन पर बात कर रहा था।
vah dauṛte hue fon par bāt kar rahā thā.
He was talking on the phone while running.
दौड़ते हुए explicitly views an ongoing activity overlapping with talking. दौड़कर आया packages running as the route or means that culminates in arrival. The distinction is aspectual, not simply English -ing versus after.
Shared subject is the neutral rule
The understood subject of the converb normally matches the subject of the finite predicate:
सीमा ने खिड़की बंद करके चाबी मेज़ पर रख दी।
sīmā ne khiṛkī band karke cābī mez par rakh dī.
Seema closed the window and put the key on the table.
Seema closes and puts. The objects change, but the agent remains shared. To change subjects, use a finite or nominalized clause:
बारिश रुकने के बाद बच्चे बाहर खेलने गए।
bāriś rukne ke bād bacce bāhar khelne gae.
After the rain stopped, the children went outside to play.
बारिश रुककर बच्चे... would wrongly invite the rain as the subject continuing into the following predicate. Hindi therefore uses बारिश रुकने के बाद or जब बारिश रुकी, तब....
The final predicate determines clause-level agreement
Compare the same converb with two different final predicates:
तारा ने चिट्ठी लिखकर डाक में डाल दी।
tārā ne ciṭṭhī likhkar ḍāk meṃ ḍāl dī.
Tara wrote the letter and put it in the mail.
तारा चिट्ठी लिखकर बाहर चली गई।
tārā ciṭṭhī likhkar bāhar calī gaī.
After writing the letter, Tara went outside.
The first ends with transitive perfective डाल दी: Tara takes ने, and feminine चिट्ठी controls दी. The second ends in intransitive चली गई: Tara is unmarked and controls feminine agreement. Invariant लिखकर decides neither pattern.
Negating an earlier event
Hindi commonly uses बिना + perfective participle for “without doing” rather than simply inserting नहीं inside a converb:
वह किसी को बताए बिना शहर छोड़ गया।
vah kisī ko batāe binā śahar choṛ gayā.
He left the city without telling anyone.
Forms such as न सोचकर are possible when deliberate nonperformance or contrast is salient, but they are not a universal negative counterpart of सोचकर. The negative converb system deserves its own treatment; the safe everyday contrast here is सोचकर versus बिना सोचे.
Finite coordination versus converb compression
उसने दस्तावेज़ खोला और उसने हर पन्ना ध्यान से पढ़ा।
usne dastāvez kholā aur usne har pannā dhyān se paṛhā.
He or she opened the document and read every page carefully.
उसने दस्तावेज़ खोलकर हर पन्ना ध्यान से पढ़ा।
usne dastāvez kholkar har pannā dhyān se paṛhā.
After opening the document, he or she read every page carefully.
The finite version gives both propositions equal assertion and can more easily support separate subjects or independent negation. The converb version backgrounds opening as preparation for reading.
A compressed written sequence and its expansion
सभी प्रमाणों की जाँच कर समिति ने संशोधित प्रस्ताव को स्वीकृति दी।
sabhī pramāṇoṃ kī jā̃c kar samiti ne saṃśodhit prastāv ko svīkriti dī.
Having examined all the evidence, the committee approved the revised proposal. (compact formal style)
Here lexical करना appears as compact bare कर. An expanded version makes the two stages equally explicit:
समिति ने पहले सभी प्रमाणों की जाँच की। इसके बाद उसने संशोधित प्रस्ताव को स्वीकृति दी।
samiti ne pahle sabhī pramāṇoṃ kī jā̃c kī. iske bād usne saṃśodhit prastāv ko svīkriti dī.
The committee first examined all the evidence. After that, it approved the revised proposal. (formal)
Bare कर is not automatically formal, and करके is not automatically informal. The compact form fits this written sentence; in ordinary speech जाँच करके would also be natural.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding agreement to the converb
❌ नेहा चाय बनाकरती दफ़्तर गई।
Incorrect — -कर is invariant and takes no feminine ending.
✅ नेहा चाय बनाकर दफ़्तर गई।
nehā cāy banākar daftar gaī.
After making tea, Neha went to the office.
2. Giving the converb a different unexpressed subject
❌ सूरज निकलकर हम टहलने गए।
Incorrect for two subjects — निकलकर invites the sun to control the following predicate too.
✅ सूरज निकलने के बाद हम टहलने गए।
sūraj nikalne ke bād ham ṭahalne gae.
After the sun rose, we went for a walk.
3. Treating every converb as strictly anterior
❌ वह हँसकर बोली, इसलिए पहले हँसी पूरी तरह रुकी और फिर उसने बोलना शुरू किया।
Incorrect inference — हँसकर बोली can describe smiling or laughing as the manner of speaking.
✅ वह हँसकर बोली कि उसे पहले से सब पता था।
vah hãskar bolī ki use pahle se sab patā thā.
She said with a laugh that she had known everything already.
4. Using an infinitive to link events
❌ खाना खाना हम तुरंत निकले।
Incorrect — the activity noun खाना cannot link the completed meal to departure.
✅ खाना खाकर हम तुरंत निकले।
khānā khākar ham turant nikle.
After eating, we left immediately.
5. Building the करना converb mechanically
❌ काम करकर वह घर गया।
Incorrect for a single completed action — ordinary Hindi uses करके or compact कर.
✅ काम करके वह घर गया।
kām karke vah ghar gayā.
After doing the work, he went home.
Key Takeaways
- -कर forms an invariant converb; the final finite predicate carries TAM and clause-level agreement.
- Prior sequence is common, but means, cause, reaction, and overlapping manner are also natural readings.
- The converb normally shares its subject with the following predicate; use a finite or nominalized clause when subjects differ.
- Matrix transitivity determines ने and agreement, not the earlier converb.
- कर, करके, and -कर must be analyzed structurally rather than assigned simplistic formal/informal labels.
Related Topics
- करके as an expanded converbB2 — Use करके to link an event expressed with करना—including noun, adjective, and loan predicates—to a following shared-subject event.
- -kar versus -keB2 — Distinguish Standard Hindi -कर converbs from common spoken -के variants, standard करके, genitive के, and bare lexical कर-.
- Converb event sequencingB2 — Interpret and build Hindi converb chains by tracking event order, semantic relations, subject continuity, negation, and the final predicate's scope.
- Same-subject constraint with converbsB2 — Track the understood subject through Hindi -कर and -करके chains and repair changes of actor with finite or nominalized clauses.
- ते हुए simultaneous actionB2 — Use invariant adverbial -ते हुए for simultaneous action while distinguishing it from grammatical agreeing depictives in -ता हुआ.
- Serial-like motion sequencesC1 — Distinguish compact Hindi motion predicates from transport compounds, purpose infinitives, and linked -कर event chains.